Thursday, 4 December 2025

 Sonja TERPSTRA (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (23:33): (2217) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Skills and TAFE, and the action I seek is for the minister to update me on the matter of the La Trobe University Student Union. The La Trobe student union is a vital part of campus life at Bundoora. It provides free meals, runs a campus food bank, supplies free period products and organises events that foster a strong campus culture, something that has been especially important following the challenges of COVID-19. For 60 years the student union has been an important institution representing students and delivering essential services, but unfortunately it has faced threats in the past, including attempts to replace it with a body largely controlled by university staff rather than students.

Sadly, this issue has re-emerged. University management continue to inadequately fund the La Trobe student union in line with their obligations under the university accords whilst creating a new body, the La Trobe University Student Council. This council excludes current union office bearers and representatives from running, allows candidates to be disqualified without reason and even permits removal if members are deemed to act against the university’s interests. As of October 2025, more than four months after its election, the council had not met once, and there is no public information to suggest it has met since. As a former trade unionist, I know what union busting looks like, and that is what we are seeing here: an attempt to defund a democratically elected student union and shift control of student services and amenity fees away from students and into the hands of management. This must stop, and the La Trobe student union should be adequately funded and supported to continue its vital work for students.