Students are 6% of the population, but are they heard in Parliament?

yeah, nah, yeah, kinda, not really

Matthew Casey (he/him)

When starting this article, I thought it would be funny to look at why the media always talks to Chlöe Swarbrick about student issues. Other MPs care about students—but when it comes to it, do students rank highly on their priority list? Last week I spoke to an academic, two MPs, and two former VUWSA presidents to investigate. 

Students aren't a monolithic group with supremely shared ideals. Students care about their future job prospects, owning a home, climate change, getting paid a decent wage, and simply just surviving. Being a student isn’t their only character trait. Students vote for every party on the political spectrum. Some who study do not like being lumped into the group ‘students’ because of the connotations that the word holds.

Students as a group make up 6% of the population so, in theory, there should be about seven MPs who care about students. The nationwide tertiary student body is 380,255 people, so if we were a city, we’d be New Zealand’s third largest, narrowly behind Christchurch.

On the topic of speaking on student issues, Swarbrick told Salient “I’d love it if others wanted to front up and do their bit on it. [...] There’s a reason politicians go silent on issues and it’s because they don't want to talk about them”. 

Politicians deserve recognition for their help in the student space from time to time. National MP Nicola Willis is proud of her advocacy for VUW students—like Swarbrick, she called for halls of residence to drop charges during last year's lockdown. She also mentioned her action “around the Vic name change, and for those funds to be better applied to more pressing student concerns”. Labour MP Ibrahim Omer’s work in the Living Wage movement has also meant better pay for typically lower-waged work that is commonly undertaken by students.

Swarbrick is the youngest MP in Parliament, and she’s got relatively recent experience of the realities of student life. The problem, however, is that she is not a part of the majority Labour Government—she can't fix everything. Labour has 65 MPs in Parliament, and as Nicola Willis told Salient, “many senior Labour politicians themselves were student leaders before they entered Parliament and in those roles, sometimes were calling for some radical action, but as cabinet ministers they've changed their tune”.

Willis talks about Labour as a party that cares a lot pre-ballot, “but perhaps aren't quite as present when we get further out from the election”. As former VUWSA President Marlon Drake told me, “Lots of MPs actually care but when they’re balancing interests, do they understand that the issues being faced need priority?” 

Both Drake and another recently former VUWSA president, Tamatha Paul, agree that when it comes down to it, Swarbrick is the only MP sticking her neck out. When Drake was asked if any MPs care about students, he said “Firstly, definitely Chlöe”, and after literally a minute of umming and ahhing he offered up current Minister of Education, Chris Hipkins. He then retracted that, saying “I think the problem is, they don't get the reality of being a student, they don't understand in relation to the costs of living and how the demographics of universities are not what they should be”.  

Swarbrick states that she doesn't “know whether it speaks to a lack of policy, a lack of representation, or a lack of concern in those political parties”.

Paul believes that “some MPs care about, and believe there should be free tertiary education—I’m talking more about Green MPs.” 

She talks about those who helped politically during her time as VUWSA president— “only really the mayor and councillors”, but says people “like Nicola were helpful in terms of talking about housing, but no one is actually talking about students”.

“I think if you truly care about students, you have to be a strong advocate for free education.” Paul believes that “Student debt is a core tenet of neoliberalism.”

She continues, “Cuts to tertiary education and to the Arts is killing conscious debate and objection to the way the Government is run.”

This is an idea that Swarbrick echoes in her discussion about student advocacy—“we have not put our finger on the best possible systemic solution for advocacy for the rights of students”. She believes that student advocacy “has very intentionally, through political policy, been whittled down to what some would argue is a shell of what it once was”.

Swarbrick believes that there are great people involved in student advocacy, but the tools they are working with are “less advanced than they should be because of the under-resourcing of the sector”.  Policy decisions—such as making student association membership voluntary—has made a “recipe for less engagement, less representation, and less action”, which she believes “is reflective of how little power students feel stepping into their literal power.”

In relation to student power, Paul says “When you look at the history of New Zealand, students have led in every major area, pro nuclear-free, Springbok Tours, any key moment in New Zealand has had strong student involvement.” Paul believes that Swarbrick understands the way students are being politically targeted and that “The underfunding of the health system, out of control housing and rental market, the privatisation of transport, all of these things are the things that make being a student so difficult.”

University of Canterbury Senior Lecturer Syliva Nissen, Author of Student Political Action in New Zealand, sums this up, telling Salient: “Students are facing a number of compounding issues that are compromising their wellbeing and ability to participate fully in their studies. As the only group in New Zealand to have to borrow to live”, with rising living costs and high levels of employment during study. The current issues need to be addressed as “they have the potential to further amplify inequalities that exist within our higher education sector.”

As we’ve seen in the past, there are alternative ways for politicians to engage with students, through youth wings and other activities. Politicians do care about the student voice, but as mentioned this article is about where students rank on their priority list. Nicola Willis and Chris Bishop have held ‘Potluck with Politicians’ as a way to reach out and speak directly with the student and flatting population of Wellington. Willis said that rather than discussions of student loans and university fees, those they ate with wanted to speak to them about “New Zealand’s economy and ‘am I going to be able to get the jobs that I want’ and what is New Zealand going to do to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions”. 

So who are students looking to? The answer is Chlöe Swarbrick. I wrote this article to disprove that, but I was wrong. There aren't really any other MPs who are making students a priority—I’d be stoked to be proven wrong.

In May this year, Nexus (Waikato Student Mag) Editor Hannah Petuha wrote that interviewing Chlöe Swarbrick “on a crochet-knit-covered-couch is a rite of passage in the realm of student magazines.” It’s funny, and sadly seems to be true, because she is the only one that is following through for students consistently. So when you read the headlines from this year and the next, going “sheesh, they need to start talking to other MPs”, just remember that there isn't really anyone else in the big house who’s listening.