Australia’s Rudd government reacted quickly to reports early yesterday stating they was going to switch Voluntary Student Unionism from its present “opt-in” structure to an “opt-out” structure.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports the government is making clear that it has no intention of making this change telling ABCnews that compulsory fees are not an option.
Just another reason for Canadian student unions to keep and/or get their acts together to avoid a widespread VSU movement here. (Depending on your viewpoint, that could have been phrased to state this story is a reason for VSU proponents to get their acts together)
It appears from the Australia experience that once students are given a choice about student union membership, they are overwhelming not joining and no government is willing to risk forcing them to.