Let’s just say, hypothetically speaking, that on an overseas junket, Winston Peters got trashed and licked Annette King’s urine off a street. Or let’s say he stole Gordon Brown’s toupee and hid in a closet for a couple of hours giggling furiously to himself. Totally hypothetical, of course, because I’m sure the Rt. Hon. Mr Peters would never do such a thing.
Could you imagine what would happen if the media found out? It wouldn’t be pretty. And I doubt that arguing that he misbehaved on his own time – not the New Zealand taxpayers’ – would do much to save him from joining the dole queue next week.
Which is why Rachel Wright’s excuses for her own behaviour and the behaviour of several other VUWSA exec members at the NZUSA conference several weeks ago is, frankly, a load of crap.
At least 10 VUWSA exec members were flown to Christchurch at the students’ expense and had their accommodation and food paid for – at $85 per night – for at least three nights. There were no charges to get into the conference – well, not if you don’t count the NZUSA levy of $73,000 that VUWSA pays every year.
But, apparently it’s ok for students to fork out that much so the exec can get pissed and act like idiots in a city that isn’t Wellington. So maybe they started urinating on the street and stealing stuff from other students’ associations after the conference closed for the evening – that’s not the point. They were on a student-funded trip, representing students and representing Victoria University in front their peers from around the country. And they made us look silly.
I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in being embarrassed at what went on there. Exec members shouldn’t be making excuses, they should be making apologies. And if they’re angry about the negative publicity, they shouldn’t be blaming Salient they should be blaming themselves. They’re just lucky nobody’s decided to try and roll them yet.