Tertiary Education Minister Hon Anne Tolley last week wasted $400 of student money when she failed to keep an appointment with national tertiary student representatives.
New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations co-presidents Jordan King and Sophia Blair were scheduled to meet with Tolley on 9 March.
King and Blair, who are touring New Zealand tertiary institutions, flew from Auckland to Wellington, only to be told that Tolley’s office had forgotten the appointment. The meeting had been confirmed twice by Tolley’s office in mid-February, but it was later discovered they had been incorrectly booked for 9 April, King said.
Tolley’s press secretary apologised after King emailed to complain.
“I emailed to say how annoyed I was, given we broke off our tour to fly down especially, and given how Tolley is unavailable next week and overseas the week after.”
King said NZUSA had sought a meeting with Tolley since she was appointed, and even invited her to address their January conference, but “it’s taken her four months to get back to us.”
King said Tolley had been in meetings with the Association of Private Education Providers and the Industry Training Federation soon after the Government’s election, yet declined an invitation to speak at NZUSA’s January conference, and “did not acknowledge our desire to have a meeting until February.”
“We are very concerned about student welfare, and the potential direction of government policy relating to the wider tertiary sector – the Minister needs to hear such concerns and work inclusively with students to address them.”
Tolley has proven difficult for many student publications to get in contact with. Craccum, Salient and Critic have tried on numerous occasions over several months to talk with the Minister—or organise a time to talk—only to be seemingly ignored. However, when Jackson Wood (editor of Salient) called her office, her press secretary said they had received only two interview requests from the student media. One was from Critic, who supposedly failed to respond with a requested list of questions.
Critic Editor Amy Joseph explains that Critic is seeking a phone interview to introduce Tolley to the student body of Otago, and throughout the country through the The Aotearoa Student Press Association (ASPA) newswire, but Tolley’s people have refused this request. “We will email questions to Tolley as appropriate for specific stories, but right now we simply want to give her the chance to introduce herself to the tertiary students of New Zealand,” Joseph said. “We were also informed in a phone conversation with her press staff that there was no guarantee our emailed questions will be answered, and no timetable for when she may consent to an interview.”
Wood says, “We’ve tried everything short of stapling questions to her door. ASPA has an audience of over 80,000 students with whom she could directly communicate. Students are apprehensive about the National government. Some inkling of what’s going on in her head in terms of policy would be nice.”
Craccum co-editor Matthew Harnett had a similar response: “At first we were kind of joking with the “Tolley Hunt” thing. But actually, she is one tough MP to get in contact with. I would’ve thought, as the Minister of Tertiary Education, she might like to chat with the people her portfolio affects. Guess not.”
When asked why she didn’t respond, Anne Tolley didn’t respond.