Education Minister Brendan Nelson has warned worried Nationals that the Government's voluntary student unionism bill is "totemic" to Liberals, bluntly telling them they should support it for the good of the Coalition. Reaffirming that the Government would not modify the bill, Dr Nelson said that to try to talk Liberals out of this would be "like trying to talk the Nationals out of drought relief".
His comments came as Queensland National senator Barnaby Joyce took a swipe at Liberal MP Alby Schultz, who had said the Nationals rode on the coat-tails of Prime Minister John Howard's strong leadership and were no longer the voice of rural and regional Australia.
The voluntary student unionism bill, now before Parliament, bans students being forced to join university unions and prevents universities levying compulsory service fees, which go to facilities and activities, including sporting, cultural and political activities.
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