Once upon a time Chris Hipkins used to organise student protests. These days he has to run the gauntlet of them.
Yesterday Mr Hipkins, on his first visit to Dunedin since becoming prime minister, received a rowdy reception from demonstrators when he arrived at the University of Otago for a Q and A session organised by the campus branch of the Labour Party.
Yesterday was also the deadline for voluntary redundancy applications to be lodged by university staff.
Mr Hipkins was president of the Victoria University Students’ Association in 2000 and 2001, and was famously falsely arrested in 1997 when a first-year student while protesting outside of Parliament.
"I first visited Dunedin in 1998, the first year that I was on the students’ association executive and it was a year after I was arrested at a student protest which looked quite similar to the one we have just had out there," he said.
"So, hello to all the protesters. I’m happy you could join us."
He also patiently endured an angry series of questions from former Green Party Dunedin candidate Jack Brazil on a range of economic and environmental issues.
However, the financial travails of the university were the main concerns of both the students in the packed Union Building dining hall and those protesting outside.
On that score, other than reiterating that the largest increase in tertiary education funding in the past 20 years had been announced in the Budget and would kick in next year, Mr Hipkins had little to offer.
"It is a difficult time for universities at the moment and I want to particularly acknowledge Otago University and the fact that you have got some thing happening here right now which are particularly difficult for students and staff who are going through that uncertainty.
"I am also a believer, however, in the autonomy of the universities to make their own decisions."
Earlier in his visit, Mr Hipkins toured the KiwiRail Hillside workshops and visited several computer game design studios.
