Reflections from our 2025 AUSA President, Gabriel Boyd. Leadership is an oxymoron; it means you’re both the most powerful person in the room, and yet you sit to serve your constituents, the power dynamic doing a backflip. A day in the life of a student leader in UOA AUSA is an incredibly weird place, often home to the most idealistic executives who run to fight for the students every single day. Alongside CV builders, these two groups need to figure out how to work in harmon

Why does the current coalition government want to axe Fees Free? Minister of Finance Nicola Willis delivers the budget during Budget Day 2026 at Parliament. (Source: Getty) To the shock of many students around the country, finance minister Nicola Willis confirmed that the Fees Free scheme introduced by the Labour government in 2018. The news was technically leaked first by Winston Peters, when he, in response to being asked about the upcoming budget, told Newstalk ZB that he

By: Kalana Piramanage | Craccum Editor In Chief When Dawn Freshwater arrived at the University of Auckland, it was framed as the dawn of a new era. Now, just weeks after stepping down, that chapter has come to a close. Dawn was the first female Vice-Chancellor at the University of Auckland. Her time as Vice-Chancellor spanned a period of change, from COVID-19 disruption to ongoing conversations about student wellbeing and experience. Moreover, the future of tertiary educatio