Students disrupt visit by Shipley

DUNEDIN - Scuffles and shouting matches were the order of the day for the Prime Minister as protesting students ambushed her in the Labour territory of Dunedin yesterday.

National MP Eric Roy grabbed the placard of an anti-student-loan activist and broke it in a scuffle at a mall.

Mrs Shipley's husband, Burton, also argued loudly with a couple of the eight vocal protesters who shadowed the whole visit.

At one stage Mrs Shipley confronted one of the students, telling him she remembered him from when she was Social Welfare Minister in 1990.

"You come and see me every time I come to Dunedin - you and I have a talk. Why don't you tell people who is supporting you?"

The student, Mark Baxter, later confirmed he had been a student on and off for 11 years, about five or six of which were fulltime.

It was a point not lost on Mr Shipley, who shouted out to all who would listen: "He hasn't managed to get a degree in 11 years. Come on!"

Mrs Shipley later described Mr Baxter as a professional protester.

Later, the PM faced pleas from North Otago farmers who were devastated by last year's drought.

At a packed woolshed meeting in Ngapara, inland from Oamaru, they asked for funding help with irrigation schemes.

While Mrs Shipley made no promises, she said she would instruct her ministers to meet the community once it had gone through a feasibility study on setting up an irrigation scheme.

- NZPA