Goodhew Jo: Student Loan Scheme (Exemptions and Miscellaneous Provisions) Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Goodhew Jo: Student Loan Scheme (Exemptions and Miscellaneous Provisions) Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:660;Page:9429] 
JO GOODHEW (National—Rangitata) 
: 
 This debate on the Student Loan Scheme (Exemptions and Miscellaneous Provisions) Amendment Bill has been really revealing. What a load of drivel we have had to listen to at times. I will take a few moments to address some of the concerns that have been raised. We have heard in this House this afternoon concerns that students are having to buy their clothes at op shops. Well that raised for me some really serious questions. I believe that students have an understanding of the cost of their education their tertiary education to this country. They certainly understand how much it is costing them and in many cases costing their parents as well. I can think of some really good examples of young people who in fact are very happy to go and get fantastic bargains from op shops or second-hand clothes shops. 
In fact I have a story from close to home a story about a retro party that is happening tonight in Dunedin at Otago University. My daughter has purchased a bright orange frock from an op shop and she is adding that to her bright yellow shoes—so she tells me—and the wonderful pink tights I sent her away from home with. So there we go; what is wrong with young people understanding how to get a bargain? In fact their tertiary education is a bargain because roughly speaking they are being asked to contribute to about only a quarter of the cost. 
Speaking of bargains I have a story of my own. Prior to becoming an MP I was walking along an Auckland street and I spotted a gorgeous jacket in a second-hand shop. I thought “My goodness I will just see if that fits me.” It was a lovely jacket. I purchased the jacket wore it for quite some time—again prior to getting into Parliament—and one day I saw a photograph of a very famous person wearing that very same jacket. It crossed my mind: “Oh my gosh did Helen Clark own that jacket before me?”. Maybe! Who knows? 
Anyway we know that young people attending universities and polytechnics who have student loans have to learn how to budget. They have to learn the value of money. Hopefully at the same time they are getting an excellent tertiary education. But this bill is simply about maximising the benefit of the Crown’s $10.3 billion asset in student loans because really we—and I confess I include myself—have been getting a little bit off-track. We have also heard suggestions that back in 2005 there were words that revealed that National at the time was not keen on Labour’s student loan policy. But hang on a minute! Times change. What we have now is a $10.3 billion investment. Let me repeat: National’s commitment is to having in place a student loan scheme that is balanced while at the same time putting in place incentives for people to pay off their loans more quickly. 
For young people to get out of debt more quickly what can possibly be wrong with those sorts of levers? What can possibly be wrong with a fresh-eyed National Government looking at the student loan scheme and finding ways of improving it with the mechanisms used by the Inland Revenue Department finding ways of improving it for those who are studying overseas and finding ways of improving it so that it continues to function as the student loan scheme was intended to? 
National is absolutely committed to the importance of tertiary education to build a strong economy but at the same time there are settings all around that that we have to make sure are correct. That is why the Hon Peter Dunne has brought this bill to the House why we are passing it now and why before very much longer—in fact just shortly after the House meets again—it will be enacted on 1 April. 
I reiterate National’s absolute commitment to having a fresh look at legislation a fresh look that I have heard has meant that Ministers are competing against each other because they have so many bills they want to bring to the House in order to make New Zealand a much more productive economy and a better place to live in in the hope that our tertiary-educated students will continue to live here and be productive people in our economy. I am certainly looking forward to that and hoping that it means that our three daughters will get that message stay here in New Zealand and bring up their children close to me. Thank you.