Bennett David: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Bennett David: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 28 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:9085. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 I think it is very sad that the last speech from the New Zealand First Party showed that it tries to take advantage of our young people in this country and say that the Government is making them feel sad about having to repay a debt. I think it is very sad that the New Zealand First Party has to stoop to those levels but that is traditional for that party so I do not think that it is that unusual in this House. 
The bad thing in this debate is actually the Green Party. The Green Party is a party that goes on to all these campuses and says that it represents young people. It puts out the image of dealing with environmental issues that it does not actually really care about. Then when Green members actually look at the facts they will not represent the facts as they are. They will not say it as it is and they create a lot of disharmony in our country and that is a very sad thing. 
When you look at the facts New Zealand spends more on tertiary education than Australia does—New Zealand spends more on tertiary education than Australia does. 
Le’aufa’amulia Asenati Lole-Taylor 
: That’s because they earn more. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: It is because of what? 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Neither per capita nor percentage. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: We spend more than they do as a percentage of GDP—we spend more than they do. The other thing is that if you look at the student support part of our Government expenditure on tertiary education it is far far in excess of what the Australians spend. So what happens is that in New Zealand we spend more money on tertiary education but a higher percentage of that goes on student support. It does not go to the institutions; it goes to student support and that is the student loan scheme. This is a scheme that has been around for a number of years now. Most students will say: “Well we don’t want to lose it.” and that is rightfully their case because it is something they take advantage of. 
But there is a problem with that because if New Zealand continues to spend more money on tertiary education and a higher percentage of that goes on student support then what actually happens is the money that is spent on the institutions—the universities the polytechnics and suchlike—is actually lower than what is spent on institutions in Australia. In New Zealand we spend less on our institutions than they do in Australia and that is because we spend so much more on student support. That is a shame because that can actually mean that our institutions are not funded to the level that they should be. That is the difference that we are looking to try to find a solution for through the changes in the student support scheme. 
We want to make sure that there is that balance there so those institutions get that funding so that they are competitive. And I want those students in New Zealand to listen to the Green Party because the Green Party wants to give you money to live for today but it does not want the ticket that you are going to get to mean much in the future. That is the issue. The National Party wants that ticket that you are going to get to actually mean something. We want to give those institutions the ability to deliver those tickets to the future so that those young people get the income-earning potential that they strive for by going into tertiary education. 
That is the difference between these two political parties. That is the truth of the matter. That is what the Green Party needs to actually go out there and say. It is too much for the New Zealand First Party members to understand because they have to wait for their leader to understand before they can say anything. The Labour Party will be looking at it and going: “Oh this means that we need to give more money to tertiary institutions.” Well that would be lovely and we need to be able to do that over time and that will happen as New Zealand gets richer and we deal with our financial issues. But at this time this is the best we can do. Thank you.