Clark David: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 3) — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeClark David: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 3) — Third Reading[Sitting date: 06 March 2014. Volume:696;Page:16434. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr DAVID CLARK (Labour—Dunedin North): Well that was a poor excuse for a third reading speech from the member opposite the Hon Todd McClay. He is normally better than that. He really failed on the whole way through this bill the Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 3) to give any good justification for the gimmick the tasteless gimmick that is contained in this bill—the movement by that party opposite to bring populist politics into the collection of debt for the student loan scheme.On this side of the House we support entirely the collection of student debt. Those who have borrowed in order to get ahead to better their own lot to better the lot of their families we believe should repay the loans so that other generations can get ahead. This Government takes quite a different view. It does not really pursue constructive options to regain the debt. It does not. It washes its hands of it and then gives out these gimmicks that cannot be enforced and if they can be enforced they are tasteless and likely to alienate young New Zealanders. Instead it is focused on restricting access to education. This is the Government that is restricting access to education.Let us not forget that the interest-free loan scheme that we have in New Zealand was introduced by the Clark Labour Government. We had an interest-bearing loan scheme before that. Let us not forget also the many moves that Steven Joyce has taken to restrict access to tertiary education. We on the Labour Party side of the House believe that every New Zealander should have the opportunity to get ahead should have the opportunity to make the best of their talents and if they choose to pursue tertiary education for their own benefit for the benefit of their families communitieswhānau they ought to have that opportunity and they should not be restricted from studying on the basis of not having enough money in their wallets or in their parents’ wallets to pursue that education.This Government now supports the interest-free student loan scheme through gritted teeth—gritted teeth. It has introduced administration charges because it could not return interest to the loans without really facing a huge backlash. But the students of New Zealand have woken up to it. The Government is not popular on campus. When I have been to visit in Otago [Interruption] there is a rising unpopularity among students asthey realise that this Government is restricting access to education more and more and more.I have an example of that. I hear an example is being called for from the other side. There is a 23 percent drop in the number of students claiming a student allowance in Dunedin this year as compared with the previous year which shows that the Government’s policies are pricing New Zealanders out of education. Postgraduate students are no longer eligible to receive a student allowance nor are students who are studying towards a degree that takes over 200 weeks to complete. This constant restriction to access to education is a pattern. This is a Government that wants to preserve the interests of capital.It is the same justification the same reason for restricting representation on university councils. This is the Government’s latest trick: converting university councils from a representative body that produces good outcomes by virtue of having all the stakeholders—the students the unions the staff the academics and management principles—represented around the board table to a cutback model that the universities do not like that the universities have spoken out against. And the question still lingers in the air: if Steven Joyce really believes that 20 people around the board table make ineffective decisions what is he doing with that Cabinet structure?Why is Steven Joyce making these decisions in the Cabinet structure which he hates? Why is he doing that? He is imposing on universities a system that they do not want which will produce less effective outcomes for New Zealanders. He is trying to stamp down on access to education through any means possible and that is an outrage. It is an absolute outrage. We on this side of the House the party of education the Labour Party the party that believes in access to education interest-free student loans and the betterment of our society will not let that go unchallenged.Hon Amy Adams: Well in this bill you have tocos it’s not in there.Dr DAVID CLARK: Ms Adams says “Well you have to let it gocos we’re just going to make it happen.” That is the kind of arrogant out-of-touch Government that we are seeing across the House. It is saying: “We are going to roll this through and we will not listen to any voices of criticism. We will charge interest when we like. We will put gimmicks into law when we like. At the borders we will stop people who are coming home to family funerals and we will arrest them and we will make an example of them. We will alienate young New Zealanders because we are only interested in preserving the interests of capital. We do not want just anybody showing up at the university. We are going to clamp down on the management structures”—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): Order! Look we are on a third reading debate. If the member looks at Speaker’s ruling 122/4 it says: “Members must confine themselves to the general principles of the bill as it emerged from the committee.” I have given some latitude and I ask the member in the time remaining to focus on the essence and the subject of what this bill is about.Dr DAVID CLARK: I will come back to the bill but I would note that the interjections opposite have inspired me to point out the hypocrisy from members across the House as they promote this as a bill that encourages education because they are against that and there are no two ways about it.The Tertiary Education Union said of this bill that it is “a poor alternative to making education more affordable and accessible”. Those are the words of a submitter to the Finance and Expenditure Committee and the Minister of Revenue got up and had the audacity to thank the submitters for making this bill easier to pass through the House. They did not like it. They tried to tell the Minister that this bill does not help with access to education that there is a cheap gimmick in it that is an attempt to popularise a voiceagainst access to education and this Government did not listen. The Minister has beans in his ears. He did not want to hear those submitters who were critical of the bill.The original intent of the student loan scheme was never to turn young New Zealanders into exiled enemies of the State. But the bill is so very National Party. There is no evidence at all that this bill will increase compliance reduce loan balances or any such thing. It is simple authoritarian posturing and I expect that students around New Zealand and those who have student loan balances will see it for what it is. This Government is a Government that is out of touch with the needs of New Zealanders. It is out of touch with the aspirations of New Zealanders to better themselves through a broader education and that is why we have this measure in the bill that is designed to further restrict access.The measure is designed to keep some of our talent overseas it seems because they will be fearful of coming home for a family wedding or a funeral. The police have said in respect of this part of the legislation the part that has the arrest at the border provision that they simply do not have the resources to implement it. So Mr Sabin opposite who was yelling before might like to ask his mates in the police why they said that and why they directly criticised this aspect of the bill that we are debating now. Why did his mates in the police say that the National Government has no idea—no idea—whatsoever what it is asking for here and that the police cannot implement this bill? You would have thought they would have spoken to each other but this is a Government that is out of touch. It is a Government that is out of touch and not interested in engaging even with those who would do the work of supporting it by implementing the populist measures it is trying to introduce today.We asked at the select committee of course for some estimates of how this would change the lot of ordinary New Zealanders what would happen at the border whether it could be implemented how it would be implemented and what measures would be used. And there was nothing convincing that told us that this bill would increase the repayment of student loan balances. We heard from the submitters only the credible answer that this will alienate young New Zealanders. This is a ridiculous measure it should not be in the bill and the Government members are very quiet about it it has to be said. There was not much in the previous speech mentioning that measure and they are rightly—and they have gone quiet—embarrassed about this legislation.John Hayes: No we’re not.Dr DAVID CLARK: Mr Hayes of course is the only one who is not and that is typical because I think he has missed the point. Mr Hayes is not embarrassed by it but he is on his own over on that side of the House and that is not an infrequent occurrence.This is a Government that is going after the big end of town. Sorry it is going out for the interests of the big end of town. I wish it was going after the big end of town. It is more interested in chasing one or two New Zealanders coming through the border who have a few thousand dollars outstanding but no means to repay it and it is letting in the meantime the likes of Google Facebook and others go completely unchallenged as they do not declare for tax purposes the revenues coming out of New Zealand. We know for example that Google declares for tax purposes only less than 5 percent of its revenues out of New Zealand.What is the Government across that side of the House doing about that? Absolutely nothing—absolutely nothing. It is chasing a few students saying “We’re going to arrest you at the border if you come home.” That is an arrogant out of touch Government that is posturing ahead of the election and that has no idea about how it is actually going to recoup the student loan balances. It is a Government that is out of touch and out of ideas and should be sent packing at the next election. We need a Labour Government thekind of Government that is interested in broadening access to education and in giving opportunities to all New Zealanders to better their lot for themselves and their families.