Bennett David: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 3) — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBennett David: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 3) — In Committee[Sitting date: 18 February 2014. Volume:696;Page:16027. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East): It is very disappointing to see that the Labour Party will not support the Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 3) tonight. This is not a gimmick or anything like that but this really shows the true nature of the Labour Party. It is a party of socialist elite that believes that those who get a tertiary education should be treated differently from anybody else in this country. It is a party of socialist elite that believes that people who go overseas should get a free ride. It is a party of socialist elite that thinks it has the opportunity to tell people what they can do.This bill sets some stringent requirements on those who get a benefit from this country and this Government. Why should they not pay their loan back? What is the difference between a New Zealand borrower who stays in New Zealand and one who leaves New Zealand? If the Labour Party was not just looking after the socialist elite it would be offering those incentives to those who stay not those who leave. The Labour Party talks about negotiation with the parties. The Labour Party talks about having requirements of repayment based on earnings—things it is giving to people who leave this country who take their skills overseas and who build other countries stronger. They are going to get a free ride from the socialist elite that is the Labour Party rather than giving it to the people who stay here work here and make this country strong.What about those young men and women who work in the farms and the factories and who pay for people to go through that education? They do not get that benefit do they? But the socialist elite wants its own people to have the ability to take that money take that benefit not contribute to New Zealand and not even pay it back. That is what the Labour Party stands for. It does not care about the people who really do the hard work. It does not care about the people who want to build New Zealand. It cares only about the people whom it thinks it represents—those people who can afford to have an education and think the way it does rather than the people who understand what this country is built on. The people who want to get an education then stay here and build this country stronger are the people we should be rewarding not the people who take advantage of our system and then leave. Shame on the Labour Party!Look at some of the numbers here. New Zealand - based borrowers make up 84 percent of borrowers; overseas-based borrowers make up 16 percent. If you look at those in default New Zealand - based borrowers are 13 percent; overseas-based borrowers are 71 percent. New Zealand - based borrowers owe $78 million in default; overseas-based borrowers owe $543 million in default. Why do we give those people who owe $543 million a better ride than we give those people who stay here and who go work in our schools go work in our hospitals go work in our industry and go aboutbeing part of building a stronger productive economy for New Zealand? What gives the Labour Party the right to say that those people who stay here and make this country stronger should be worse off than those people who go overseas and work in a pub for 2 years? What gives the socialist elite of the Labour Party the right to say that? Nothing gives it that right. That is why it is out of touch.This is not a gimmick. This is about sending a signal to those young people who go overseas that we expect them to repay their debt to this country. We would love it if they stayed here and paid their debt by working in New Zealand for New Zealand and to the benefit of New Zealand but if they do go overseas they should not forget the debt that they owe the people who are here who have paid for that debt and who are working for that debt—day by day paying the interest on that debt.But that is not the case for Labour Party members. They believe that their sons and daughters—that sort of socialist elite that was born to rule—will be people who can go overseas and not have to do anything about it. It is sickening to see the Labour Party do that—a Labour Party that should stand for fairness for those people who are working in the base industries of New Zealand and that should be looking after those lower-income earners. But in fact it wants to give more to those who can earn more. It wants to give to the rich and take from the poor. That is the Labour Party of old. That is the Labour Party that is coming back. It is great to see the Labour Party show its true colours when it comes to a bill like this.