Peachey Allan: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2) — Second Reading 
Peachey Allan: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2) — Second Reading 
[Volume:638;Page:8159] 
ALLAN PEACHEY (National—Tamaki) 
: 
 I appreciate the opportunity to speak on behalf of the National Party and to express our support of the second reading of the Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2). It was a pleasure to be part of the Education and Science Committee which held the hearings—although I was not at all the hearings—and I would like to compliment the chairman of that committee Mr Donnelly on the way he led us through some very very complex submissions and information. I congratulate the submitters. Some very very well-thought-out and well-reasoned comments were made to the committee. 
Before I address the bill specifically I will just express my sadness that the last speaker for the Government chose to spend so much of her time looking backwards. 
Darren Hughes 
: That suits the National Party. 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
: There we go—the callow kid from Kapiti is at it again. 
Darren Hughes 
: Oh he’s practised that. 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
: Yes I did; I could not wait. I suggest to that young man that he be quiet and listen. 
Darren Hughes 
: He’s so useless he can’t even come up with an original line. Give us the next one you’ve practised. 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
: Oh dear it is little wonder that this Government is on the way out. The point I want to make is this. I would suggest that the last Labour speaker should take a little time—she is young—to talk to the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister about the role they played in the 1987-90 Labour Government which brought this country to the point of economic collapse. They may just remind that young member of the courage and integrity of the previous National Government which pulled this economy around and set it on the path to prosperity. 
The amendment bill to the Student Loan Scheme Act 1992 will do a number of things. Some of them are in the interests of students—borrowers with loans—others will be in the interests of the taxpayer and others will make it easier for those charged with the administration of the scheme to do their work well. The whole body of regulations and legislation around student loans has been very very complex and it is good to see it being simplified. It will be easier for those students—those young people with loans—to actually figure out what is going on and to make better decisions for their future. 
Darren Hughes 
: Is the member supportive of free student loans? 
Paula Bennett 
: Don’t answer that. 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
: It is tempting but I will not. No he is not worth it. From the perspective that I have one of the great merits of this bill is that it sends at least one message to young New Zealanders: that we want them home. The reality is that our best and our brightest are leaving this country in droves. There are so many signals being sent to them by the present Government to say that this is not a country in which they can fulfil their potential. This is not a country where they see that their initiative will be rewarded and frankly it is not a country in which they see that they have a future. That Government over there is responsible for that perception amongst so many of our young people. So it is good to see this House sending at least one message to our young people that yes we want and need them back. 
I was particularly taken by a submission made by the medical students association. It was a good submission. It made the point that it is not unusual for medical graduates to want to go overseas in order to advance their learning widen their horizons study a little more and work. In that regard they are no different from our young engineers our young lawyers our young teachers and our young nurses. They want to go overseas. But we want and need them back. 
I recall during my days as a school principal employing over the years literally hundreds of young New Zealand graduates and encouraging them to go overseas to work in teaching to travel to try other things to broaden their horizons and in some cases to grow up. But I always said to them that I wanted them back and that I needed them back. 
New Zealand desperately needs our top young people back here so that we can have the advantages and the benefits of the top-quality education that many of them had while they were in New Zealand particularly in the professional fields. They come back smarter people they have more to contribute to the country they provide us with a high-quality workforce and because they have seen the world they see New Zealand in context and they can help us to figure out where we fit in and the direction in which we have to go. Of course that direction includes in less than 20 months’ time—fortunately—a National Government. 
I will address for a moment the idea of repayment holidays. I think that we probably all appreciate that it is better for our young graduates to be paying back the money they have borrowed as quickly and as soon as they can. Although I recognise the merit in allowing our young people to travel overseas and in giving them the opportunity to have this up to 3-year break I hope that they do not misunderstand the intent and the purpose of this House in giving them that opportunity because they know and we know that at some point in time that money has to be paid back. 
I will just repeat: we want them back in New Zealand we want to make it attractive and easy for them to come back but we want them travelling overseas for the right reasons and coming back for the right reasons. Travelling overseas in order to avoid a financial commitment like repaying one’s loan is not the sort of thing we want to be encouraging our young people to do. 
The bill in addition to being in the interests of students and of the taxpayer also assists those charged with the responsibility of administering the scheme. The select committee gave a lot of thought to the matching of data that is provided for in the bill between the Inland Revenue Department and the Customs Service. I believe it is right and proper that that matching should occur. In fairness to those students—those graduates—who meet their obligations it is right that that should occur. I have every confidence that both the Inland Revenue Department and the Customs Service will respect the intention behind the legislation and use the information available only for the purpose for which it is available. I have every confidence that the information gained will be protected by the Inland Revenue Department and will be used only by those who require it. On behalf of the National Party I am pleased to support the second reading of the bill.