Clark David: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 3) — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeClark David: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 3) — Second Reading[Sitting date: 13 February 2014. Volume:696;Page:15948. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr DAVID CLARK (Labour—Dunedin North): I rise on behalf of the Labour Party to oppose this bill the Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 3). I do so with some regret. It is the Labour Party’s firm conviction that those who borrow money from the taxpayer for the purposes of bettering themselves their families and their communities ought to repay those loans. That is something that we have supported. We have certainly supported bills in this House that are designed to achieve that end.However this particular bill introduces some particularly punitive measures and we see that it is likely to cause some very unfortunate outcomes. The police have given a clear indication that they do not have the resources necessary to implement them. This “arrest at the border” provision which sits at the heart of the bill is a populist gimmick and the National Party knows that. This is posturing. This is election-year posturing in its authoritarian form and as Labour Party members we are unable to support it.The bill stands in stark contrast to the relaxed position taken opposite in response to multinational tax avoidance. We know very well that the likes of Facebook and Google are paying minimal tax in New Zealand. They are paying in many cases less tax than individual members in this House and yet the Government has no problem with that. It is not going after them. Instead it is sitting on its hands and chasing young students who do not actually have in many cases the resources to fight back.This is a Government that is obsessed with chasing the little guy. This is a Government that is obsessed with beating up small business; with tilting the playing field so that big business which does not pay tax can get ahead; and with destroying small business—destroying small business. I do not know why the National Party hates small business so much. Maybe it has lost touch with its roots. Maybe it has lost touch with the fact that small business makes up the bulk of businesses in this country that contribute to our GDP to the growth in our economy and to the provision of jobs. Maybe the Government is so out of touch and arrogant that it does not think it needs the votes of ordinary small-business folk.The Government is now so much in the pocket of big business that it is running its lines. It is interested only in protecting the interests of big business. And actually I am keen to communicate to those members opposite that even the big-business folk whom I have heard from do not like that. They want others to have the opportunity they have had to grow in New Zealand and to export their products. They do not want a country where there are fewer and fewer and fewer successful businesses. That is the environment that this Government is creating and here we have another example.I want to take a moment to pause and think about the interest-free student loan scheme that we are here discussing amendments to. This is a scheme that was one of thegreat achievements of the Clark Labour Government. Removing punitive and unsustainable interest charges from student loans defanged what had become an increasingly impractical andgenerationally unfair system for funding tertiary students. This was one of the great achievements of the Clark Labour Government.I am very proud to represent an electorate that has more students than any other in New Zealand. I am proud to represent Dunedin North where students benefit from this interest-free student loan scheme that makes possible learning that otherwise would not be possible for many of those students. It is a great scheme and I do have to note for the record how much National opposed it. It was not happy with the interest-free student loan scheme. It did not want it introduced but now it is forced to through I do not know maybe the change of principle that sat alongside decisions never to go with New Zealand First. That now means that circumstances have changed. Those kinds of flexible principles that John Key espouses—Tracey Martin: You might need us. Be careful.Dr DAVID CLARK: The member there is making clear that she has a view on these things. But it is very clear that the Government opposite is very flexible in terms of the statements it makes. It will say one thing stridently one year and change its position on that and the student loan bill is no different. It was howling at the moon when the scheme was introduced and now National members support the student loan scheme albeit through gritted teeth. They consistently look for ways to get around that ruling. We have seen the $40 charge they introduced to all borrowers to make sure that administration costs are covered. They do not like interest-free loans. They hate them.Mike Sabin: What do businesses think of your Facebook ban?Dr DAVID CLARK: I hear the member Mike Sabin opposite yelling out. He hates student loans. He hates interest-free student loans as much as the rest of them.Tracey Martin: He hates them.Dr DAVID CLARK: They hate students I am hearing—they hate students. Well perhaps that is true. Certainly those who would be at university only under the student loan scheme—Mike Sabin: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The member just made an allegation that I said I hated student loans—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): No no. The member will sit. That is not a point of order.Dr DAVID CLARK: Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. They are upset at having the fact pointed out that they objected to student loans when they were introduced. They did not like interest-free student loans. They still do not like them and they certainly do not like having that pointed out. I hope that the students at home watching this exchange in Parliament remember how much National members do not like the student loan interest-free provision; how much the National Government would dearly like to reintroduce more charges on student loans including the charges it has already introduced—the $40 annual charge that was introduced by the National Government!We know that this is one of the best schemes around. We know that it supports the young people in my electorate and it makes tertiary education more accessible. We also know that access to allowances has been cut by this Government. It has been responsible for—Andrew Little: Oh no!Dr DAVID CLARK: That is right Mr Little; it has been responsible for restricting access to student allowances. The Government is constantly against the wider population getting educated. It thinks that only those who have deep deep pockets should access education and we on this side of the House do not think that is fair. We think that everybody should have the opportunity to get ahead. We think that we reallyneed this interest-free student loan scheme to continue but we also think it needs to be fair. We think it needs to be well supported by the Government but fair. Those who owe the debt ought to pay it back but it should not be ridiculed by having punitive measures like this Government is introducing in the legislation that are likely to seize a few unfortunate students who are arrested at the border. They probably cannot meet their obligations currently but have come home say for a family funeral and find themselves arrested at the border because they cannot meet their commitments.We have certainly had an indication from the Inland Revenue Department that it will not be able to pursue all of the people who might fall into this category. It is likely to try to make an example out of a few. The measure will not generate money. We have asked for figures. The Government does not know how much money this policy might generate. It really is posturing. It is a distasteful gimmick and it is this National Government doing some dog-whistle politics because it cannot get rid of the interest-free student loan scheme. It is too popular. It is too good a policy. It allows too many people access to education and people would notice. So this arrogant out-of-touch National Government is looking at all the petty changes it can make to try to send that dog whistle to its core vote.Well the times they are a-changing—the times they are a-changing. We certainly heard plenty of submissions in that select committee which I will concede was well chaired by Mr Goldsmith whom I have always supported in the Finance and Expenditure Committee chair role. I am looking forward to his contribution in due course though he does sometimes adopt some punitive attitudes himself in terms of these pieces of legislation. He will I am sure talk about what a privilege it is to access these things and make very clear that the support for the student loan scheme has many conditions attached and is begrudgingly given. But we will look forward to hearing from his own mouth what he has to say when he has the opportunity.What I want to say is that Labour supports practical real solutions to improve the collection of student loans not focus group gimmick-based policies that do not address the real issue.