McClay Todd: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2) — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
McClay Todd: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2) — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 28 February 2013. Volume:687;Page:8342. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua) 
: 
 I think that last speech from David Cunliffe was exactly what Charles Chauvel was talking about in his valedictory speech last night—a plea to the Labour Party to give the party both of its wings back because it needs to fly. You see there is such a difference between the view on that side of the House and the realistic outcome on this side of the House. The student loan scheme in New Zealand is one of the most generous schemes for tertiary education anywhere in the world and it is possible only because this Government supports it and it is possible only because hard-working New Zealanders pay their tax and allow the Government to lend that money to students so that they can get degrees and extra education so that they can work hard raising skill levels in New Zealand and do much more for New Zealand society. The member opposite and the Labour Party opposite just want to throw that away and say to hard-working New Zealanders: “These people who are borrowing money based on the taxes you’ve paid from your hard work have no obligation to you at all.” 
Indeed we have campaigned on saying that we believe the student loan scheme is important. We are committed to it staying here but we must make it efficient we must make it fair and we must make it deliver for the New Zealand taxpayer as well. I believe that we are doing that. You see in the changes that have been made over the last three Budgets by this Government in New Zealand I can say to the New Zealand taxpayer that the money that is being lent to students in New Zealand is being used better and it is being repaid at a faster rate. That means we can borrow less as a Government and we can also put more back into the student loan scheme so that your sons and daughters and others be it Young Peter or Old Peter—it was a lovely story by the previous member. It is a pity that he did not spend more time reading the bill and what it actually achieves than unnecessarily making up stories about a hard-working Minister who yet again is bringing a bill to this House that actually helps New Zealanders. So what we know is that this is doing very good things to support the hard-working New Zealanders who pay their tax. 
Very briefly the Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2) does a couple of things. It broadens the definition of “income” for student loan repayment purposes. It aligns with a number of other pieces of legislation and the way that income is treated when it comes to working out what people’s obligations are. This is a loan. It is a contract between the New Zealand taxpayer and the student. Young Peter one day will go and be able to afford to buy a house under this Government because we are doing things that actually will have an effect upon homeownership. We are not saying that we will go out and build 100000 homes in about a year and that you will be able to buy them all over Auckland for less than $300000 but we are doing actual things. Well just as Young Peter would go out and get a mortgage from a bank and he would have a contractual obligation to that bank to repay the money he has borrowed. In this case not only is there a contractual agreement with the Government to repay but also there is a moral obligation on the part of students to repay money to the taxpayer who has lent that to them under very important circumstances so that they can study and get ahead. So that is what we are doing there. 
There are administrative efficiencies being found and also there is the ability to match information between the Inland Revenue Department and the New Zealand Customs Service so that in respect of people who go overseas or who are overseas and who have not met their obligation to the Government and their moral obligation to the New Zealand taxpayer when they return information can be sought and gathered and we can find ways to help them realise that the only reason the New Zealand Government can lend taxpayers’ money to students to study is that they in turn will pay it back. 
I want to say here finally that over the last three Budgets the changes the Government has made have brought the cost of the student loan scheme from 48c in the dollar to 39c in the dollar. We campaigned and said that we would bring it back to 40c in the dollar and now we have surpassed that. Indeed in Budget 2012 the forecast student support changes would have provided a one-off saving of about $250 million and then annual savings of $60 million to $70 million. Well indeed at 30 June 2012 the actual saving was $286 million. Again the Government has surpassed the commitment it made to New Zealanders in the Budget. 
Finally this is the most important point. This is what the Opposition should be focusing on not the petty politics of those members wanting to chuck money at people just to buy votes but actually looking after all New Zealanders. Since we came to Government there has been an 11 percent increase in student loan repayments—an 11 percent increase—so that New Zealanders are repaying their debt to the Government meeting that contractual obligation just as many of them are when they are paying back their loans to banks if they buy houses or cars and so on. But at the same time they are meeting that moral obligation to New Zealand mums and dads who work hard and pay their taxes. I say to the Minister of Revenue who has brought this bill to the House that it is a job well done. Thank you.