Faafoi Kris: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Faafoi Kris: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:678;Page:1438] 
KRIS FAAFOI (Labour—Mana) 
: 
 Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to speak to Part 2 which is a very narrow debate as you have already mentioned around transitional provisions around the contact persons for people who have gone overseas and who have student loans. The ears of parents around New Zealand who are watching this debate right now have pricked up because they want to know what their sons and daughters are going to get them into when they are heading overseas. They are also a little bit worried about what this provision and the provision in Part 1 around the repayment holiday may mean for them if their sons daughters or loved ones are going overseas for more than just the 1 year.  
For the benefit of those parents at home I would just like to point out again what a contact person constitutes in terms of the Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill. It means that if someone is going overseas you have to tell the Inland Revenue Department who this contact person is. You are going to have to obviously identify this person give the Inland Revenue Department their postal address an email if they have one a telephone number for this individual and any other information that may be specified in the regulations. With the transition to this contact person regime within the bill—at the moment we have a quasi-regime where some people have taken on this duty with their sons daughters or loved ones already and they have an amount of responsibility—now they are going to have a fair deal of responsibility. It is not responsibility for the amount of money that is owed but if the person who is overseas were to go missing or not pay their student loan back in time then this is the person whom the Inland Revenue Department staffers on behalf of the commissioner will call to ensure that something is done about the money that is owed. And we do note that there is a transition period which is dated up to 31 December 2012 I believe. We hope that the Inland Revenue Department as Nanaia Mahuta has already pointed out will be able to contact as many people as possible to tell parents that there is going to be a little bit of added responsibility on them for their loved ones—for their sons and daughters—who have gone overseas.  
As David Clark has mentioned already this is something that we think is relatively pragmatic to use that word again— 
Dr David Clark 
: It’s common sense.  
KRIS FAAFOI 
: —and relatively common sense but maybe there will be a degree of concern amongst parents in New Zealand at the moment whose sons and daughters may be reaching graduation and talking about heading overseas to Europe for their big OE. Their parents— 
Grant Robertson 
: Only there for a year now. 
KRIS FAAFOI 
: And it may be shorter now; that is a good point. But there will be a degree of concern amongst parents who have loved ones who are nearing graduation and looking at going overseas when they know that these students have student loans. Some of them may have hefty student loans. Those parents may know that they may not be coming back. Those parents may also be worried that they will be receiving a phone call an email or a piece of mail through their letterbox to say “Hey where’s your son? Where’s your daughter? They haven’t paid their student loan back on time and you’re going to be in the gun for it.”  
We welcome the transitional provision within the bill. We think it is relatively pragmatic but again we do feel the pain and the concern of many parents out there in New Zealand who are worried about what this may mean in terms of their loved ones who now may be going overseas for a little less time than traditionally has been the case for Kiwis on their OE. Thank you.