Bradford Sue: Taxation (Annual Rates of income Tax 2005-06) Bill Taxation (Urgent Measures) Bill Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
Bradford Sue: Taxation (Annual Rates of income Tax 2005-06) Bill Taxation (Urgent Measures) Bill Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
[Volume:628;Page:796] 
SUE BRADFORD (Green) 
: 
 I would like to take this opportunity to make a few key points on behalf of the Green Party during the third reading debate on the Taxation (Urgent Measures) Bill the Taxation (Annual Rates of Income Tax 2005-06) Bill and the Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill. 
First of all we were dismayed by the attitude of the Government in pushing this legislation through the select committee process with such urgency that there was no opportunity at all for any outside group to make submissions. After the first reading debate representatives of a number of organisations approached me expressing their keenness to make submissions on aspects of this legislation. It is distressing that the select committee could not see its way clear to allow even a few key sector groups to put their points of view forward. The Green Party thinks it is a real pity that the normal processes of parliamentary democracy were set aside and not adhered to in this particular instance. 
Secondly I need to make clear why we are supporting this legislation. Despite the severe reservations we have about aspects of the Working for Families package and the way the legislation is being rushed though the House the reason the Green Party cannot do anything but vote for this legislation tonight is that it amends the Student Loan Scheme Act so that borrowers can get a full interest write-off when they are living in New Zealand. Our policy has always been to get rid of the student loan scheme altogether and failing that to reduce its negative impacts as quickly and efficaciously as possible. We know that students and graduates all over the country and elsewhere have been celebrating ever since Labour’s intention to amend the loan scheme was first announced before the election. Even though this legislation does not go far enough there is no way we could stand in the path of such beneficent progress. 
Getting rid of the student loan interest for resident borrowers will wipe years off their repayment schedules. The money saved will make it much easier for new graduates to contemplate all those things that we from older generations of students took for granted once we started on our career paths—such as being able to start a family or buy our own home. The Green Party is delighted that life will be made a whole lot easier for students and ex-students because of the legislation we are passing tonight. But we will not stop working for the day that the whole student loan scheme is scrapped fees are reduced to much lower levels and every full-time tertiary student is entitled to a living allowance each week regardless of his or her age or the income status of his or her parents. 
The urgent need for a universal student allowance has only been made more pressing by news today that the latest statistics from StudyLink show that the number of people eligible for allowances continues to fall. In the July to September period this year there were over 4000 fewer students getting an allowance than at the same time last year—a decrease of 7 percent. At the same time fees are going up around the country and it is harder than ever for students to make ends meet. It is time Labour took the next step and made sure students got at least the bare minimum required to survive so that their debt burden does not continue to spiral. 
Thirdly and finally I turn to the part of this legislation that amends the Income Tax Act to provide tax relief to some families through the Working for Families package. Although the Green Party supports the extension of the abatement cut-off point from $27500 to $35000 and the reduction in the rate of abatement from 30 percent to 20 percent we remain deeply concerned by the underpinning inequity of Working for Families which denies beneficiary families the same assistance that so-called working families get. 
Any Government but particularly a Labour Government should be aware of basic principles of social justice and common sense—that families including families’ children need the same amount of money to live on regardless of the source of the parents’ income. It is simply unacceptable that Labour persists with its blind adherence to the 1990s ideology that says that unless at least one parent is in substantial paid employment both adults and children within the family should therefore suffer an existence of harassed penury and perpetual indebtedness. At least a fifth of our children still live in poverty today. A large proportion of those kids come from sole parent and other beneficiary families. Many of those children are Maori. The legislation we are passing today gives more money to the slightly better-off families while continuing to deny support to those families who are most in need. This legislation maintains the gap between the working and the beneficiary poor with a discriminatory child tax credit which will become the in-work payment from 1 July next year. 
That is not good enough. It is high time Labour recognised the valuable contribution to society that people make in raising children even when they are bringing them up on a benefit. The bringing up of children even by those dependent on the State for support should be seen as one of the most difficult but most honourable jobs going and it should not be subject to the blatant discrimination upheld here tonight that is intrinsic to the whole concept that paid work is all that matters. The archaic doctrine of the deserving and the non-deserving poor should have been left in the 19th century where it belonged—it did not really belong there either but it definitely should not have been transported wholesale into the 21st century by a Labour Government.