Turner Judy: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
Turner Judy: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:648;Page:16866] 
JUDY TURNER (Deputy Leader—United Future) 
: 
 I rise to speak on behalf of United Future in this debate and in the 5 minutes that I have I want to focus on looking at the money that has been announced for tertiary students. The Budget contained $130.8 million worth of additional funding over 4 years to improve access by tertiary students to a living allowance. One of the things that has amused me over the last few years is that most of us currently in this House represent the generation that got its tertiary education pretty much for free. In fact some of us were paid to be trained. We are now the generation that chooses to impose quite enormous costs on our children and the following generations for the very selfsame privilege. 
New Zealand tertiary students are the only sector in society that is required to borrow to live. This discrimination is not based on age gender or race but is based on the intention of an individual to improve his or her contribution to New Zealand society. People who go on to the unemployment benefit are not asked where they live—whether they live at home with mum and dad or are out on their own. No one will ask them how much their parents earn. We are very happy for people to fill out the forms to provide them with a living allowance. But as soon as people want to do something productive for their future and the good of the country then we sting them hard. One other interesting factor is that the parents of these students are not entitled to Working for Families credits even though they are still financially held accountable for their upkeep. 
I want to be clear that United Future’s overall policy is for a universal living allowance for students although we acknowledge we are not the only party in Parliament that would support that change. This year as part of our supply and confidence agreement with the Labour-led Government we negotiated a lowering in the age limit for student allowances against parental income testing by 1 year—from 25 years to 24 years. That change will benefit about 5000 students in the first year and about the same number each year. That change for students was not the only one announced by the Government and we acknowledge the other additional gains. There was the welcome 10 percent increase in parental income thresholds for full student allowances from 1 January 2009 but in respect of that policy gain we have to recognise that eventually it will be overtaken by inflationary creep. So students will be back asking for those thresholds to be readdressed. But when we drop the age limit we put in place something that is much more long term and will not be undermined by things like inflation. 
For United Future that is a step towards a principle that we believe in and we believe it to be in the best interests of New Zealand. It is also a step towards a long-term solution which we believe would be a universal student living allowance. We believe also that future Governments could explore much more the way the country should invest in the long-term outcomes of New Zealand tertiary students and ultimately to see a better return for taxpayers. Currently taxpayers are trying to reconcile the number of graduates exiting New Zealand against workforce shortages which are a concern. We think there are a number of attractive options around bonding and debt write-offs that should continue to be explored and used particularly if we want to reduce the workforce shortages in essential professional services. We believe also that we should be looking strongly at the accommodation allowances given and we need to make sure that those are better matched to the rental environments in each separate university city. 
United Future welcomes this additional money but believes that it is merely a step in the right direction and that much more must be considered. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I advise members that the call for the member will be 5 minutes.