Faafoi Kris: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Faafoi Kris: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill — In Committee 
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KRIS FAAFOI (Labour—Mana) 
: 
 Thank you very much Mr Chairman for allowing me a call on Part 1 of the Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill. I would just like to touch on a point that Mr Parker made around the sums that are involved in actually taking these measures and whether or not this is just tinkering at the edges in terms of National’s commitment to student loans. I understand that by taking the measures in this bill—and the member for Dunedin North did point this out in the last call—we are looking at bringing in about $14 million— 
Dr David Clark 
: In total. 
KRIS FAAFOI 
: —in total more revenue as part of the measures that are being taken in this bill. To put that in— 
Dr David Clark 
: A best guess. 
KRIS FAAFOI 
: That is a best guess— 
Dr David Clark 
: The IRD. 
KRIS FAAFOI 
: —from the Inland Revenue Department. But to put that in perspective a total of $12 billion is owed by New Zealanders who have taken out a student loan. To put that in a context of those who are now overseas $2.5 billion is owed in terms of student loans by Kiwis who have now studied have taken out a loan and have gone overseas. I understand in the nominal sense that that is 0.12 percent. In terms of what this bill is going to do in terms of taking action against those who have gone overseas and maybe are shirking their responsibilities in terms of paying their student loan back we do not think on this side of the Chamber that this will make much of a difference.  
One of the aspects of that—and there is an amendment on the Table under the name of Grant Robertson pertaining to new section 107B in clause 17—is around the repayment holiday which will be reduced from 3 years down to 1 year. As someone who has gone overseas for roughly 2 years on an overseas experience this is something that I would have been caught in if this law had been in place in roughly 2006 and 2007. This would have meant that I would have had only a 1-year repayment holiday which means that I would have come back to somewhere in the vicinity—and maybe my colleague over here will be able to correct me if I am wrong—of a debt of around $1000 or $3000 if I had not repaid my loan while I was away. As I was away for 2 years the law as it is proposed in the bill at the moment would have meant that I would be a year out and if I had not repaid then I would have returned to New Zealand with a considerable debt.  
We do think that the Committee should consider the amendment that is on the Table under the name of Grant Robertson making sure that this bill keeps the repayment holiday period at 3 years. We think it is a good solution. Given the amount of time that Kiwis usually head away overseas to take their OE we do also note—and it has been mentioned on a number of occasions—that the Minister of Revenue Peter Dunne in 2007 did state that a 3-year working holiday period would be a pragmatic approach to making sure that we can get back the revenue that we can get back and it would suit better the purposes of those students who had taken out a loan and had gone overseas. We also understand that Treasury itself has said that making this change from a 3-year period to a 1-year period may in fact mean that less money comes in in terms of revenue from those who have gone overseas.  
In terms of this bill we have already stated that we are looking forward to the contribution from Peter Dunne. We ask that he return to his position in 2007 where he quite clearly stated that a 3-year holiday period was much more preferred in terms of that holiday than a 1-year period. We also look forward to maybe seeing members on the opposite side of the Chamber who may think that this is a good move supporting the amendment of Grant Robertson. The student loan bill at $12 billion is a significant amount of money. We want to make sure that the students who have taken out a student loan do get into the habit of paying it back and if they can pay it back they do. But with $2.5 billion being owed by students who are overseas we think that much better measures can be taken in this bill in terms of what is in this now to make sure that we can get some of that $2.5 billion back. It is a significant amount of money.  
It is a concern that we had a significant interjection or a contribution from Maggie Barry across the Chamber while Chris Hipkins was speaking. We do want to try to draw some of best and brightest back and maybe taking a load off them in terms of their student loans is a way to do that but to hear Ms Barry say that we will never get them back is a concern. We want to make sure we get our best and brightest back. As Chris Hipkins said it was pointed out by John Key ahead of the 2008 election just how many Kiwis are going overseas and we want to make sure they are coming back.