Woods Megan: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2) — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Woods Megan: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2) — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 19 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8679. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Dr MEGAN WOODS (Labour—Wigram) 
: 
 I just want to build on what some of my colleagues have said in relation to Part 2 of this Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2). In particular I will speak to clauses 50 through to 62A in terms of the transitional arrangements that are going to occur in here. I think that what we see is the complexity of the phasing in of these changes. The transitional arrangements that we are going to have to have in order to implement the changes that are embedded in this legislation really speak very much to the tinkering that is going on in this legislation and to how it really is fiddling around the edges and not addressing some of the bigger issues around access to tertiary education in this country through loans and allowances. 
I just want to reiterate what my colleagues who have spoken before me have alluded to in terms of the shifting of the “Henry VIII” clause into Part 1 of the legislation. What we are seeing is that a lot of the concerns that were there really do need to still be there in Part 2. If we have a look at these transitional arrangements—and to pick up on the point that Holly Walker made—when we are thinking about this we do need to think that this is not just about students who are currently studying but also about graduates. I was saying in my last contribution—before I was cut off in my last contribution on Part 1 of this bill—that I am one of the growing number of parliamentarians in this place for whom student loans are not a theoretical issue. I have a student loan and I list it on my pecuniary interests as a growing number of parliamentarians here do. 
These are not just small little changes that you fiddle around with. I know that for many members of my peer group people who are my friends and who are my age these kinds of changes about how things like this are phased in—how it is done and the fairness and equity in terms of how these changes are made—are really some of the do or die factors of whether or not they stay in New Zealand; whether they stay here and contribute to our country and use their skills their training and their education which could be for the betterment of all New Zealand if they do choose to stay here and do that. I think this is something that we do have to bear in mind all the time when we are looking at how we bring in these measures. 
My colleague David Cunliffe went through some of these transitional arrangements in quite a lot of detail. If we have a look for example at clause 57 of the bill it states when it is that the commissioner may grant relief from late payment interest and how it is that that is going to be used. What we are trying to achieve in this legislation is a fairer student loan system by saying that everybody who borrows should be paying back their student loan and Labour supports that element of the bill. But what we do not want is any provisions in this bill to be an impediment to people coming back to New Zealand or to their being able to face up to their loan and to make the payments that are needed. So we do need to make sure that we have fairness and that we have equity in how we are implementing these transitional arrangements because they do make a difference. These are not theoretical situations. These are the very kinds of rules on which every day young New Zealanders who have left to live in other countries make their decisions about whether they stay or go. 
The other point I would like to know about in terms of the complexities of the transitional arrangements and in terms of the implementation of this is the infrastructure that is going to be needed to implement it. What we are going to have is a whole lot of different rates and offsets that are going to operate for a period of time while we phase in these changes. That is inevitable with any piece of legislation and we are supporting this legislation. But the point that Labour would like to make is that we do have some questions around the technology that is going to be needed to implement this legislation—about whether it will be in place and about whether we will be able to phase in these changes in the way in which this legislation sets out in these transitional arrangements in Part 2 of this bill. 
I think what everybody in this Committee is after is a way in which to make this scheme fairer and that is why Labour is happy to support this legislation. But what we would like to see is a scheme that did actually go to more fundamentally addressing these issues of access to tertiary education in New Zealand and that we do have a way in which New Zealanders can access our polytechnics can access our universities and can access training and education at all levels. We do not want to see this limited and we want to see all New Zealanders given this opportunity. We would not like to see any impediments in terms of how this legislation is going to be implemented put in there. 
My colleague Holly Walker spoke in relation to Part 2 of this bill. She spoke about how it is that we have seen an attack on student access by this Government throughout this term and the previous term. She said that there really has been an agenda to dampen down demand in terms of transferring people from student allowance in terms of borrowing it and being saddled with that debt in terms of student loans. This is something that we do need to bear in mind. We need to be creating systems whereby more New Zealanders want to be part of our future—to stay here and to have the skills and the education and the training to stay here and to be part of it. We just want to make sure that that can be implemented in a transparent robust fair and equitable way. Thank you very much. 
The question was put that the amendments set out on Supplementary Order Paper 185 in the name of the Hon Peter Dunne to Part 2 be agreed to.