Martin Tracey: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Martin Tracey: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 28 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:9082. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
TRACEY MARTIN (NZ First) 
: 
 Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker. I rise to speak on the Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2). Before I begin on my prewritten comments can I just comment how sad it is—how sad it is—when as some of our members begin to age their minds begin to wander. Let me just remind the House of a few facts. The student loan scheme was introduced in 1992. It is 21 years old. Mr Hayes may no longer be aware of that fact. Mr McClay surprises me also. I understand that Mr McClay has a youthful appearance and that some may think that he is still in his twenties but I have it on very reliable information that he is somewhere in his forties. Mr McClay tried to lay a guilt trip on the younger generation of today by saying—and let us use Mr McClay’s phrase what was the phrase—that they have the “generosity of the taxpayer”. They owe the “generosity of the taxpayer”. Mr McClay does still owe the generosity of the taxpayer as do the 120 other members of this House. But at the time that he went to university— 
David Bennett 
: Like you— 
TRACEY MARTIN 
: I agree Mr Bennett. At least I recognise it and am grateful Mr Bennett unlike the lack of memory Mr McClay apparently now reveals in the fact that when he gained his education he did not have to pay it back. 
Mike Sabin 
: Add some bass. 
TRACEY MARTIN 
: Neither did you Mr Sabin who is well into his forties. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! 
TRACEY MARTIN 
: Neither did the good-looking Mr Sabin who is also into his forties. Let us put a bit of reality around this shall we? None of the members who have spoken yet apart from the young Mr Hughes have actually had to take out a loan for their education. They have had an obligation to this country— 
Metiria Turei 
: I did. 
TRACEY MARTIN 
: I do beg your pardon madam. There are obviously younger members of this House behind me whom I neglected to mention. But many of the speakers currently from the Government benches got a free education. The speakers to date got a free education. So for them to lay a guilt trip on the young people of today I think is exceptionally disappointing. 
I think the other thing too Mr McClay also mentioned with regard to this Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2) is this phrase: “the overwhelming support of this Government”. All I can say is that if this is the overwhelming of support of a National-led Government then Lord help us as we go forward. While we are all going to be away watching Easter bunnies and eating chocolate Easter eggs on 1 April the student loan repayment rate will increase from 10 percent to 12 percent. That is a 2 percent increase out of the pay packets of already struggling people whose income has not risen but the cost of living has risen. So let us bring a little bit of reality back into this shall we? Mr Hayes at the Committee stage of this bill had the audacity to attempt to manufacture a greater divide between the younger generation and our older generation by suggesting that student loans were required because of the introduction of the SuperGold Card separated by at least 10 years in introduction with student loans being introduced in 1992 and the SuperGold Card being introduced in 2008. I worry. I truly truly worry for that member and his ability to retain information for long periods of time. 
I was particularly interested in Mr McClay—again let us come back to “the overwhelming support of this Government” for our young people. Where was the overwhelming support of this Government for fairness when I had Supplementary Order Paper 184 on the Table at the Committee stage which would have brought some fairness into this bill for New Zealand based borrowers—to allow them to be recognised in hard financial times? The Government does not reject the fact that we are in difficult financial times; it uses it often to justify many of its actions. Where was its overwhelming support for New Zealand based borrowers when I had a Supplementary Order Paper on the Table that would have allowed it to provide some of that overwhelming support for New Zealand based borrowers in recognition of a 1-year repayment holiday due to financial duress? Where was that support? It was not to be seen. Somehow—oh that is lovely—that overwhelming support was not obvious at that time. I would hope that possibly in the future—the next time this legislation comes into the House because I do not believe that this Government has finished with the student loan scheme—there might be an opportunity for that to be supported further. 
As a previous credit controller I do support the concept of people paying back their debt. I have worked with people over my professional life and I know the subconscious burden that debt places on an individual. So the faster debt can be addressed if debt must be incurred then the better it is for the individual out the other side. So New Zealand First did support originally in the previous amendment bill the shortening of the repayment holiday for overseas-based borrowers. But we also recognise that we are providing an overwhelming debt burden for our young people with this mechanism of borrowing for education. There needs to be a wider return to the concept of the social contract where you gain from your State your State supports you to educate yourself and then you give back to your country through your skills and your time. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! 
TRACEY MARTIN 
: I beg your pardon Mr Assistant Speaker. 
I met a young gentleman the other day who is embarking on a short course around coding. I do not personally know much about coding but what I do know about coding is that there is a worldwide shortage of young people expanding that knowledge base particularly in this country around the writing of code for programmes. In this conversation with this young 18-year-old he expressed to me how he was thinking about not following his passion not pursuing that educational pathway because he was looking at approximately $10000 to $20000 worth of debt at the end of it. I hope that I convinced that young man to continue on that pathway because in this country we have just seen the information and communications technology awards and we have just seen five of our game manufacturing companies in the top 10 internationally win awards. I hope that I convinced that young man and even though right now he works under a regime where his State decides that he must borrow to live and he must borrow to actually educate himself that he will continue to pursue that pathway. 
But it is a shame that we have to have those conversations. I think that is what has been tried to be expressed by New Zealand First again and again and again over the years since 1992 since this was introduced. We are putting young people off further education and it is not this high-end tertiary education only that is affected. Every single student who goes on to StudyLink is looking at a student loan and borrowing for their living allowances which gets tacked on at the end of it. They come out in their 20s. We all know. We all had the opportunity to come out in our 20s to go to work to start saving money and to try to get into a home. These young people carry this debt like a millstone around their necks. 
New Zealand First will support this bill because let us be frank it does two little things. It is nothing major. It is not earth-shattering but it does bring it in line with some other relatively practical mechanisms inside the Inland Revenue Department and around information matching with the Customs Service. So of course we are not going to oppose these little practical steps but an opportunity was lost. The continual insistence of members of the Government to try to shame our young people into being grateful for something that they got for nothing is I think disgraceful. 
Debate interrupted.