Turei MetiriaMETIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green) I speak on behalf of Gareth Hughes to the Student Loan Scheme (First Home Repayment Diversion) Amendment Bill which is in his name as he cannot be present today. I want to thank those parties that are supporting this bill. Labour and the Greens well understand the pressures that young families are facing every day in this simple task of finding a decent affordable home for them and their families to live in.So this bill does make a very pragmatic proposal to the Chamber. That proposal is that we can give young families who have studied and obtained a loan and are now working the opportunity to choose for a 5-year period whether to save for a deposit for a house or to pay off their student loan. That is what we are doing here: a pragmatic option for young families that are right now struggling to pay off their student loans and to afford expensive ever-increasing rents. Our bill just gives these young families the choice about what they want to do with that first 5 years after they finish their studies and are in the workforce.Let us not forget that so many of these young people who come out of university often with very very high student loans are young doctors young nurses builders lawyers and accountants—there is a wide range of people. These are people who are starting families. Many of them are partnered or are married. Many many of them have children and they are looking to provide security for themselves and their family as they start a new life after study in the workforce. We say we should give these young people and their families some flexibility in the repayment of their loans just for a 5-year period and just for the purpose of saving for a deposit so that they can get a start so they can build some security and so they will know that when they start a new job and they send their kids to kindy or to playcentre or to school they and their family are secure in a home that they can own. That is all that this bill is asking. It is not some radical reform I agree—it is not radical reform here—it is an opportunity for young families to just get a start and have some choices in their life.We know that homeownership rates in this country are the lowest that they have been in 66 years. How do we get to the situation where what used to be a minimum expectation—that a young family could get into a decent home to be able to start their life together raise their children and do good work—has now become so impossible for these young families in terms of simply starting with the basics: a decent job and a decent home? This bill will give those young families those choices.So we urge members in the House to put aside their political assumptions—I understand there are bigger changes that we need to be making—and to put in their minds first and foremost those young families that we all talk to every day. Think about our own kids who are in their 20s and who want to start their life with a partner or without but with their families and some security. Think about our own people whom we know and meet in our communities every day who are desperate for some housing security so that they know that they can start a good life for their families. Let us just give them this choice so they can suspend their student loan repayments and save for a deposit for a home.Let us not forget either that people are required to pay back their student loan when they earn just over $19000 a year. So we are talking about very low-income people often who are really struggling to pay their student loan to pay the costs of going to work to keep their families well and to be able to afford expensive rents. Let us give these families a break. Let us give these young families the same chances that we had to be able to live a decent life take care of our kids and have affordable decent secure housing. That is the job of this Parliament: to take care of those families and to do what we can to give them more choices.So I urge the House to support this legislation—at least to select committee so we can have the debate about the costs—and to put our young families first please. Thank you.