Young Jonathan: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Young Jonathan: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 20 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5542. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth) 
: 
 I am happy to stand and speak to the Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2). 
Grant Robertson 
: The sound operator was sending you a message there. 
JONATHAN YOUNG 
: Yes. Fortunately I do not have to shout as loudly as the member from Palmerston North did in the last bill. [ 
Interruption 
] Well the louder he shouted the less I could hear what was coming through. However to the previous speaker Grant Robertson I say that I think there were a number of reasonable comments there. Probably not all of them would I agree with particularly around this notional thought that he is putting out that we see tertiary education as an area where cuts can be made. I think that what we are seeing here is some adjustments to a student support scheme that bring some accountability of course and some efficiency. We want to ensure that future generations of students have access to such a scheme so we are ensuring that we will retain or build the value of this scheme for New Zealanders. 
It is true as the Minister of Revenue said in his speech that the cost of the scheme in the previous administration went to 48c in the dollar and working to bring the cost of that down to something that is more acceptable has been quite a job over these last few years. Now it is just over 39c in the dollar. What that means is that there is a better return for taxpayers but what it also means is that this scheme becomes more accessible for more students. We have been very focused on creating accessibility for tertiary students. We firmly believe that with the changes that happen in technology you cannot just roll out of high school without a qualification and hope to get a high-paid job. More and more people need to have a skill and a qualification that are going to enable them to earn a high-paid job. Of course this is all a work in progress. 
I want to just touch on some comments regarding the efficiency and the building of the efficiency of the tertiary sector. Results from 2011 show that the Government’s continued focus on performance in the tertiary sector is paying dividends. Tertiary education skills and employment Minister Steven Joyce raised this in a press release just recently on 6 September. He made the comment and I am happy to quote this that “Course completion rates have risen from 77 percent in 2009 to 82 percent in 2011 with qualification rates over the same period increasing from 62 percent to 71 percent.” So whilst we are seeing tertiary education becoming more accessible to students what we are seeing also is that there is a lift in completion rates and a lift in qualification rates. 
Some of the adjustments that we have made to the student loan scheme are part of that motivation. If somebody is going to go into a tertiary training situation and continue to receive support from the taxpayer the requirement to get a 50 percent pass rate over that 2-year period is bringing accountability. It is not just the next experience after high school. It is not just the intermediate thing between high school and possibly employment. It is actually requiring people to be stewards of the funds that the taxpayer provides and it is ensuring that the continuity of those funds is matched with hard work in that tertiary training and with a qualification that in the end is going to give them a marketable qualification so at the end of it a student does not come away with indebtedness that does not give at the same time an opportunity to gain employment. 
I believe that these measures that we are putting in place are sound. I think that they are expected. I think in difficult financial times the taxpayer wants to see not only accountability but fiscal responsibility from Government. So I do commend the work that has gone into this bill. As the previous speaker said it is a technical bill. I think the issues around data matching are important I think that his comments around that were sensible and I think that what we are going to see is some progress made to create a very robust system for the future for future generations of learners in our country. We know that we compete internationally and that the human capital of New Zealanders is very much tied to the education qualifications and skill base that we have here as a nation. So I am very happy to commend this bill.