Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Shanan Halbert: Labour's Tertiary Education Spokesperson explains student loan policy

Transcript

Shanan Halbert: Labour's Tertiary Education Spokesperson explains student loan policy · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: If you've got a student loan, well, Labour wants your vote.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: If you've finished your study and you're still paying off
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: a student loan, we will wipe 10% off what you
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  Speaker 1: owe on the 1st of April next year. And we
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: won't stop there. On top of that, anyone who finishes
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: their study and stays in New Zealand for three years
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  Speaker 1: gets a 10% cut. The cost is $ 583 million over
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: the next four years. Shannon Halbert, Labour's tertiary education spokesperson
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: with me this morning. Shannon, good morning.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning.
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  Speaker 1: Good to have you on the show. So you have
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  Speaker 1: said yesterday Kiwis are ditching New Zealand, increasing number of them.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: So I want to know what problem you're fixing here.
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  Speaker 1: How many university graduates are leaving New Zealand each year?
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  Speaker 2: What we know is that we want to give Kiwis
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  Speaker 2: every reason to stay here in New Zealand and build
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  Speaker 2: their life here. By reducing their debt by 10%, that
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  Speaker 2: offers an incentive for them to do just that, for
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  Speaker 2: them to get ahead, to be able to buy their
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: house when they need to. We can't see the number
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  Speaker 2: of people going offshore all the time, and we've got
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  Speaker 2: to give them every reason to stay here, Ryan.
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  Speaker 1: We can see how many people go offshore all the
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  Speaker 1: time through Stats NZ data, right? So you don't know
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  Speaker 1: how many leave with a university degree within the first
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  Speaker 1: three years?
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  Speaker 2: Well, we know that we've seen 20,000 people get offshore
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  Speaker 2: to Australia, for example. New Zealand knows that we've got
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  Speaker 2: a problem in qualified people going across the ditch. We
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  Speaker 2: want to change that, and the way that we will
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  Speaker 2: do that is about addressing the cost of living here
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  Speaker 2: in New Zealand and reducing their student loan debt. That's
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  Speaker 2: our responsibility as a future government.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Sure, but how many, I mean, you said that the
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  Speaker 1: number is increasing, the number of qualified people going to
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  Speaker 1: Australia is increasing. How many? What by?
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  Speaker 2: I said that thousands of New Zealanders are going across
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  Speaker 2: the ditch.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, but how many of them have got degrees? Across qualification. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: but Shannon, your policy is about people with degrees, right?
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  Speaker 1: So how many with degrees are going?
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  Speaker 2: I haven't got that number in front of me this morning, Ryan,
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  Speaker 2: but every New Zealander knows that there's thousands of people
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  Speaker 2: going across the ditch to that is skills going across
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  Speaker 2: to Australia. We want those skills staying here in New Zealand,
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  Speaker 2: and we've got to offer an incentive for young people
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  Speaker 2: to stay here.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: The first payment, so there's two payments, the first payment, 10% off,
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  Speaker 1: is the 1st of April next year. Is that right?
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: That's correct, and that's 10% for people that have completed
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  Speaker 2: studies already and have a balance sitting on their loan.
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  Speaker 1: Right. This is in groups. So just staying with the
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  Speaker 1: first one, so anyone who's finished uni and has a
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  Speaker 1: balance to pay, on the 1st of April next year
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  Speaker 1: they get 10% off. Do they have to be living
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  Speaker 1: in New Zealand or can they just be in New
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  Speaker 1: Zealand on the 1st and get the 10% off?
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  Speaker 2: They have to meet the criteria under IRD and be
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  Speaker 2: based in New Zealand. Yes, they do. On top of that,
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  Speaker 2: those people who have loans of under $ 2, 000, those will
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  Speaker 2: also be written off.
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  Speaker 1: So what is the criteria? Can I come back into
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  Speaker 1: New Zealand? If I'm living overseas, got a student loan,
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  Speaker 1: I want 10% off. Can I fly in for a
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: week and fly out and get the 10% off?
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  Speaker 2: No, you have to meet the criteria and that requires
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  Speaker 2: you to be here at least one month prior in
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  Speaker 2: order to be eligible for the 1st of April next
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  Speaker 2: year in 2027. If you don't move that, there is
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  Speaker 2: an incentive for you to still come home and be
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  Speaker 2: eligible for the next round of payments in the following years.
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  Speaker 2: Shannon Halbert from Labour. For more from Early Edition with
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: Ryan Bridge, listen live to News Talk ZB from 5 a.m.
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  Speaker 2: weekdays or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.