Labour Party leader Fartoomuchpresssure announced Labour’s education policy at the Owen G Glenn building at Auckland University. The Fisher and Paykel Auditorium was packed full of university students and members of the public.

“Since the 1980s the costs of tertiary education have been rising. In 2006, Helen Clark’s Labour government took the first step to help students with the cost by writing off interest for student loans. Interest-free student loans have removed fees as a prohibitive factor for tertiary students in New Zealand. If elected, our government will take the next step towards making university affordable. In today’s New Zealand, the biggest obstacle to tertiary students is the cost of living. Where in past years it was possible to balance work and study, with rising living costs this is becoming increasingly difficult.

“At present, it is difficult to live off the combination of a student allowance and a part-time job. After you earn more than $212 a week, the size of your student allowance starts decreasing. From 2018 we will increase the student allowance by $50 and in 2021 we will add an additional $50 for students living away from home. We will keep the personal income deduction limit at $212, but coupled with the increase in the student allowance, this will be a net gain for students. The combination of a student allowance and a part-time job will be enough to live off.

“We will also remove the parental income deduction. At present, a student from a household with the median income will only receive $110 a week if they are living away from home. Only the very poorest of students receive anything respectable. This makes it very difficult for the majority of students, who are better off not accepting the allowance at all. We will abolish the parental income deduction, allowing all students to collect the student allowance, regardless of their parents’ income. It is unacceptable to expect students’ parents to pay for their living costs, when they may be unable to or unwilling to, simply because we deem them to earn too much.

“We believe that student loans sufficiently subsidise the cost of tertiary fees and have the added advantage of passing the cost back to students, which higher taxes and free education would only do indirectly. For this reason, we will scale back the Labour party’s previous plan of three free years to only one. This will also help subsidise the increases to living costs, which we believe to be a more effective use of funds. It will give students the choice between further study and work, rather than being forced into unskilled work because they can’t afford to study.

“This plan is essentially revenue-neutral in regard to the previous plan, with funding intended for fees being shifted towards living costs. This will make tertiary education possible for all. Students will not only be able to go to university but all other forms of tertiary education, polytechnics, trades, apprenticeships. A future for every type of student. A future for all.”