speaking to a crowd of slightly drunk students, Greens co-leader imnofox discusses the need to invest in tertiary students

“Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena tatou katoa. It is my pleasure to be speaking to you all today at the Massey University Campus! We’re campaigning really hard in Palmerston North, across the Wairarapa electorate, and the rest of the country to oust this destructive Liberal-National government who have kicked tertiary students to the curb.”

“In our last term, we extended our one free year of tertiary education to two years of tertiary education. We were working to make tertiary education more accessible to all New Zealanders, whether studying at a university, a polytech, or any other kind of qualification. But when this government was elected, they instantly slashed that funding to zero. That left thousands of students in a financial lurch who were expecting to have that funding.”

“The Green Party are committed to supporting our tertiary students. We’ll make university more accessible by progressively reducing fees towards zero. We believe that progressively reducing fees across the board is much fairer for all students than simply wiping them for individual years, ensuring first years, second years, third years, and fourth years all benefit.”

“But there’s more to be done for those past their undergraduate years. In 2013, National scrapped the eligibility of postgraduate students for student allowances. This has forced too many postgraduate students to live in near poverty as they continue their studies. We need to provide real opportunities to people, especially those working hard to become our future doctors and scientists. That’s why we’ll restore that eligibility for postgraduate students to receive student allowances. We’ll also lift the 8-year lifetime limit on student loans for postgraduate medical students, which prevents our future doctors from completing their degrees. And we need doctors!”

“This is just a small part of our Green vision. We believe in an Aotearoa where everyone has the opportunity to get ahead. And that means an Aotearoa where everyone is free from poverty. An Aotearoa where everyone has a warm dry home to live in with nutritious food on their table. An Aotearoa where everybody gets a fair treatment for a fair day’s work. And we believe in an Aotearoa where our land and rivers are protected and nourished. An Aotearoa where our native habitats aren’t at risk from mining and exploitation. Where our birds and fish are protected. Where climate change is fought against, not ignored. Because that is an Aotearoa worth fighting for.”

“And here in Wairarapa, there is an excellent Green candidate by the name of Stalin1953 who’ll do a stellar job of taking your concerns straight to Wellington with the next Green government. If you believe in a Palmerston North where everyone is supported, free from poverty, with clean transport- vote for your local Green candidate and party vote for the Greens. Because our vision is an Aotearoa worth fighting for.”

the crowd of students cheered, enthused to vote two ticks Green on election day