Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 3)

It is an interesting night in the House because the Opposition is really getting fired up over this piece of legislation, the Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 3). You would think it was the worst thing in the world that we are trying to pass here, but, actually, it is eminently sensible. The Opposition does not think so. It has sent down its leadership contenders to have a go at this legislation. First we saw Cunliffe, and then we saw Robertson. He gave it a go as well. We have not seen Shane Jones yet. But what we are doing is pretty sensible. Effectively, all we are saying with this piece of legislation is that if someone is in default and they are trying to go overseas for the express purpose of trying to get away from paying their student loan obligations, then we are going to take some actions. All we are saying is that repaying your student loan debt—meeting your obligations, which every New Zealander is obliged to meet if they have a student loan—is important, and if they are in default, then we will be taking action.

This Government has spent a lot of time in its time in Government working on getting the student loan scheme under control, and fixing up the mess that Labour left us with after it was in Government. It had almost no rules in place and no restrictions in place in the student loan scheme at all. We saw the debt significantly ramp up, and we saw the number of people who were not meeting their obligations significantly increase as well. The Opposition might not care, but there is approximately half a billion dollars of student loan scheme money where overseas borrowers are in default. We know that overseas-based borrowers are a significant problem, because 59 percent of borrowers who are overseas are currently in default.

💬 Tracey Martin: No, you’ve got the wrong numbers.

The Opposition and Tracey Martin might not care about that. They might not care about the good, hard-working Kiwis who are paying their obligations on a very regular basis. They might not care about them. They might not care that those people are doing things right but overseas-based borrowers are getting away in a large degree of cases. We are taking some action. Yes, sure, the arrest capability that would be inserted in this bill might seem extreme; it would only be used in the most extreme of circumstances. If someone is absolutely flouting the law, if someone is saying to the New Zealand taxpayer that they do not care about meeting their obligations, then I think the New Zealand taxpayer expects us to take some action.

It is sensible, it is good law, and it is absolutely in line with what we have been doing as a Government in the student loan scheme area. It is absolutely in line with what we went to the public in an election to talk about and do. They support it. The Opposition is on the wrong side in this debate. It is a good thing that this is going to the Finance and Expenditure Committee so that it can be heard by the committee and people can make submissions on it.