From Your President — Sam Blackmore

Blimey, I’m not sure about you but it seems that this year is starting to race by!

With all the COVID disruptions and now the delay to the General Election I thought I’d give y’all a breakdown on what each of the big five parties (the ones currently in parliament) want to provide for tertiary students. As, know, that’s you lot! All the information below has been retrieved from as close to the original policy document as possible. However, as you’ll see, not all parties have released real policies… Who would have thought that Politicians are avoiding being held to account huh?

Act?

They want to have a bank account for every kid in New Zealand containing 250k for all education. That’s from early childhood up to Uni. If you go over this amount then you’ll have to pay interest on this loan though. Removal of allowances is also a priority for Act. Hmm, this doesn’t really do much towards supporting students through study though right? Right?

Read more here: www.act.org.nz/education-policy

Greens?

Well, they want to ensure that the student allowance is universal, they want the postgrad student allowance back and ensure the retention of interest free student loans. Over time they would like to first cap, and then reduce the fees for tertiary education. This is probably on the more progressive end of all of the policies here, and will have an impact on the taxpayer. BUT to be fair that’s not hard when the other left-wing party in this list hasn’t even said what their policy is…

Follow up here: www.greens.org.nz/tertiary_ education_policy

Labour?

In true political fashion Labour haven’t actually announced much if they get back in because they included their big announcements in their 2020 Budget “Rebuilding Together”. That included investment into Diploma and other quick upskill trainings, not much else though in all honesty. They do talk a lot about what they’ve done during COVID and earlier… a bit beside the point though right? And in my opinion the COVID stuff was a bit too little, too late…

Have a look for yourself here: www.labour.org.nz/ education

National?

Sounding like the business party they are stereotyped to be — their education policy is called “Re-Starting International Education”. There is some good thought behind this, International Students are a huge asset to our country, and they bring in a TON of money. The question is, what do the NATs plan to do long term to support our domestic tertiary students? No word yet. Perhaps they are just waiting to see what Cindy pulls out next? Perhaps they’ll build a new road to all unis.

Cast your eyes over their info here: www.national. org.nz/restarting-international-education

New Zealand First?

This lot are hard to pin down. Much like Labour there is nothing on their website or anything that actually promotes their tertiary education policy. I’ve been able to learn from a source that they are just using the same policy as their 2017 election… However the interesting thing is that is a very similar policy to what the Greens had. Highlights of the 2017 policy were a Universal Student Allowance, and a change from a financial debt (aka student loan) to a skill debt (you have to stay in NZ and use your skill). Suppose this is actually pretty progressive, however I’m not going to trust anything until I see it in writing. You’re not pulling the wool over my eyes Winnie!

Keep your eyes peeled here if they decide to actually announce something: www.nzfirst.nz

So, something I’d strongly encourage you do is to go to the source. Read the policy for yourself. Make your mind up for what is going to help you to succeed. Elections come around every 3 years and there is nothing wrong with changing your mind if you are making an informed decision.

The worst thing would be to not even vote at all. 18 to 24yr olds are the worst at being enrolled and voting. So do your bit and make your voice count!