Short-sighted savings package will increase costs
te-pati-maori
Fri May 04 2012 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Short-sighted savings package will increase costs
Friday, 4 May 2012, 10:51 am
Press Release: The Maori Party
Te Ururoa Flavell
MP for Waiariki
Friday, 4 May, 2012
Short-sighted savings package will increase the burden of total cost to the country in the long run
“Tinkering at the edges of the student support system won’t create the kind of rebalancing of overall spend that the Government wants for tertiary education, and indeed the country, if it is to retain interest free student loans while at the same time disinvesting in the potential of our rangatahi ” says Te Ururoa Flavell, Maori Party education spokesperson.
“We are worried that young people will shy away from accessing higher education opportunities because they will end up with heftier loans and now higher repayment obligations, before they can get on with creating wealth and health within their own whānau and communities.”
“At the very heart of Whānau Ora is the ability of whānau to do for themselves. Ultimate independence and economic freedom are major contributors to Whānau Ora, and tertiary education qualifications are a pathway to that. Obviously the higher up the ladder our people succeed, the better off the whole whānau is.”
“We agree the original intent of the student allowances scheme should continue, as it always has, to assisting students from low-income families who need it most. Tidying up the definition of income will go some way in tightening the eligibility criteria, and that’s a good thing.”
“Higher education should be an expectation for every New Zealander - not just those with a healthy bank balance”.
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“Investing the annual savings gained from the changes must go toward incentivising sustainable outcomes for the whole whānau, rather than focusing on the potential of an individual without whānau commitments who will be able to repay student loans sooner”.
“We simply can’t afford as a country to have our whānau not succeeding to their highest potential and while the Government talks about the savings to be accrued from these latest announcements, surely the greater cost to the country in the long run is that of lower skilled, lower waged communities.”
If any of the changes result in creating any barriers for our people to become highly skilled, we should re-look at this rebalancing exercise.
“And the thing that worries me the most, is we know that Maori and Pacific will make up a significant proportion of the future workforce, and the evidence also tells us that the family circumstances for many Maori and Pasifika students impact in terms of them taking longer to both complete qualifications and pay loans off.”
To that end, Mr Flavell is also calling for information about the impacts of the tertiary education Budget announcements on Māori and Pasifika students.
“The ultimate re-balancing the Government needs to be focussing on is the one that will create highly skilled graduates who will remain in Aotearoa to help grow the economy.
Any changes that impact on the ability of any of our students to succeed to their greatest potential is disastrous for whānau and the economy – it creates the kind of skills shortages and gaps the country can ill afford and that is short sighted policy” said Mr Flavell.
“Our concern is about how the changes will impact on whānau, particularly when times are tough; jobs are hard to find and families face the increased cost of basic living costs like petrol, power and food. Lifting the minimum wage would be one immediate measure the Government could take to support whanau to look after themselves”.
ends
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