Border Patrol Will Scare Skilled Kiwis from Coming Home

new-zealand-labour-party

Fri May 17 2013 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Border Patrol Will Scare Skilled Kiwis from Coming Home

Friday, 17 May 2013, 12:10 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

Border Patrol Will Scare Skilled Kiwis from Coming Home

Heavy-handed tactics being used against some overseas student loan borrowers will do nothing to encourage them to come home, start paying their loans, and contribute to New Zealand's future, says Labour's Tertiary Education spokesperson, Megan Woods.

"Of course people with loans who are living overseas need to be meeting their repayment obligations.

“But the Government's latest announcement that it is going to arrest defaulters at the border when they return home is not a solution.

“Coupled with a move last year to cut the repayment ‘holiday’ from three years to one, this latest measure further limits the freedom of young Kiwis’ to do their OE and return with new-found skills.

“We need to encourage people who have gained valuable overseas experience to come home and contribute to New Zealand's future. Threatening to arrest them at the border will hardly do that.

“Over the last couple of years the Government has introduced a range of measures to improve the repayment rate of all borrowers and we have supported those. We don’t, however, support overly harsh and punitive moves such as this one.

"There will be parents and grandparents all over the country worried that they will not see their children and grandchildren back anytime soon.

“Those fears are legitimate. Labour has real concerns about this policy.”

ENDS

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