Alliance breathing early fire into election
From the Otago Daily Times, 28 May 2005, page 5

Breathing early fire into election
by Neal Wallace

The main political parties may not have been in campaign mode at the University of Otago yesterday, but Alliance Dunedin North candidate Victor Billot came out breathing fire and brimstone.
It was all very low key for the 150 mainly students who attended the public meeting with four political candidates at the Student Union, until Mr Billot launched an impassioned assault on behalf of students, workers and lower classes, who, he said, were being trampled on by the current free market policies.
He was the only speaker to attract sustained applause in what was otherwise a lacklustre meeting which, without an election date, was without real focus.
Dunedin North sitting MP, Labour's Pete Hodgson, National Party education spokesman Bill English and Greens co-leader Rod Donald also spoke on the level of student debt and tertiary policies in general.
Three are signs the election is looming, with Act New Zealand leader Rodney Hide, also visiting the city this week.
Mr English said Labour and National differed little in their policies towards the $7 billion of student debt.
He said Labour had taken for granted that they had the student vote and student leaders had not badgered the Government on the level of debt to turn it into an election issue.
National believed student debt contained few student votes for them.
"We are not going to promise the earth. We are not going to get into a student auction over debt," he said.
Mr Hodgson said the Government had made changes to the scheme to make it more affordable, while Mr Donald said his student daughter worked five nights a week to keep her debt under control.
A Green Party Government would introduce a student allowance equivalent to the unemployment benefit, debt write off for graduates staying and working in New Zealand, a cap on courses and an emergency unemployment benefit for students.
- posted by Victor @ 8:45 AM