The Alliance and Education
Here is an article I recently contributed to Gyro – the student magazine at Otago Polytechnic.

The two student leaders down there seem switched on. Rachel Dibble, the polytech student president, came along to put some tough questions to the politicians at the recent forum at Otago University.

And the Otago Polytech students vice-president Natalie Absalom writes in Gyro:
"We need a Government that is prepared to invest in education and sadly Labour is not going to do it on its own conscience. Therefore I would personally advocate a party vote for the Alliance, the Progressives, the Maori Party and perhaps the Greens is a vote well spent."

And below you will read why the Alliance is the best choice of those four . . .

The Alliance sees education as one of the central investments and public goods that New Zealand can spend money on.
The Alliance is the only party that supports totally free public education.
This means that all education from early childhood to tertiary (university and polytech level) will be publicly funded.
The Alliance in Parliament would fight for the abolition of student fees.
The Alliance supports universal student allowances at the level of the unemployment benefit (which would be considerably higher under an Alliance Government.)
Student debt is out of control and an Alliance Government would write off all student loans and cancel the student debt, with an immediate goal of cancelling interest payments.
It is terrible that students are having to borrow money to pay the rent and buy food.
Our policies would have a cost. Where does the money come from?
Labour and National Governments in the last twenty years have cut the amount of tax paid by the rich and by large companies.
They have transferred the cost of education, that is vital for a economically secure and democratic society, onto those with no or little money – often younger New Zealanders.
So students have in effect paid for tax cuts to big business and the rich.
Half a million New Zealanders have borrowed well over $7 billion under the Student Loan Scheme since it was introduced by the National Government in 1992.
The average student today owes more than $18,000 and the student loan scheme is riddled with inequity. Young people from low-income families are under-represented in tertiary education.
The Alliance would fund our policies by raising tax on higher incomes and on business profits.
We would also save money by cutting Government funding to many private education providers.
We expect that many of the students who benefit from free education will earn good incomes, and then contribute back to the cost of a free education system. through a more progressive taxation system.
The Alliance estimates that the amount of money we need to spend to implement the Alliance policy of fully funded public tertiary education, including a living allowance for all students, is $1.15 billion.
This is not an expensive option when you consider the social benefits.
Instead of investing the Superfund overseas, we say it should be invested in our younger generation.
By doing so we would rebuild the trust between generations – we promise to look after our young people, to educate them to their fullest potential, and in return they would contribute through taxation to superannuation and the other important costs of running a civilized society.
This is the only fair solution. Otherwise working class and low income New Zealanders will be priced out of education. The Alliance is the party which stands for fairness and equality.
- posted by Victor @ 2:18 PM