Student Loan Changes Pass

Tuesday, 3 April 2012, 8:36 pm
Article: ParliamentToday.co.nz

The Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill completed its third reading in Parliament tonight

The bill passed by 72 to 45 with National, ACT, United Future, New Zealand First, and the Maori Party supporting.

Labour MPs had supported the bill, but were unhappy the Government stuck to its plans to reduce the loan repayment holidays from three years to one year when former students are overseas. Labour wanted to keep it at three years or suggested a compromise of two years, but this was rejected.

They also raised concerns that the bill would now be retrospective to April 1 2012 because of delays in the bill’s progress.

The Government said it was only a matter of days and IRD, employers and students had been gearing up for the changes to take effect from the beginning of the tax year.

MPs began the four hour committee stage debate on the the Appropriation (2010/11 Financial Review) Bill.

**
ParliamentToday.co.nz is a breaking news source for New Zealand parliamentary business featuring broadcast daily news reports

Top Scoops Headlines

COMMENT > >

Franklin Lamb: The End Of Syria As We Know It? Why Obama Is Declaring War

The short answer is Iran and Hezbollah according to Congressional sources. “The Syrian army’s victory at al-Qusayr was more than the administration could accept given that town’s strategic position in the region. Its capture by the Assad forces has essentially added Syria to Iran’s list of victories... More>>

Paul Bruce: Why Light Rail Must Go Ahead In Wellington

In introducing a debate on Wellington’s future, the Dominion Post challenged us to think about big changes. The current transport model has failed to deliver, and all the recent studies show more of the same is going to make things worse. We need a different approach if we want a vibrant, economically successful city. More>>

Binoy Kampmark: Edward Snowden: Whistleblowing At The NSA

He has been so naughty, at least in the eyes of the security establishment. The British are up in arms about what information is being obtained on their citizens via U.S. channels. Foreign Secretary William Hague has tried dousing the fires, claiming that GCHQ’s alleged involvement in the global surveillance program PRISM did not involve any circumvention of the law. More>>

ALSO:

Undernews - NSA Spygate Special
Roots Action - Over 30,000 Sign Thank-You Note to Edward Snowden

Martha Rosenberg: A Little Arsenic Never Hurt Anyone, Says US Chicken Industry

A study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives found detectable levels of arsenic in chicken from grocery stores in 10 American cities, including in organic chickens. If the drug were fed to all chickens, over 100 US deaths would result from arsenic-related lung and bladder cancers, report the authors. More>>

Franklin Lamb: The West To Pay A High Price For Targeting The Syrian Govt

A number of analysts and security experts who specialize in intelligence and security subjects in Lebanon and France have expressed this week shock at the way many Western authorities, including several in Europe and the United States, are avoiding engagement with the Syrian authorities and thus missing important avenues to help end the crisis in Syria. More>>

Andrea Brower: Coming Soon To Your Backyard, Monsanto And Gang!

When the handful of corporations set on owning, controlling and über-profiting from our common seed heritage — Monsanto, Syngenta, DuPont, Dow, BASF and Bayer — began experimenting with their proprietary chemicals and genetically engineered crops in Hawaii in the 1990s, barely a peep was made. Two decades later, we can’t even convince our Hawaii state government... More>>

Greenpeace: The Video Every Kiwi Should See

John Wathen is an award winning photojournalist who recently toured Aotearoa recounting his experience both on the ground and in the air documenting the catastrophic 2011 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. John flew out over the gulf in a light plane and captured the event as it was unfolding resulting in some amazing footage and images of the worst environmental disaster in American history. More>>

Mitchel Cohen: For Each & Every Warrior Whose Strength Is Not To Fight

The weakness of strategies based on Lowest Common Denominatorism was in full evidentiary blossom during the 1991 bombardment of Iraq, re-packaged as “the Gulf war.” “Support Our Troops, Not the War!” insisted the National Campaign for Peace in the Middle East, which grew out of the old National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam... More>>