1 February 2016

Nats true colours revealed in ‘achieves nothing’ claim

National’s true attitude to the post-school education has been revealed by Steven Joyce’s claim that Labour’s plan to bring in three free years ‘achieves absolutely nothing’, says Labour’s Tertiary Education spokesperson Chris Hipkins.

“It is shocking that the Tertiary Education Minister can believe that providing three years of free post-school education will ‘achieve absolutely nothing’.

“He obviously has never met a family who would love to send their kids to tertiary education but are deeply worried about the massive student loan burden.

“Average debts of $20,000 are a big disincentive for struggling families. That’s why student numbers have fallen by 20 per cent under National.

“New Zealanders know National doesn’t understand the ability of further education to create opportunities for kids and lift whole families out of poverty.

“Labour’s Working Futures policy to create three free years of post-school education will achieve a huge amount. It will provide opportunities for children from struggling families, will help people train and adapt to changing work, will reduce student debt and will provide the skilled workforce that employers are demanding.

“National is flailing around trying to attack this policy – the reason they’ve failed is they don’t understand the value of tertiary education. New Zealanders do,” Chris “Hipkins says.

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