The cut, first available from April 1, 2027, would be received once students had stayed in New Zealand for three years once they finished their study.<\/p>\n
Labour\u2019s policy document totalled 10% of eligible debt at more than $813m, however, said its true value, also known as its fair value was slightly more than $460m over four years.<\/p>\n
In addition to costs from lower interest revenue and additional funding for Inland Revenue to administer the policy, the party estimated it would cost $583.4m over four years. Much of the cost ($439.5m) would be in its first year in 2026\/27.<\/p>\n
\u201cStudent debt can follow people for years, making it harder to save for a home, start a family or simply get ahead,\u201d Hipkins said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis policy means more money to save for a home, start a family, build a business or just have a bit more breathing space.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hipkins, appearing after a performance from the Pasifika Youth Choir, immediately focused on the cost of living as he condemned the coalition Government\u2019s record, lumping responsibility on National Party leader Christopher Luxon. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe truth is, Christopher Luxon doesn\u2019t get it. He\u2019s not fit to be Prime Minister and I reckon, deep down, even his own MPs know it. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never felt more strongly in my life that the National Party is a risk to the future of this country.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also had strong words for National\u2019s persistent campaign claiming a Labour-led government would implement several new taxes supported by potential coalition partners, despite Labour insisting it would introduce only a capital gains tax. <\/p>\n
Hipkins accused the coalition parties of \u201clying\u201d about tax, before describing the attacks as \u201cbull****\u201d; a declaration welcomed by strong applause from the hundreds in attendance. <\/p>\n
Earlier, Luxon unveiled a new \u201cpledge card\u201d loaded with ten commitments he says his party will deliver on if re-elected as he headlined National\u2019s own campaign launch, also in Auckland.<\/p>\n
The pledges were mostly generic mission statements and policies, including to have \u201ceconomic growth that delivers new jobs and higher wages\u201d, \u201cno new taxes\u201d, \u201cbetter school results\u201d, \u201ctougher consequences for criminals\u201d, \u201cfaster healthcare and more medicines\u201d, \u201cbetter infrastructure\u201d, and the \u201cbooks in surplus\u201d.<\/p>\n
The card also referred to policies already announced by National including compulsory KiwiSaver, paid parental leave extension from 26 weeks to 30 weeks, and a \u201cbetter deal at the supermarket\u201d, which the party hopes to achieve by pursuing structural separation of FoodStuffs.<\/p>\n
It came as Luxon and other speakers, including former PM and National leader Sir John Key, hammered home to the hundreds at Auckland\u2019s International Convention Centre the threat of new taxes from a Labour-led government. <\/p>\n
Speaking to Newstalk ZB this morning, Labour campaign chairman Kieran McAnulty said his party would be targeting an \u201cout of touch\u201d Luxon as well as the Government\u2019s \u201cbroken promises\u201d, referencing high unemployment, homelessness and wages rising slower than inflation. <\/p>\n
He stressed how prominent the high cost of living would be in Labour\u2019s campaign. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re talking about the things that Kiwis care about the most and we, we monitor those things regularly and we know that consistently over the last three years the cost of living is well above everything else \u2026 and we know this Government is weak on that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t talk about that because they know it\u2019s true and they know it\u2019s harming them, so of course we are talking about that every chance we get.\u201d<\/p>\n
McAnulty also spoke of Labour\u2019s push to enrol people to vote amid the Government\u2019s law change preventing enrolment 13 days before election day. The Government argued the change was intended to avoid vote-counting delays but McAnulty likened it to \u201cgerrymandering\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are 400,000 people that enrolled and voted within the period that the Government has now made it illegal to do so and the vast majority of those people did not vote for this Government.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s pretty clear what this Government is trying to do; they\u2019re trying to screw the scrum because they can\u2019t campaign on their record.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn previous campaigns, [enrolment] hasn\u2019t been a big feature, but this time it is a massive feature and we are enrolling a lot of people because of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald\u2019s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whang\u0101rei and the Herald in Auckland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The cut, first available from April 1, 2027, would be received once students had stayed in New Zealand…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[301996,806,1738,54760,5399,5903,40147,228853,3011,117863,6721,18060,1132,111,43,139,1536,69,6662,1523,4762,7254,15483,1517,9631,61,1530],"class_list":["post-613052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-301996","tag-as","tag-campaign","tag-costing","tag-debt","tag-election","tag-estimated","tag-forgive","tag-four","tag-kicks","tag-labour","tag-loan","tag-million","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-next","tag-nz","tag-off","tag-over","tag-party","tag-policy","tag-promising","tag-reveals","tag-student","tag-to","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}