Trevor Mallard misleads again

National’s Education spokesman, Bill English, says Trevor Mallard’s deceitful statements regarding student allowances are reminiscent of those made during the scholarship debacle.

“In February, Trevor Mallard attempted to cover up the problems with scholarship by issuing a public statement changing the entire system and hiding the inconsistent exam results.

“Mr Mallard is heading down the same road with student allowances, making public statements about increased spending on the allowances while knowing it hasn’t happened.”

The number of students receiving student allowances has dropped by 3,000 compared with last year, despite Labour’s assertion that 28,000 more students would qualify for the allowance this year.

In Parliament today, Mr Mallard confirmed that he was aware of the sharp decline in students receiving student allowances as early as February.

However, in March, Trevor Mallard said Labour would spend $223 million over the next four years on more student allowances.

On March 9, he said ‘the government is also investing around $223 million over the next four years to extend access to student allowances’.

“Trevor Mallard made this statement knowing it was wrong. He knew the government’s changes to student allowances would cost much less than that because he knew thousands less students were picking up allowances,” says Mr English

“Students aren’t stupid. If the numbers picking up allowances are thousands less than Labour expected, then the $223 million must be sitting in the bank.”

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