Students will demand Allowances from Coalition.

30th July 2002

Students will demand Allowances from Coalition

Students from the University of Canterbury will be expecting both United Future New Zealand and the Greens to have universal allowances as a feature of any coalition negotiations.

“Canterbury students have protested for the past few weeks and will not turn the heat down as Labour is now in a position to deliver,” said University of Canterbury Students’ Association (UCSA) president Richard Neal. “United, the Greens and Labour all support increasing the eligibility to allowances and students will be expecting that to feature in any coalition agreement.”

“Peter Dunne, as a supporter of the family, and a former UCSA president, will be expected to remember his roots as student debt has been shown to affect family size and birthing rates of students in New Zealand,” said Neal. “Keeping his promise of extending allowances is one way to achieve two goals of the United Furture party.”

The Greens had promised universal allowances and cheaper fees before the election, said Neal. “Students will expect them to hold Labour to that as a starting and finishing point to any negotiation. If National and New Zealand First could have student allowances in their coalition agreement of 1996, then Labour must be expected to take that further.”

“Students will be hoping that any prospective coalition partner would be putting pressure on Labour to substantiate their vague policy on student allowances,” he said. “As student debt climbs at $40, 000 per hour, every moment counts in the negotiation and implementation period of the next Government.”

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