WINZ debacle last act of nine years of student hardship inflicted by National

Immediate release
9th February 2000

The Alliance said the latest bungle by WINZ affecting 22,000 students was the 'last act' in nine years of student hardship inflicted by National.

"National has made students' lives a misery for years, and continue to do so even though the last election condemned that government to death.

"Let us hope this problem is the last time their appalling policies cause hardship to students", said the Alliance's Education spokesperson Dr Liz Gordon.

"National created the ridiculous centralised processing system for student loans and allowances against advice from Universities and Polytechnics who had been doing it successfully for years.

"This is going to cause a large amount of extra work for all concerned, put additional pressure on the system and make it more likely that other mistakes will be made", she said.

"This mistake so early in the year is likely to shake the confidence of students who had hoped for something better after last year's bungles".

"To add insult to injury WINZ and the Ministry of Education assured two select committees last year that there would be no problems this year.

Dr. Gordon said that the shift in student allowance and loan processing from the Ministry of Education to WINZ had clearly been undertaken far too quickly.

"I will be pressing for a select committee investigation into this matter," Dr Gordon said.

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