Dunne: Get business backing for laptops for schoolchildren

The Ministry of Education should build partnerships with businesses to supply schoolchildren with laptops that many parents cannot afford, UnitedFuture leader and Ohariu MP Peter Dunne said today.

 “Laptops and Ipads are increasingly not just accessories, but essential tools of learning for our children, Mr Dunne said.

 “Schools and parents know that not having them will increasingly mean children falling on the wrong side of a digital and learning divide, but parents’ hearts must sink when they are battling to pay school fees, uniforms and stationery for the year ahead. Now laptops?

 “It is simply too expensive for many families and we need to find ways to make such important learning tools accessible to all children, but particularly those who are less well off,” he said.

 “I think there is a really good opportunity here for the business sector to help out as good corporate citizens.

 “The vast majority of schools would clearly struggle to provide laptops for students with the funding they have – and with the Government borrowing $300 million a week, people understand that there is no bottomless pit of money.

 “As a country, we need to work smart and think smart – and we want our children to do the same.

 “We need to increasingly look at public-private partnerships in areas such as providing transport infrastructure and in health by utilising the capacity of private hospitals to cut surgical waiting lists, so let’s look at the technology needs of our children and how they can be best served,” Mr Dunne said.

Zero-fees policy ‘helps more people, improves education quality’

UnitedFuture’s ‘zero-fees’ policy is a fairer, more effective solution to the student debt problem than Labour's universal student allowance as it also addresses the quality of education, according to leader Peter Dunne who spoke to students at Auckland University today.

“International university rankings released today show that our top universities are slipping down the list. They need a funding commitment from Government to reverse this trend ,” says Mr Dunne.

“Australia has 6 universities ranked in the top 50 in the world. We don’t have any. We have only one in the top 100 and two others in the top 200 – we can and need to do better,” says Mr Dunne.

“UnitedFuture would abolish all tertiary education fees, as well as commit to properly funding our institutions themselves. This will increase access to education and deal with student debt, as well as improving the value of New Zealand degrees.

“A limitation with universal student allowances is that they only help full-time students, part-time students are no better off, while allowances also do nothing to address the quality of education.”

Mr Dunne points out that in the long term, tuition fees are increasing at a rate faster than the cost of living.

“The funding is already there for zero-fees tuition – the cost falls within that for Labour’s Universal Allowance pledge, but it benefits more people and achieves better education,” he said.

Hon Peter Dunne: Student loan bill will simplify loan repayments

A bill tabled in Parliament today will make it easier for those with student loans to manage them online, Revenue Minister Peter Dunne said.

The Student Loan Scheme Bill paves the way for borrowers to communicate with Inland Revenue online and vice versa, and is part of a package of reforms to simplify the way Inland Revenue administers student loans, he said.

“Public consultation last year confirmed that borrowers want Inland Revenue to move away from paper-based letters and statements and replace them with modern electronic technologies that allow them to manage their loan anywhere, anytime.

“This will be a significant improvement for overseas-based borrowers in particular, who tend to be more mobile than those based in New Zealand,” Mr Dunne said.

Borrowers will be able to get a consolidated view of their loan balance when the changes come into effect in April 2012.

“The overwhelming majority of borrowers will also benefit from a further change removing annual end-of-year assessments or “square-ups” if their income is from salary and wages only and their before-tax income is over the pay-period repayment thresholds,” he said.

Instead, Inland Revenue will consider loan repayment deductions made from salary and wages to be correct and final for the pay-period, meaning minor over- or under-payments will be ignored so there are no surprise bills for these borrowers.

“Some borrowers who also have income from sources that are not required to have loan deductions made from them – for example, interest from investments – will need to file a declaration of pre-taxed income and make loan repayments similar to provisional tax payments.”

Mr Dunne said changes are also being made to simplify the current penalty rules when borrowers do not make required repayments by more closely aligning them with the tax penalty rules more generally, and by replacing the late payment penalty rules with a lesser interest rate “so an individual’s debt does not quickly become insurmountable.”

The current compounding monthly late payment penalty of 1.5 percent (equivalent to 19.56 percent interest a year) would be replaced with a late payment interest charge on overdue amounts. The late payment interest will be imposed at the base interest rate plus a penalty margin of 4% each year. Based on the current base interest rate of 6.6%, this gives a late payment interest rate of (10.6% a year). The penalty margin will be lowered to 2% for borrowers who enter into instalment arrangements, giving a total interest rate of 8.6% based on the current base interest rate.

These changes will apply from 1 April 2012.

Ends

Mark Stewart | Press Secretary | Office of Hon Peter Dunne
Cell +64 21 243 6985

Joyce, Dunne: there will be no private student loan company

The Government has no plans to set up a private company to manage student loans, Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce and Revenue Minister Peter Dunne said today.

Mr Dunne described comments on a proposed student loan company from Labour tertiary education spokesman Grant Robertson as “totally unfounded mischief-making”.

“Mr Robertson totally ignored the fact that the article he sourced the information from already had a very clear statement of denial from the Government,” Mr Joyce said.

“This is just typical Opposition game-playing,” he said.

"With regard to possibilities around debt collection, for the most part, loans are paid off as they should be, but regularity of payments tend to slip especially when borrowers move overseas,” Mr Dunne said.

"To improve the efficiency of repayments from overseas, officials are investigating a number of options, including the possibility of more actively pursuing debts owed by overseas-based borrowers,” he said.

"The Government is constantly looking at ways to improve the management of the student loan debt which now stand at in excess of $10 billion,” the Ministers said.

Ends

Mark Stewart | Press Secretary | Office of Hon Peter Dunne
Cell +64 21 243 6985

Anita Ferguson | Press Secretary | Office of Hon Steven Joyce
Cell +64 21 243 1623

Hon Peter Dunne welcomes passage of Student Loans Bill

Revenue Minister Peter Dunne this evening welcomed the passage of the Student Loan Scheme (Exemptions and Miscellaneous Provisions) Amendment Bill in Parliament today.

“As well as correcting certain technical aspects of the scheme, the new legislation will make interest-free loans available to borrowers who live in countries that are part of the Realm of New Zealand – Niue, the Cook Islands, Tokelau or the Ross Dependency – and who meet the requirement to be present in one of those countries for at least 183 consecutive days.

“This is good news for these borrowers and will encourage people from these countries, which share a special relationship with New Zealand, to return home and contribute to their countries’ futures,” Mr Dunne said.

“Interest-free loans will also be extended to include students who are furthering their education overseas through full-time study under a formal exchange programme or formal agreement between New Zealand and overseas tertiary education providers. This includes post-graduate study that cannot be completed in New Zealand.

“This is another positive step that will allow people to further their studies overseas in a way that will benefit New Zealand in the longer term,” Mr Dunne said.

Other matters contained in the bill include a change that will allow Inland Revenue to increase the standard repayment deduction rate from 10 percent to 15 percent when borrowers have failed to have the correct deductions made, restoring the hardship relief provisions to reflect their original intention and making loans interest-free for borrowers who return to New Zealand and fully repay their loan before they have been back 183 days.

The formula for setting the interest rate has also been moved from the Student Loan Scheme (Interest Rates Formulas) Regulations 2006 to the Student Loan Scheme Act 1992. The interest rate under the formula for the 2010–11 tax year will be 6.6%.

“The student loans scheme is a significant Crown asset and an important financial commitment for the many thousands of borrowers who rely on the scheme to further their education. The changes will help to ensure that the law on the repayment of student loans is clear and consistent for borrowers and that it is managed efficiently for the Crown,” Mr Dunne said.
Ends.
Mark Stewart | Press Secretary | Office of Hon Peter Dunne
Cell +64 21 243 6985