Labour and National launched dueling election campaigns in Auckland on Sunday, with Labour leader Chris Hipkins pledging to slash student debt and Finance Minister Nicola Willis teasing a good looking set of government books due out this week.
Labour has pledged to cut 10% from student debt, costing $583 million.
The cut for people who have finished study, didn’t benefit from the Fees Free scheme and are still paying the loan would happen on April 1, 2027. Those who owe $2000 or less would have their loans wiped.
Then, current and future students would get the cut after living in the country three years after they finished studying.
It would cost $439.5 million in the first year, $29.7m in 2027/28, then about $25m in 2028/29 and 2023/30, and $64.2 in 2030/31.
“If you study here, you work here, and you contribute here, you should be able to get ahead here. No one should have to leave New Zealand to build their future,” Labour leader Chris Hipkins announced at his party’s campaign launch on Sunday.
Asked what the trade off for the cost of the policy was, Labour economic spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said, “the student loan book, the total book, is actually an asset on the government's books, a fair value write-down, which is normal, it happens every year as part of the student loan valuation."
"What we're doing with our policy, in particular the one-off, it just brings down the net worth of that asset to the Crown.
“We will still remain within the fiscal rules.”
National described Labour’s student debt policy as “an expensive handout which can only be paid for by piling more taxes onto hardworking Kiwis,” campaign chair Simeon Brown said.
“This policy simply shifts the debt onto taxpayers and means either higher taxes or more borrowing.”
ACT took aim at how it would be paid for, leader David Seymour saying Labour was “taking debt that is interest-free for New Zealand-based borrowers and shifting the cost onto the Crown’s books."
“In other words, all taxpayers take on the cost, including New Zealanders who did not receive the benefit of the tertiary education the loans paid for.”
“This policy reads like Chris Hipkins asked AI, ‘what will make people like me?’ What he needed to ask was, ‘how will we balance the budget?’”
Teasing the books
National took aim at the opposition’s tax pledges during its campaign launch on the same day, and hinted at the state of the country's finances. National deputy and Finance Minister Nicola Willis, is opening the books on Tuesday ahead of the election, at Treasury’s pre election economic and fiscal update (PREFU).
“I won't say too much today about it,” she said while addressing the crowd. “I want there to be some surprise, but let's put it this way: you'll like what you see. Because despite everything that the world is throwing at New Zealand, our government is making great progress on fixing the books, smaller deficits, bigger surpluses, less debts.”
Asked to expand on this, Willis said the comment was in respect to “anyone who believes in economic and fiscal responsibility will like what they see in the books on Tuesday, and that's all I'm going to say about it.”
In response to Willis’ comment, Edmonds said, “well, she is the Minister of Finance, the fact that she's kind of giving these droplets of what’s in PREFU is actually inappropriate because PREFU is a Treasury document.”
“The fact is also that she's obviously seen PREFU, which is quite normal. So I'm just a bit like, where's the appropriateness as the Minister of Finance to start sort of dropping these little things when actually the books aren't open yet?”
Poles apart campaign launches
The campaign launches, both in Auckland on Sunday afternoon, were remarkably different.
National’s, held in the CBD at the International Convention Centre, shared the space with an anime convention where most attendees were dressed up in colourful costumes, and had former Prime Minister John Key as a speaker.
It followed the party’s 90th birthday held on Saturday, with attendees such as former Australian PM Scott Morrison.
Labour’s was at Due Drop Events Centre in Manukau, with performances by the Pasifika Youth Choir, and with former PM Helen Clark in the audience.
Both Hipkins and Luxon were more emotive than usual, Luxon’s voice cracking when talking about how his mother enrolled at university to study social work at the same time as he enrolled, while Hipkins was fired up for his, accusing Luxon of talking down to New Zealanders, saying the public want him to “to do his bloody job”, and saying National’s only answer for the future of the country was cuts.
Hipkins also bristled when asked about his performance at this campaign launch compared to 2023, in which he had previously publicly admitted to have been difficult.
“Oh look, you're just listening to the National Party spin bullshit. I'd encourage you not to,” he said. When pushed on his own admissions regarding the last election, he said: “Yeah, we lost… tthat was quite difficult. We're going to win this one, though.”
“That's it. Oh, and lying about tax, which is bullshit,” he said.
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