Labour Party’s Andrew Little suggests new deal may be on cards for students

Labour leader Andrew Little says broadening the economy and making sure students are not held back by debt is the key to stopping the brain drain.

Diversifying the economy and ensuring the student loan scheme did not disadvantage graduates were crucial to encouraging young people not to leave the country,  Little said to Wintec students Friday.

 “We need to have an economy that actually generates jobs with real opportunities so that’s diversifying our economy. Encouraging investment in new activities and more highly technical activities so  job opportunities are there. Then making sure things like the student loan scheme and the conditions of that, don’t disadvantage new graduates and students when you go into work for the first time.”

Little talked to students about the Labour Party’s Future of Work Commission which, he said, would help identify what the future of work would look like. He said the commission would help shape  initiatives and polices to better support students going into the work force.

Speaking in the student Hub, Little said New Zealand needed an economy that generated jobs.

Little also said Labour may need to start from scratch in looking at what the Party needed to do to create “decent tertiary institutions” with support for students.

He said Labour needed  to ensure students did not graduate  with a huge debt burden that would take years  to pay off.

“I don’t have any specific proposals at the moment but I am increasingly aware that it is an issue that we need to address,” he said.