Dunne congratulates Govt for picking up UF scheme, but calls for broader focus

United Future leader Peter Dunne today welcomed the Government’s decision to look at United Future’s long-standing policy of a tertiary savings scheme, but said it should broaden the brief to allow for those who don’t end up doing tertiary study.

“The overall thinking is good and United Future has long promoted such a scheme, but not everyone does tertiary study and those who don’t should be able to use such a scheme to kick-start a business, or put a deposit on a house.

“We need to be clear about what needs to be done - this is about giving young New Zealanders a platform to move forward in life, which is the exact opposite of what the Government does today in burdening young Kiwis with exorbitant and crippling student debt,” Mr Dunne said.

United Future would like to see parents given the option of automatically diverting part of their family assistance payments into such a savings scheme. Ideally, any government incentives should be spread over time to encourage regular saving, and like the initial endowment, would also be on a progressive basis depending on the family income at the time of each instalment.

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