1 September 2005
What about a universal allowance, Labour?
Labour is moving in the right direction on tertiary education, but needs to dig deep to fund a universal living
allowance for students, the Green Party says.
"We're pleased Labour is moving the tertiary education system further away from the competitive model we had in the
1990s," Green Tertiary Education Spokesperson Nandor Tanczos said. "The Greens have long said that we need to move away
from a bums-on-seats approach to funding, and it's good to see Labour doing just that.
"The bums-on-seats approach has led universities to spending obscene amounts of money marketing themselves at home and
abroad, in a perverse attempt to compete with one another. I'm hoping Labour and the Greens can work together after the
election to ensure that these grossly inflated marketing budgets are reined in.
"Furthermore, Labour's commitment to a quality tertiary education system must include paying all academics a decent
wage."
Nandor said Labour's tertiary education policy had failed to deliver students what they most need: a universal living
allowance set at the level of the unemployment benefit.
"The only adults in society who are unable to take full-time work but excluded from the benefit system are tertiary
students. It's time for this inequity to be addressed, and for a tremendous barrier to tertiary education to be removed.
"Helen Clark is on record as saying that she would love to reintroduce a universal student allowance. With more and more
students struggling to make ends meet, perhaps it's time to take the bold step required."
ENDS