National Party Leader John Key today announced a plan to help student loan holders get out of debt quicker.

The plan agreed to by the National Party caucus is aimed at encouraging people to make voluntary payments on their student loans – and therefore pay off their loan balances sooner – through an incentive.

"We will keep interest-free student loans for tertiary students.  Half a million New Zealanders have a student loan.  Many have made long-term financial decisions on the basis of the current policy and we want to ensure they can plan with certainty," Mr Key says.
 
"One of our concerns has been that the scheme offers no incentive for New Zealanders to repay any earlier.  That means loan holders are likely to have their debt for longer, which has implications for other areas of their lives like buying a house or starting a family.

"When the interest-free student loan scheme was introduced, National said the scheme would encourage more students to take on debt and discourage them from repaying sooner.  Official figures show this has turned out to be the case.

"The plan I'm announcing today is that the Government will offer a 10% bonus on a loan balance for voluntary lump-sum payments of $500 or more.  The incentive would apply in the 10 years following the start of repayments by the borrower. 
 
"For example, if a borrower pays $800 off their loan in a lump sum above and beyond the compulsory requirement, the Government would take $880 off their loan balance. 

"What I've announced today is aimed at helping borrowers get out of debt sooner, and give them certainty so they can plan. National has no intention of doing anything that impedes people from realizing their own educational ambitions.

"The policy is also aimed at helping enhance New Zealand's overall performance.  Education is a hugely important part of our pathway forward." 

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29 January. John Key delivers his State of the Nation speech, 2008: A Fresh Start for New Zealand.

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John and presenter Wallace Chapman talk about the particulars of John's newly outlined programmes for youth - and youth offenders.  [6:13]

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2008: A fresh start

Welcome to the first edition of Key Notes for 2008. Over the coming months I will be laying out National's vision for New Zealand and the policies we believe will help New Zealand make a much needed step-change.

Today, I spoke at Ellerslie in Auckland about some issues that I consider to be vitally important for ensuring we achieve all we can as a nation. For the full text of my speech click here.

Asking the hard questions

I also challenged the Prime Minister to answer the questions Kiwis are really asking:

• Why, after eight years of Labour, are we paying the second-highest interest rates in the developed world?
• Why, under Labour, is the gap between our wages, and wages in Australia and other parts of the world, getting bigger and bigger?
• Why, under Labour, do we get a tax cut only in election year, when we really needed it years ago?
• Why are grocery and petrol prices going through the roof?
• Why can't our hardworking kids afford to buy their own house?
• Why is one in five Kiwi kids leaving school with grossly inadequate literacy and numeracy skills?
• Why, when Labour claim they aspire to be carbon-neutral, do our greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at an alarming rate?
• Why hasn't the health system improved when billions of extra dollars have been poured into it?
• Why is violent crime against innocent New Zealanders continuing to soar and why is Labour unable to do anything about it?

Those are the questions on which this election will be fought.

Focusing on Youth 

The energy and enthusiasm of the vast majority of our young people make me hugely optimistic for our country. 

But the sad fact is a growing number of our young people are failing to deliver on their potential. 

This wasted potential is there for us all to see: teenage parents with no plans for their or their children's future; illiterate and innumerate school leavers; youth gangs prowling our neighbourhoods and sporadically dishing out beatings. 

National's Youth Plan

Today, I outlined some new policy that forms part of our plan for giving young people the future they deserve. 

National's Youth Plan is about giving young New Zealanders the opportunity and responsibility to better themselves, no matter what their circumstances, abilities, or track-record.

Youth Guarantee

National expects that all young people under the age of 18 should be in work, education, or training. 

National will provide a universal education entitlement for all 16- and 17-year-olds.  This will allow them to access, free of charge, a programme of educational study towards school-level qualifications. 

Most will continue their education at school.  However, the entitlement will allow 16- and 17-year-old school leavers to access education at a non-school provider if it can better meet their needs.  For example, a polytechnic, wananga, private training establishment, or industry training organisation.

Courses offered under the Youth Guarantee will have to meet strict quality criteria.

This new entitlement will be on top of, not instead of, the education entitlements young people have now.

Sixteen and 17-year-olds who are not working, and who fail to take up this new entitlement, will not be eligible to receive a benefit (except in special circumstances such as illness). Teenage parents will be specifically catered for.

Youth Justice

Alongside focusing on education, National will tackle the increasing problem of youth offending.

It's time to provide the Youth Court with a modern set of tools for getting teenagers out of the crime cycle.  We must act now to defuse these unexploded human time-bombs.

First, we are going to extend the jurisdiction of the Youth Court so it has the power to deal with 12- and 13-year-olds accused of serious offences.

At the moment, 12- and 13-year-olds accused of high-order crimes, such as aggravated robbery and home invasion, can be dealt with only by the Family Court. National thinks the Youth Court, with its wider range of powers, could play a much stronger role in getting these young offenders back on track.

New powers for the Youth Court

National will give the Youth Court the power to issue a new range of compulsory orders.  These will ensure we're going to get young people back on track before it's too late. We will back these orders up with funding for the relevant services.

• Parenting orders:  Parenting courses to address problems at home that may be contributing to a young person's offending. 
• Mentoring programmes:  Providing role models to young offenders for a period of up to 12 months.
• Drug and alcohol rehabilitation programmes:  Designated funding to help get young offenders sober.

Tougher Sentences 

National recognises that some young people have committed crimes so serious and so chilling that we must take drastic action:

• Longer residential sentences:  Up to six months in a Youth Justice facility.
• Fresh Start Programmes: Revolutionary, year-long, intensive programmes designed to instil discipline and address underlying causes of offending; including up to 12 weeks of residential training at, for example, an army base.
• Spotlight Sentences:  Non-compliance with court-ordered supervision contracts will result in electronic monitoring using an ankle bracelet. 

I look forward to keeping in touch throughout 2008,

Regards,

John Key

Click to download:

Youth Plan Policy Summary
Youth Plan Backgrounder
Text of speech

Click here for photos from Ellerslie

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National Party Leader John Key today announced policies to fight a growing youth crime wave and ensure young people get into education or training.

In a speech in Auckland, he outlined National's Youth Plan, which consists of a Youth Guarantee and tough new law & order initiatives to combat youth crime.

"Last year, in my underclass speech I warned that New Zealand was seeing a dangerous drift toward social and economic separatism.  Helen Clark denied the problem existed, yet nobody can deny its fruits, which are seen daily in the media.

"The truth is that after nine years, Labour's economic underperformance hasn't delivered the social dividend they promised.

"Far too many young people are not in education, training, or work – more than 25,000 in fact aged 15 to 19.  Far too many kids leave school with no qualifications.

"Under the Youth Guarantee, National will provide a universal, no-cost education entitlement for all 16- and 17-year-olds so they can access school-level educational study at approved institutions.  Most will remain at school, but some won't.

"Those not in work and who fail to take up the entitlement will get no state income support, although special circumstances will be taken into account.

"I am extremely worried about the youth crime problem, with senseless violence and killings seemingly occurring on a daily basis.  Good, law-abiding Kiwis end up paying the price.

"We must act now to defuse these unexploded human time-bombs, who are on the fast-track to Paremoremo.

"Just at the weekend, a 14-year-old was arrested after a fatal stabbing of a man in Tokoroa.  Last Friday, a 16-year-old was arrested after the senseless slaying of a student working in his family's Manurewa dairy.

"The violence perpetrated by young criminals is escalating, and we simply must act.

"National will introduce "Fresh Start Programmes" as a Youth Court sentence for those on the road to serious offending.  These revolutionary, year-long intensive programmes aim to instil discipline and address underlying causes of offending, and will include up to three months training at, for example, an army facility.

"Fresh Start Programmes aren't going to be some sort of short-term camp which attempts to scare kids straight.  What I'm talking about is a much more modern approach that tackles the underlying causes of criminal offending.

"I want to take the effective elements of army-type training and combine them with the most advanced expertise in youth offending and rehabilitation that New Zealand has to offer," Mr Key says.

"National will also double maximum residential Youth Justice facility sentences from three to six months, and electronically monitor youths by way of ankle bracelets if they breach court-ordered supervision contracts.

"In addition, the Youth Court will be given powers to issue a range of new compulsory orders like parenting orders, mentoring programmes, and drug and alcohol rehab.  National will back up these orders with funding.

"And we will extend the Youth Court's jurisdiction so it can deal with 12 and 13-year-olds accused of serious crimes."

National estimates that the Youth Plan will cost about $100 million annually when fully implemented - $65 million for the Youth Guarantee and $35 million for the youth justice initiatives.   

"Under Helen Clark and Labour, our country has become a story of lost opportunities," says Mr Key.

"National knows New Zealand has a great future if we embrace good ideas and put them into action.

"My sense is that in 2008, New Zealand is ready for those ideas; ready for a fresh start.  The Youth Plan is part of that fresh start."

Click to download (PDF):
Youth Plan Policy Summary Youth Plan Backgrounder Text of speech

Speech online

Photos on Flickr

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