The Labour Party Divides

John Terris compared the loans systems to one of bonding and said that the Labour party was not in favour of any form of bonding. The formal Labour Party Policy on Education was "all people must have the same free access to education regardless of sex, race or social economic status!! He then went on to say that he/they (the Labour Party) considered the existing Bursary insufficient and supported the $9 increase as well as believing that the bursary could be generally improved. Changes in the standard of living will continue to disadvantage students unless the Bursary is tied to some index.

Terris also expressed concern for married students, single income families, students who live within the 20 mile radius but many spend a disproportionate amount of time travelling eg. Lower and Upper Hutt. These and other anomalies all need to be realized and remedied. It was also necessary to look at the bursary level in relation to student unemployment. There was no system to protect students from external economic problems, like unemployment. Extra income for low income students should be considered.

The Labour Party was, Terris said, researching present student needs and saw the necessity of being flexible, part of which involved being in liason with student leaders. This all sounded very good but as a question from the floor put it "Has the Labour Party actually committed itself?" The answer is "no". Between elections it is easy to make general statements about what should happen but what really will happen after an election if there has been no actual committment is another thing again. Terris strove to assure the audience that it there would be changes made to the bursary system and there was great concern for existing conditions. When asked whether students were not privileged he replied that it was the right of students to be educated to the level they wished or could reach.