Green Goals with Josh Cole Green Party

The Government must lift student incomes now! New evidence shows thousands of students are living in poverty, with many struggling to pay rent and put food on the table.

Everyone in this country deserves to live a life of dignity. New research shows that's a right denied to thousands of students. Political decisions over the last few decades have normalised and entrenched student poverty. This wasn't an accident. It can be fixed!

The results of the People's Inquiry into Student Wellbeing were released on Tuesday by the Green Party and NZUSA, Te Mana Ākonga, Tauira Pasifika and the National Disabled Students' Association.

From the more than 4,500 students who responded:

On average, those living in a shared flat spend 56 per cent of their weekly income on rent. 91 per cent support rent controls and 82 per cent support a rental warrant of fitness.Two-thirds of students regularly do not have enough money to buy food, clothing, pay bills, get health care or other basics. Disabled, Māori and Pasifika students were most likely to be in that position. One in six students said their shared flat didn't meet their needs but couldn't move because rents were too high. Two-thirds haven't been able to pay for transport or the costs of a vehicle. 91 per cent said they would use public transport "more" if it was free.Most students (69 per cent) reported a decline in mental wellbeing during the Covid-19 pandemic, and some said this negatively impacted their studies.

Education is a public good. We all benefit when somebody takes on tertiary study, contributes original thought and their skills to our communities, country and world.

Yet students are struggling, significantly. The minority of students who today can access the allowance are in real terms hundreds of dollars worse off a month than students even a decade ago, which is nothing on when education was effectively free prior to the 1980s.

We opened this Inquiry when it was clear neither the Government nor the supposed opposition were interested in the real data or experiences of students on the ground. We said it would give us irrefutable evidence of the systemic barriers and challenges facing the 400,000 students in this country. It has. This must force change.

Students who rent on average spend 56 per cent of their income on mostly damp, cold flats. Internationally and locally accepted ‘affordability' measurements declare no one should be spending more than 30 per cent of their income on housing. We need affordable, healthy homes for everyone, and students overwhelmingly understand the need for rent controls and a warrant of fitness for rental homes - because they live in a world without those fundamentals.

While politicians have spent decades intentionally undermining student voice and trading their well-being off for short-term cost savings, students are waking up to their power. It's time for a Universal Student Allowance, fees-free, free public transport, rent controls and a rental WOF. The only thing standing in our way is mainstream political willpower - and there's an election next year!

A major thing that would help students, along with low income earners is free public transport. Especially with increasing inflation.

The Green Party is on board with the extension of half-price public transport, but once again calls on the Government to go further and make public transport free - for good.

We can respond to the climate and inequality crises together by prioritising investment in transport that reduces carbon emissions. We can make public transport free and invest in clean, electric buses, trains and ferries.

Subsiding fossil fuels by making petrol and diesel a little cheaper for half a year doesn't make sense in 2022, when we need to make the transition to cleaner transport.

There are better ways to help families struggling short term with the high cost of living. Direct payments would mean people could choose how to spend it, including on petrol - but would still enable incentives to shift to green options for those who have them.

We also need a medium and long term plan to invest in green transport - like reinstating the Golden Triangle rail network between Auckland, Tauranga and Hamilton. The Green Party is calling on the Government to enable funding for this essential work so people can have more options to get around that don't rely on fossil fuels.

Future-proofing our transport system to make it less reliant on oil will both reduce the pain of future oil price shocks and reduce dangerous, climate-heating pollution.

This is the second time the Government has extended the short-term subsidy to fossil fuels, when they could have invested in public transport and regional rail. Nearly 14,000 people have signed the Green Party's online petition on thier website for free public transport - and we urge the Government to listen.