WEBVTT - Ryan Bridge: Will Labour's election bribe work?

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<v Speaker 1>It's not quite Briscoe's sale level, but 10% off your

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<v Speaker 1>student loan, not to be scoffed at, is it? Unless,

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<v Speaker 1>of course, you're not a student, you've never had a

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<v Speaker 1>student loan, and you don't plan on sitting in a

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<v Speaker 1>lecture theatre for three years to learn about post-feminist critical

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<v Speaker 1>race theory or environmental market terrorism. Doesn't that sound like fun?

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<v Speaker 1>In that case, you don't really care about this policy

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<v Speaker 1>from Labour, except for what it costs you as a taxpayer.

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<v Speaker 1>You see, the unfortunate thing about democracy... is that we're

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<v Speaker 1>all taxpayers, aren't we? It'll cost, they reckon, by their

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<v Speaker 1>own calculations, half a billion dollars next year, almost, totalling

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<v Speaker 1>almost $ 600 million over five years. It's up front, most

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<v Speaker 1>of this cost. Now, this is an old trick in

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<v Speaker 1>Labour's playbook. Many of you will remember Helen Clark scoring

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<v Speaker 1>a third term after doing interest-free student loans. That was

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<v Speaker 1>back in 2005. But this week, the Nats will probably

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<v Speaker 1>hit back with their own little sweetener. The books are

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<v Speaker 1>open tomorrow for everyone to have a little peek under

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<v Speaker 1>the hood. And listening to the sounds that Nicola Willis

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<v Speaker 1>was making yesterday, the bank economists were making on Friday,

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<v Speaker 1>growth and surplus should be, albeit Obigalex, should be looking

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<v Speaker 1>a little better than the last update we got at

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<v Speaker 1>the budget. And then Nicola Willis will use the numbers

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<v Speaker 1>to release policy tax cuts. She's dropped hints about this

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<v Speaker 1>at the Business New Zealand election conference a few weeks ago.

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<v Speaker 1>She's going to try and do something about bracket creep, which,

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<v Speaker 1>unlike Labour's student loan bribe, is a bribe that almost

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<v Speaker 1>all Kiwis, taxpayers, will benefit from.