Money matters motivate generation

Herald reporter Simon Collins concludes his six-part series by looking at the hopes and fears of young New Zealanders. Student loans top the list of their concerns - but those back from overseas say we need a wider perspective.

Kymberley Maxwell, 17, wrapped herself up against the cold mid-winter wind on Bucklands Beach.

It was 8am on a Saturday in late July. Some competitors in the monthly waka ama (outrigger canoe) regatta had left at 3.30am from homes as far afield as Rotorua and Kaitaia.

Manukau cable jointer Walla Huia, 24, and his partner, social worker Shyanne Makowharemahihi, 25, pulled their hoods over their heads to keep warm as they stood for prayers before the races started.

John Lafaele from Otara and Nathan Portas from Te Awamutu, both 18, waited their turn with their mate Paora Monk from Rotorua, 17. They're New Zealand's junior champions and have trained together every weekend for the past three months at Okahu Bay.

"We're hoping to go to the worlds next year," Mr Lafaele said.

They're as motivated a group as you could get, and they're cautiously optimistic about their future.

"The younger ones are doing well," said Mr Huia, comparing today's 17- and 18-year-olds with his own teenage years when jobs were hard to get in the 1990s.

"The ones our age, around 25 - it was the thing to do back then to have kids, go on the benefit," he said.

"The younger ones see people on TV. They will go for the music line. They want to do something with their lives. The younger bros and sisters see what's happening with our age group so they don't want to do that. So they are out there doing something for themselves."

As always, today's young people are more liberal than their elders. Two-thirds are voting for Labour, the Greens, the Maori Party or the fringe parties Outdoor Recreation and Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis, compared with 60 per cent of the middle-aged and a third of the over-50s.

Many share their elders' worries about taxes, the Treaty of Waitangi, moral issues, crime and immigration.

But they are also more likely to mention other issues such as foreign policy, the environment and, overwhelmingly, student loans.

Karl Arnold, 28, just back from overseas and looking for work in computer sales in Lower Hutt, is backing Prime Minister Helen Clark because she "has made some good calls - not committing to what the US was doing, standing on her own two legs. Good on her."

Ms Maxwell, still at Glendowie College, is too young to vote, but if she could she would vote Green because "I like some of their policies on the environment".

Hamilton receptionist Nicola Callaghan, 23, is voting Green because of their stand against genetic engineering.

Tauranga environmental science student Sarah Alexander, 21, is outraged that we can spend millions on new roads but hardly anything on controlling toxic runoff from the roads into our harbours. When she was interviewed on July 26, she planned to vote National because of its promise of a tax rebate for interest payments on student loans.

Since that day, support for National among young people in this survey has nearly disappeared. Instead, Labour is scooping up the youth vote with its promise to abolish interest on student loans for people who stay in New Zealand.

Christchurch salesman Neil Stewart, 24, voted National last time but has a $3000 student loan and is backing Labour "mainly for that reason".

Bluff's Bryan Taylor, 29, has a $75,000 debt from his university degree, has worked in a steelworks, a warehouse and as a computer technician, and is now doing a marine agriculture course. He says it "will be cold in hell before I vote National".

"If the Government writes off the interest on my loan, I will consider staying and paying it," he said. "If not, I'll consider flying to somewhere like Thailand and giving them the fingers."

However, young people are also worried about how to earn the money to pay back their loans and make a decent living. Auckland University arts student Lisa Goodwin has just returned from a visit to Australia and plans to move there when she graduates next March.

"I just like the way Australia is job-wise," she said. "The pay is way better."

Outside Christchurch's Riccarton Mall, Darren Shirley, 23, and Darren Scamell, 19, have also heard that "you get paid more" across the Ditch.

"You can roll up to Aussie and say you want to work and they will put you in a job that you want," Mr Scamell said. "Over here nobody gives a ****."

If offered a choice between spending a $1 billion Government revenue windfall on public services or giving it back in tax cuts, the under-30s are less likely than older age groups to favour public services and more likely to want at least some tax cuts.

"If you are working second jobs it's double tax. That's what I hate the most," said Hamilton apprentice fitter and turner Lloyd Hawkings, 19. He's voting for New Zealand First.

Hawkings also takes a hard line on beneficiaries who are not sick or caring for young children.

"The benefits they give these people, they should give them two or three months to find a job and **** stop it after that," he said.

But he is not typical on that issue. Out of 50 young people who made suggestions on how to help beneficiaries get work, only 19 wanted time limits or other tightening-up. The other 31 suggested changes such as more apprenticeships, more help with job search, higher childcare subsidies or making the benefit system more flexible for people who are in and out of casual or seasonal work.

In this area, young people are similar to the middle-aged, where 50 out of 70 suggestions could be classed as "help" rather than "tightening". Even in the over-50s group, 30 out of 54 suggestions were for help.

"WINZ [Work and Income NZ] has this course to give you the basic skills of interviews. It's free," said Hamilton shop assistant Kiri Tairua, 20. "Some people need that. I needed it."