Finance Minister Michael Cullen felt at home yesterday, speaking to a large group of commerce students in Auckland.
Dr Cullen proved to be a winner for many of the University of Auckland students, who grilled him about a range of topics including student loans and tax cuts. Others
took a quick nap before the next lecture.
However, Dr Cullen didn't seem to mind.
"The good thing about talking to people who are doing commerce degrees ... is that you know that you're being understood - because it's not true in many audiences that I talk to," he said.
Some students asked what Labour had in store for them.
Dr Cullen was quick to jump in when one student asked: 'Can you give an assurance that under a future Labour Government, interest-free student loans will not be abolished?'
A firm "yes".
A similar response came when another student asked whether Labour would guarantee bank deposits for the next three years.
"Two years," Dr Cullen corrected him.
"What will happen if a KiwiSaver financial provider goes under in the next two years or in the next 50 years?" the student asked.
"It's really unlikely," Dr Cullen said.
Student loans proved to be the hot topic.
"While I am a friend of the student loan scheme - I think it's essential - it still worries me that we start people off at age 18," he said.
He told the students there was a need to "change attitudes" within a society that favoured high consumption.
"We clearly are spending more than we are earning, as a country. How do you turn that around ... ? The answer is to get that change of attitudes around savings."
One student looked to outwit the minister, when he noted what the Australian Government was doing to address the economic slump.
"This may also be a matter of a difference of approach," he said, "but the Rudd Government has seen the large and immediate injection of cash to stimulate the economy."
Dr Cullen said: "One of the reasons why people have forgotten about it is we had a large injection last October. And fundamentally we were injecting the economy about $2.1 million a year. Which in terms of the size of the New Zealand economy is just slightly larger than what the Rudd Government injected."
