Jim Anderton's Progressive Coalition wants free education at all levels but says such a major step cannot happen overnight.
Mr Anderton, announcing his party's tertiary policy in Palmerston North, said free tertiary education was an essential component of the kind of first-world society New Zealand aspired to be.
"Unfortunately, we can't wipeout 15 years of escalating fees and student loans overnight," he said.
The Labour-Alliance Government had frozen fees and the interest rate on student loans, no interest was paid while students were studying and half of all repayments were applied to the principal.
"But there's still a long way to go, and if we are going to restore free tertiary education we have to take it one step at a time," Mr Anderton said.
Prime Minister Helen Clark has promised Mr Anderton to go into coalition with him, even if Labour has an outright majority.
Mr Anderton said in coalition his party would work towards:
* progressively removing fees for first-year students
* keeping fees frozen
* increasing student allowances
* increasing funding for tertiary institutions
* looking at financial incentives for working in hard-to-staff sectors and regions
"We understand that no smaller party can reasonably or democratically hold the government to ransom on any one issue," Mr Anderton said.
"When foot-stamping takes the place of debate, nothing can ever be achieved."
Ask a politician: Send us a question, on any topic, addressed to any party leader. We'll choose the best questions to put to the leaders, and publish the answers in our election coverage.
