Uni students protest at Parliament

Education Minister Trevor Mallard took on about 350 Victoria and Massey University staff and students at a protest outside Parliament today.

Students and staff braved a chilly and rainy Wellington day to march from Victoria University to the steps of Parliament, arriving at 1pm.

Student leaders -- flanked by two people in green costumes labelled "debt monster" -- addressed the protesters who called for Mr Mallard to come out of the Beehive.

Cheers quickly turned to hisses and boos when he emerged a short while later.

"Thank you for coming down and expressing your views about the budget, which doesn't show exceptional timing in that it was printed last week," he told the protesters.

"But other than that, I think it's always important that people express their views to Government."

The Government was focusing on important issues, he said.

"Clearly there are some ongoing issues around debt," Mr Mallard said before being drowned out by chants of "liar".

"Thank you for those comments," he said when the cries stopped.

"I think one of the signs of a mature system is an ability to interact in an intelligent manner. Frankly, I think some of the approaches I've had in early childhood have been more productive."

The Government had invested billions of dollars in education and done an enormous amount of work on student debt, fees and allowances, Mr Mallard said.

"Over the next period the focus has got to be on lifting the relevance and the excellence of the system.

"There has got to be a shift from low quality to high quality courses and there's got to be a focus on attracting and retaining the best lecturers."

New Zealand University Students Association (NZUSA) co-president Andrew Kirton said the students were marching because "our situation sucks".

Their demands were simple: that university staff got paid "what they damn well deserve"; and that students be treated like humans.

"Students are the only group of society that has to borrow to meet their costs of living," he told protesters.

NZUSA co-president Camilla Belich said student debt under the Labour-led Government had reached $7 billion and less students than ever were getting allowances.

Association of University Staff general secretary Helen Kelly said university staff were pushing for a national collective agreement.

"University salaries are too low," she told the crowd.

"They have not kept up with international rates, nor have they maintained their position with internal rates of people in other parts of the education system, or occupations which compete for university staff."

Green MP Nandor Tanczos said it was vital students' voices were heard at Parliament before the Government debated the budget.

Student debt did not only affect students, he said.

"It effects our whole country. You've seen the research -- fertility rates, migration rates, career choices, housing ownership."

The Greens believed there were simple solutions to the student debt problem such as increasing funding to the tertiary sector, Mr Tanczos said.

- NZPA