Labour targets students, National pitches to parents

The two big parties have opened their wallets in a bid to win over key voter groups, with Labour promising big for students while National pitched to parents with new borns.

Labour leader Jacinda Ardern offered a carrot to a new voters facing the cost of tertiary study and their parents - with a promise to bring forward to 2018 the first year of the party’s three years free post-secondary education pledge.

On top of that Labour would also lift student allowances and loans by $50 per week to $220.

It comes as part of a big jump in education spending revealed as the party opened its own books in the wake of Treasury’s update last week..

Extra education spending this year leaps from $417 million, under the plan released when Andrew Little was leader, - to $887m and from $1.5 billion to $2.1 billion by 2022.

Ardern unveiled the plan at Western Springs College in Auckland, saying students had said the priority needed to be living costs.

‘‘Just getting by week-to-week has become a significant barrier to many people continuing to study,’’ Ardern said.

The move echoes Labour’s 2005 campaign pledge to make student loans interest free - a policy credited with securing a third term for Helen Clark.

Finance spokesman Grant Robertson said the fiscal plan released yesterday showed Labour could invest in better education, affordable housing, health services and lifting children out of poverty, without increasing income tax.

It foresees additional spending of $8b on health, $6b on education and $5b on families over the next four years.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Bill English was making his own pitch to younger voters during a visit to Nelson yesterday. It included an extension of paid parental leave from the current 18 weeks to 22 weeks in two steps starting next year.

National Women’s spokeswoman Paula Bennett also promised to make paid parental leave more flexible by allowing both parents to take some of the 22 weeks off at the same time. English confirmed it would likely be increased to 26 weeks over time.

In other measures, pregnant women and new mothers would be offered one free dental course, which could be taken either during pregnancy or up to their baby’s first birthday. And families struggling to have children would be given a third free IVF cycle, with faster access to fertility treatment for eligible couples.