2002 Alliance Opening Laila Harre: “New Zealand is a wealthy country with huge untapped potential. In the last twenty years we have gone from being one of the most equal societies in the world to one of the most unequal. We pay a huge social and economic price for that. I’m Laila Harre, leader of the Alliance. In the next 27 days I want to convince you to give the Alliance your party vote. Last election enough people voted Alliance to put us into a coalition government with Labour. We’ve been able to achieve many of our urgent priorities.” V/O: Increasing and guaranteeing superannuation, a much higher minimum wage especially for young workers, 12 weeks paid parental leave, income related rents in state houses, repealing the Employment Contracts Act, a Kiwi Bank, and more jobs. LH: “Take it from me, none of this would have been possible without the Alliance and the people who voted for us. With more party votes we will be even more effective. Over the next three years we must make a much bigger investment in education. That is what the Alliance wants to have written into our next coalition agreement with Labour. It all starts here, with the young. If we want the knowledge economy to be more than just a cheap slogan, then we need to offer more than cheap solutions. A free high-quality public education system, right through from pre-school to polytech and university will cost money. Its also the best investment we can make in the future economic development of New Zealand. Every year we delay that investment we rob young people of their chance to reach their full potential. Already one in ten New Zealanders has a student debt. That’s predicted to rise to one in four.” V/O: Students and graduates now owe the government 5 billion dollars. If we don’t do anything about it this will rise to 20 billion by 2020. LH: “Only the Alliance is drawing a line in the sand over student debt and saying enough is enough. When you’re paying back a student loan of up to 100 thousand dollars at the compulsory payback rate of ten percent of your income how on earth do you put a deposit on a house, start a family or begin to save for your retirement.” V/O: The Alliance will stop new debt by making tertiary education free. We will reintroduce a universal student allowance so students don’t have to borrow money for their food and rent. Over three years we will abolish university and polytech fees. We will forgive all interest payments on existing loans. Liz Gordon: “Too many young people have already left or plan to leave New Zealand in order to avoid their debt or to pay it off completely. At the same time we have shortages of doctors, teachers, nurses, dentists, and other skilled workers. We need these people here. And that means keeping the Alliance in government with your party vote.” LH: “We can afford free education. Next year the government is forecasting a $2.3 billion dollar surplus. With just half of that we could fully fund a free high-quality public tertiary education system. The only way to make it happen is to give the Alliance your party vote.” Willie Jackson: “A fair deal for families doesn’t stop at free education. One in three kids is growing up in poverty. With an aging population and smaller workforce we can’t afford to leave any of these kids behind.” V/O: Free doctors’ visits and free medicines will save big dollars in expensive hospital treatment. The Alliance will restore the family benefit at $15 a week per child no matter what the income. Four weeks of annual leave, the same as for Austalian workers will make it easier for families to spend time together. WJ: “Mana Motuhake and the Alliance take partnership seriously. I know that both Maori and Pakeha want to see justice within this nation. Let’s make Treaty claims a priority so that we can all get on with the business of growing together and working together.” LH: “We have worked well with Labour and there is much that we agree on. I know that without the Alliance Labour will not put enough money into education, health and ending child poverty. And Labour will lift the moratorium that is keeping GE out of our environment. The Alliance insisted on the current moratorium and we want to be back in government to keep GE in the lab until its safe. if you are a Labour supporter you should split your vote to get the things you know are most important.” Matt McCarten: “It has been a testing time for the Alliance. In the past three years our job has been to keep the government honest, and we have. If you give the Alliance your party vote this election, we’ll keep the next government on track too. Laila Harre is smart, sharp and delivers. As a Minister of Women, Youth and Associate Minister of Labour she has won twelve weeks paid parental leave for families, raised the minimum wage for workers, particularly for the young ones and introduced legislation that protects sub-contractors. As the leader of the Alliance in the next government you can count on Laila to deliver on education, health and eliminate child poverty.” LH: “It’s too easy for politicians in government to get comfortable and even arrogant. We’ve made a good start but it’s long past time we began to deal with the really hard issues: student debt, child poverty, the staff shortages that result from the chronic underfunding of our health and education services. As long as the big parties avoid the bigger issues we need the Alliance in government. To keep the Alliance working for you in government, give us your party vote this election.