It has been hard for Labour leader Andrew Little to catch a break recently. Even yesterday, it was difficult for Mr Little to compete to get his message across, political editor Dene Mackenzie writes.
The New Zealand Sevens team, including rugby star Sonny Bill Williams, was playing in Wellington. Black Caps captain Brendan McCullum was back in charge of the one-day team as it played Pakistan in Auckland.
Even in Dunedin, about 5000 competitors, plus hundreds of supporters, were involved in the 2016 Masters Games.
• Big tick for free education policy
And Mr Little had to bring forward the release of his state of the nation speech in Rotorua because of weather worries. However, it appears Mr Little may finally have touched a chord with voters who still long for the days of free education.
As costs for both primary and secondary school rise, a former tertiary student was recently arrested at the New Zealand border as he tried to fly home to the Cook Islands, owing as he did thousands in a student loan. That set off complaints about how harsh the Government has become and students expressed their fears about coming home to visit family because they had not repaid their loans. Not only had they not repaid them, they had failed to meet interest payments at all and the loan had grown exponentially.
That could all change for future generations of students - if Labour is elected in next year's general election.
Labour's three years of free post-school education over a person's lifetime could be used for any training, apprenticeship or higher education approved by NZQA and could be used for full-time or part-time study. The three years did not have to be used all at once.
The plan would not affect the existing living allowances and course-related costs. It would cost $265 million in the first year and $1.2 billion once fully implemented in 2025.
One year's education would be available from 2019, two years from 2022 and three years available from 2025.
As most people know, nothing is free and Mr Little will face attacks from the Government about spending other people's money. He says the plan is designed with the future of an automated workforce in mind.
The money being spent on the free education is already budgeted for and which the current Government has earmarked for tax cuts.
Labour will conduct a line by line review of the tertiary education sector to ensure courses are providing value for money, Mr Little says.
One thing is clear, this policy will resonate with mums and dads facing increasing costs to have their children at secondary school, despite the donations being called voluntary.
But Labour runs the risk now of creating the angst in reverse from when student loans were first introduced. People having to pay the loans were scathing of those introducing the loans for having the benefit of a so-called free education paid for by tax dollars. The politicians advocating the loans told the students it was unfair for someone working on the minimum wage to subsidise say a medical student who would have the ability to earn many times above the average after they qualified.
Now, Mr Little will need to explain to students who have paid all their debt why they should have done that. Existing students will wonder how they can benefit from Labour's largesse, and those who have left tertiary education for overseas but have not yet paid principal or interest on their loan will be asking whether the policy can be extended to wipe their debt. Just how readily voters will accept the end of tax cuts has yet to be tested.
All-in-all, it is going to be an interesting discussion.
