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Andrew Dickens: Labour's policy a bribe for young voters

Author
Andrew Dickens ,
Publish Date
Mon, 1 Feb 2016, 7:07AM

Andrew Dickens: Labour's policy a bribe for young voters

Author
Andrew Dickens ,
Publish Date
Mon, 1 Feb 2016, 7:07AM

Well who the hell saw that coming?

 Yesterday we were sharpening our knives in preparation for Andrew Little's State of the Nation speech.

 We were expecting some fire and brimstone against the TPP deal which would prove once and for all that he's a goose.

 Because let's face it, the last week had been completely confused. Phil Goff was given dispensation to cross the floor and vote for the TPP while David Shearer was chastised for the same position.

How can you let one of your senior caucus members stand by a policy directly at odds with his party? What goose does that? One who does not know how to lead.

 I suspect that in it's heart of heart the Labour moderates including Andrew Little support the TPP. They would be confident in the ability of this country to protect it's sovereignty and they understand the folly of turning your back on a trade deal involving 40 per cent of the globe.

 So, frankly Labour's opposition to the TPP brands it as an opposition, who oppose everything and propose nothing, and not a government. That's not a brand anyone votes for.

 But lo and behold what do we get? No anti TPP rant but 3 years free tertiary education.

 Why? Well Andrew Little said it's because the changing face of work as highlighted in the report of the World Economic Forum in Davos that said technology is going to take 7 million jobs by 2020 and only make 2 million new ones. The machines are coming and Little wants to futureproof the humans.

 However, you only get their free education if you've never done any tertiary education at all. So it's good for the kids and the factory worker who suddenly gets the hankering to go to uni. But the machines are going to rip apart the middle class and middle management if you actually read the research.

Labour's policy does not help those whose qualifications have become out of date and that's a weakness if your battling the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

 Little's reasoning was flannel. It's like he opened the Economist or The Guardian last week and saw the future of work report and thought, “Hey! We can use this to sell our policy”.

 I see the policy for what it is. A bribe for a younger voter. Just like the student interest free loans. Not a brave new world. The kiwi deal is not so bad.

The government already pays 70 per cent of tertiary education fees. What's wrong with chucking in your own investment. For instance, if the government paid 70 per cent of your gym fees this would be the fittest nation on earth.

 But before the educationalists send their angry missives to me let me say this: If you're going to throw a lazy billion dollars at education then at least do it at primary and secondary levels where parents are already complaining about donations and underfunding and class sizes.

Get the kids educated early and then at 18, when to all extents and purposes they're adults, they'll be educated enough to make the right decisions about their adult life and education.

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