Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Is National's new student debt policy really going to stop our brain drain?

Author: Heather du Plessis-Allan ,
Publish Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2026, 7:16pm

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Jeez, I'm not going to lie, I love the punitive part of National's student debt policy.

In case you missed it, it is essentially this: go easier on people with student loans who still live in New Zealand and crack down harder on those with loans who live overseas. National says it's a bid to keep our brightest graduates here.

Do I think that's actually going to work? No, I don't. I don't think raising interest on loans from 5.6 percent to 6.6 percent for people living overseas is going to stop someone from leaving when they can, in some cases, move to Australia and double their income. They're still going to go, aren't they?

And do I think a Kiwi paying back their student loan in New Zealand is going to stay here because they're now only paying 10 percent of their income towards their student loan instead of 12 percent ? Again, no.

Frankly, I don't think this is going to make a jot of difference to the so-called brain drain. But what I think it is actually going to do is crack down on the bludgers who take a ride on our generous education system, study essentially for free, then bugger off overseas, pay taxes in another country and never pay this country back.

It's going to lower the threshold of what authorities need to prove, which should make it easier for them to arrest these people at the border. It's also going to freeze defaulters' KiwiSaver accounts until they actually pay New Zealand back in full.

Right, so until they've paid us back, they don't get access to their KiwiSaver accounts.

It grinds my gears every single time I read stories about people absolutely taking the mickey, refusing to pay this country back for putting them through university and then swanning back from overseas to visit Mum and Dad for the summer hols as if they're not obligated to pay when they are.

Ninety-three percent of our outstanding student loan debt is held by people who are overseas. Ninety-three percent.

Do you remember the doctor? This was the worst case of it. The doctor who moved to Australia and owed us $180,000. Then he came back here, got himself arrested at the border because he owed us $180,000 and then moaned about it, saying he didn't think he could afford to pay it back.

He was a surgeon.

There's a two-way billboard right there.

This policy, I don't think, is going to stop the brain drain. But I'll tell you what: it's going to lead to a few actual arrests and I'm okay with that.

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