Why Should You Vote ACT?

In the run-up to the 2026 election, Salient is interviewing all the major parties to understand their responses to the issues students face. Here, Dr Parmjeet Parmar, ACT list MP and tertiary education spokesperson, pitches ACT.

What is the biggest challenge facing students in New Zealand in 2026?

One of the issues which I've heard in various debates is definitely the cost of living issue. I know it's a genuine thing as students have limited hours to work alongside their studies. This is why I’ve put in a policy to make the student services fee voluntary, which at the moment costs domestic students up to $1253 per year.

Assuming students don’t pay for anything, then they are easily saving over $4000 dollars across three years. I’d like to style the student service fee like a menu, where students pick what they want to pay for depending on what they want to use. This way they are not paying for the things they are not using. 

Is there a risk this policy could defund the things which make university worth coming to? 

Not at all. I think students should have a choice. They should have freedom of association; in 2011 ACT passed a bill which made student union membership voluntary, but then the universities shifted it into the student services fee, and now students are funding unions regardless of whether students agree with what unions are advocating for. If students think unions are worthwhile to join, then definitely, tick that box, and pay to join them. The same applies to other services as well. It doesn’t mean they disappear; it just means they become transparent and user-pays. 

What happens if someone registers for student health without ticking the box to pay for student health? 

There are a number of scenarios there. There are students who are already enrolled with their family GP and prefer them. So even if you have your own family GP, you’re still paying for the university’s one as well. But if you haven’t ticked that box and you need Student Health’s services, you can just go and pay as you use. 

It’s illegal for GPs to turn patients away. So theoretically, a student could sign up for student health while not paying for it. 

Once the system is set up, there will obviously be a fee system, so Student Health would check if you are in their system. If you’re not, you would pay as you use the system. 

Students are currently the only beneficiary group not eligible for the winter energy payment. Is this something ACT would change?

I recognize the hardship of students, but as you will know, students can go to the Ministry of Social Development to get support if they are in real hardship. But we don’t have any policy of making the winter energy payment available for all students. 

Is this something you personally would have interest in advocating for?

We haven’t discussed this. At the moment, we believe these support policies need to be targeted, and if someone is in need they can definitely reach out to MSD. 

In 2023, a two-zone trip on Metlink cost a tertiary student $1.13 at peak time. Currently it costs $2.63, an increase of 132 percent. 50 percent of students get to Vic by public transport; how will NZ First reduce this financial burden?

I think it all comes down to cost relief and which is why we have come up with our policy of making student services free voluntary. This way students are saving money.

So you don’t have any specific public transport policy? 

Not, not for making it free for all. 

I’m not asking about making public transport free for all, I’m asking about general public transport policy. 

At this stage we haven’t discussed it.

Between 2014 and 2024, the amount course fees could rise each year was between 2 and 2.8 percent. In 2025 and 2026, course fees were allowed to rise by 6 percent. If elected, what would your policy on course fees be?

It’s important to note that the student-loan is interest free, which is support students already get, and there is no requirement to pay it all up front, so sometimes students can take a bit of time to pay their tuition fee.

[Editorial Note: Dr Parmar is incorrect on this point. NZ universities require up-front payment in full before courses begin.]

Going forward, it comes to cost-relief. So we were thinking hard as to what we could bring, and this is why we announced the student services fee policy. 

So you don’t have any specific thoughts on what universities should be allowed to increase course fees by? 

Universities have their own independent way of operating, but in terms of the taxpayer’s money spent on the various resources given to students, it should only follow need, merit, and circumstance, not race or ancestry. So that’s one policy-

Sorry, I’m going to interject there. That’s not what I asked. I asked about the increase of course fees per year. 

No, I don’t have any policy there. But I’ve just mentioned how we want the taxpayer’s money to be used by universities. 

Is it something you’d seek to advocate for, reducing those course fee increases back down to 2 and 2.8%? 

Before COVID, we used to get a lot of international students coming here, and our numbers are beginning to return to those numbers. Universities need this income, so we have been working on the immigration side of things to ensure students are coming to universities and universities get revenue. Because at the end of the day, it’s about the revenue the universities can get. 

Are course fee increases of 6% acceptable when inflation is 3.1%? 

Any kind of inflation which is putting people in hardship is not reasonable. This is why we have focused on reducing government expenditure to control overall inflation. 

These course fee rises have come with the removal of final year fees-free. Is that 

something ACT wants to bring back? 

There are two ways of looking at fees-free. Yes, students who got one year free benefitted from it. But what was fees-free’s ultimate goal? It was to increase enrollment, increase completion, and reduce the socioeconomic gap, but we didn’t see any evidence of those things happening. 

For any amount of the taxpayer’s money which is used, it’s really important we achieve the targets for the whole country, not for a few individuals. 

Wellington’s unemployment rate is at 6.3 percent, but for those aged between 15 and 24 it is 8.4 percent. There are ten thousand fewer jobs in Wellington than there were last election, and the government is looking to remove 8700 public sector jobs, which would disproportionately affect Wellington. Right now, what incentive is there for a graduate to stay in Wellington?

For young people, it’s really important we create an environment where businesses feel more confident and able to create more jobs. As an example, we have reinstated the 90 day probation period for all businesses. This is where businesses can give an opportunity to someone who doesn’t have any work experience, and this way the business gains and the employee also gains, as they get the experience even if it doesn’t work out for them. We have also reduced regulations more broadly as they create a burden on business. This means businesses can focus on growing so they can employ more people. So there are a number of things we have done to support businesses. 

The question I asked was what reason is there for someone who is graduating from Vic to stay in Wellington right now. 

Students are looking for opportunities, right? Those opportunities only come if we encourage investment and innovation. If we make our system so hard for people to think about investing here, well, they won’t invest. These policies which I have given examples of are highlighting how our government has made investment easier. 

And this flows on to students by more jobs being created by businesses?

If businesses are growing, there will be more opportunities for everybody, including students. 

Access to mental health and addiction services for young people has declined—there are 5000 fewer people receiving care than five years ago. How would ACT address the gap between demand for mental health care and the services available? 

That’s a real issue, and we’re working on it at the moment. But no announcements there, not yet. 

Thank you so much, Parmjeet. 

Thank you, Dan. 

Read all of our Why Should You Vote? articles at salient.org.nz