Thursday, March 31, 2011

Heroic Educated Kiwi Expatriates


On Tuesday, in Auckland, I opened the Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal. It was a great honour to be asked, especially given that I am a publicly declared atheist. But I love the Sallys and their cause is noble.


On the same occasion I launched the HEKE campaign, a call for the New Zealanders living abroad with student loans not being repaid, to move from being Educated Kiwi Expatriates, to Heroic Educated Kiwi Expatriates. 85,000 overseas Kiwis owe $2 billion, and 35,000 are in default. The median debt isn't large, around $18,000. The opportunity is this. Pay back the loan, in your own self-interest, and be celebrated as a hero or heroine for doing so.

New Zealand has taken a huge hit to our economy from the Christchurch February 22 earthquake. The estimates range from $15 billion to $30 billion for the rebuilding, and the taxpayer contribution is at least $7 billion. The student loan offshore is held in a foreign currency and if repaid represents a cost to those other country's other economies.

The appeal is highly controversial. I got the backing of the Reserve Bank Governor in advance, and set up the repayment link with the Inland Revenue Department. The government was informed at the last minute. This is an independent appeal from me, as a member of our expatriate's academic family back home. It is going out on social media with Facebook and Twitter. The website is http://www.heke.ac.nz


In Maori, "heke" means to reduce. By reducing their loans, our ex-students help New Zealand rebuild Christchurch.

My appeal has generated a media storm with a hectic 36 hours of TV interviews, radio interviews and newspaper articles. The response has been 85% positive, though I have had many emails attacking me, and the Facebook wall (http://www.facebook.com/hekeproject) has seen several critical comments, each of which I've tried to answer positively.

I append below a series of TV interviews relating to the project as well as one fascinating newspaper article. I received an email from Hong-Kong, copied to various NZ media luminaries. I answered the email late at night, reply to all, and next day found it to be the front page story in the New Zealand Herald, our biggest (Auckland-based) newspaper. Be careful what you write in an email! Fortunately, I think I replied well, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive for me.




http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/expat-students-asked-pay-off-their-loans-help-chch-4091032/video

http://tvnz.co.nz/breakfast-news/students-paying-back-loans-sir-paul-callaghan-4-25-video-4091039

http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/national/4819276/Expats-urged-to-settle-student-loans-for-Christchurch

http://tvnz.co.nz/back-benches/s2011-e6-video-4082522

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2 comments:

  1. Mary CooleApril 1, 2011 at 7:46 PM

    The hornet's nest is well and truly buzzing!! well done

    ReplyDelete
  2. etApril 5, 2011 at 3:24 AM

    Very moving request, Paul, one that will provoke genuine consideration and action.

    ReplyDelete

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