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I didn’t do any study after I left school —no university, no polytech— so I’ve never had a student loan. I know about debt though, thanks to the mortgage.  

And I reckon it would be very easy for me, as someone who has never had to pay off a student loan but who knows what it’s like to have the responsibilities of a mortgage, to dismiss what a former IRD prosecutor is saying today.  

A former IRD prosecutor who says we need to go a bit easy on New Zealanders living overseas who are way behind in their student loan payments and are too scared to set foot here because they think they’ll be arrested at the border.  

Dave Ananth is a tax barrister who has done work for IRD in the past. He says it’s crazy that, at a time when we want and need skilled people working here, we are so hardcore with these people that they’re just not coming back.  

Because they’re too scared to come back.  

And I agree with him. Which kind of surprises me because I’m normally big on people not shying away from responsibilities and all that.   

But when you consider some real-life examples, I reckon it’s very easy to appreciate the argument for change.   

Dave Ananth is saying it’s all very well going overseas, but that doesn’t mean people walk into well-paying jobs. The grass doesn’t always turn out to be greener.  

So what he’s calling for IRD to be lenient enough so that these Kiwis aren’t scared of coming back. He says a bit of leeway would go a long way.  

One approach he thinks could work is IRD talking to these people and seeing if they could apply for some grace on the basis of hardship. Or agree to letting them come back, pay a few hundred dollars for a start and see how it goes.  

And I don’t see anything wrong with that. Because what would you rather have? These people stuck overseas owing all this money? Or would you rather they were here making a genuine contribution to the country?   

It’s a no-brainer. As this tax lawyer says, if nothing changes, it probably means some of these people never setting foot in New Zealand because they could potentially be arrested.  

Kiwis who have expertise in the likes of engineering and technology. There are medical people he says would be here if they didn’t have the threat of arrest hanging over them.  

And he’s giving some real-life examples to back up his argument. Such as a New Zealander living in Australia whose loan has blown-out to $170,000, mostly because of interest.  

Back in 2014, this guy completed his pilot training but couldn’t find any flying work here, so he went over to Australia and worked as a commercial pilot for six years.  

Things got tricky for him when Covid hit, there was no more flying for him, and he had to take a low-paying job in a storage warehouse. Which meant he got way behind in his loan payments.  

Then there’s the case of a woman living in the United States. Her debt has blown-out to $70,000 —$55,000 of that from interest— and she isn’t coming home to see her sick mother because she’s terrified she’s going to be arrested at the border.  

As she says: "I've been petrified something's going to happen to my mum and she's going to pass away and I'm not even going to be able to go there."  

I was talking to someone this morning who said they went overseas for just a year, and it cost them $1,000.  

So there is no shortage of stories that show how this system just isn’t doing anyone any favours. It’s not doing the people with the student loans living overseas any favours and it’s not doing the rest of us any favours.  

Because these people have the skills and expertise we are crying out for.