Over the past few weeks thousands of New Zealanders have been donning cap and gown and marching to celebrate graduation. Unfortunately, more than ever before, they march into an uncertain future.

Jobs considered a right for the graduates of a previous generation are no longer there. The quarter-acre dream has been shattered by spiralling rents and property prices. And the very process of earning that qualification that was supposed to catapult them to a career and a slice of the pavlova paradise has left them with debt they will not see the end of for decades to come.

Rewind.

Because you are not a passive spectator to your own fate. University graduates, in some ways more than anyone, have the ability to shape the future.

So if you graduated this month, maximum respect. This is your future. If you are one of the many who watched as the black robes marched past in all pomp and splendour, don't forget that you also have the ability to influence events. It is in our nature.

One thing we urgently need to address is the mounting wall of student debt. A generation of graduates now owes $5.5 billion. How is this not everyone's problem? Graduates in this country each owe $13,660 on average. Someone out there owes $179,732! You'd need Helen Clark's salary just to keep up with the interest.

I guess for that person, and others with debts far smaller, to consider buying a house is a bit of a joke. Or try paying off a business start-up loan while servicing student debt. How could you start a family when 10 per cent of your income is snatched before you even see it?

I am particularly worried to see the amount of overdue loans has gone from $61 million at March 31 last year to $81 million this year. The number of borrowers this affects? 48,407. Nearly 50,000 of the people the government is looking to, to drive economic prosperity are being chased by the Inland Revenue Department as if they are tax dodgers.

That is not a future I want. The Labour Party felt the same way, once. Sadly, things have changed now they are the government.

In 1996, only one term before they were elected to government, their tertiary education policy said fees would be capped at $1000. A universal student allowance was promised. And for those already burdened with student loans, they would match significant lump sum payments dollar for dollar. So if you paid $1000, they'd chuck in an extra $1000 to help you pay off the debt faster.

I don't want to belittle the useful but limited things they have done on interest rates, freezing fees and the like. But the big vision is gone. The gains made for students under Labour have been minor.

As with a number of other issues of public importance the Green party is a lone voice in parliament challenging the status quo. We oppose the student loan scheme. We advocate reducing fees, we advocate a universal student allowance, and we advocate urgent measures to lift the burden of student loan debt on our graduates.

Above all else, we advocate a future for the graduates of this country.