How about this then? Ministers Steven Joyce and Bill English commissioned the Productivity Commission to look at tertiary education, and this whopping 400 page draft report has come back being heavily critical of the current system.

It says tertiary education in this country is inflexible, it's not innovative, it's not keeping up with the fast-paced change that's occurring all over the world. Furthermore, it's focused on meeting the needs of the government and our education institutions, instead of being centred around the needs of students.

But here's the doozy: It says the government must re-introduce interest on student loans. The government has immediately said that's not happening. Labour say it shouldn't happen. And the Greens have immediately labelled the idea as "ridiculous".

Well, is it? Is it ridiculous?

Why are our political parties so reluctant to have a conversation about this? Right now, $14.8 billion is outstanding in student loans. That's huge. For a country of this size, that's an enormous noose around our necks. $14.8 billion. That, surely, is unaffordable.

Labour introduced interest-free student loans under Helen Clark - you'll remember it was a last-minute vote winner that got Clark over the line for a third term in 2005. But at what cost?

I think it's one of the greatest economic blunders in living memory. It was also couched in such a way that interest-free student loans would make education more accessible for all. But has it? In this report, the productivity commission says it hasn't.

Here's why. Given the cost to the government, it can't afford an open-approach to tertiary education. It has to limit the numbers purely from a position of affordability. So our tertiary institutions can therefore cherry-pick the best of the best, because the government is limiting how many people can access it. The government is strongly incentivised to control student numbers, if you like.

So education isn't more accessible to all - quite the opposite. This report says the system 'is not' reaching out to those groups who've traditionally missed out on tertiary education.

So how do you fix this?

You don't, according to National, Labour and the Greens. There's nothing to see here. Carry on, please. Why? Because if interest was reapplied to loans, students would vote in their droves and it would swing an election.

So we'll muddle on with this flawed knee-jerk policy that was introduced in 2005 to win an election, but ultimately, every year, it's costing this country hundreds of millions of dollars.

Right now, $14.8 billion is outstanding. Why won't any of our political parties have the conversation?