mind but I think what we've got to do at the moment is go by the
intention as formally
notified to the House.
intention as formally notified to the House. Nick Smith. Thank you for
this opportunity
the House. Nick Smith. Thank you for
thank you for this opportunity to debate the Education (Tertiary
Education and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. New Zealand has a
world class education system.
That is something we celebrate and we
are really proud of. So given this fact,
why should we stuff it
up by agreeing to what is proposed in this
new bill. There are some provisions
in this bill before the House
that Labour may have supported, what
we have in front of us,
as proposed, continues down the track
of developing a privatised model
of competition in tertiary education
competition in tertiary education
and Aotearoa New Zealand and this is
the main reason
why Labour opposes this bill. This bill, according to
what we read, will amend
the Education Act of 1989 and,
what we read, will amend the
increase funding flexibility in the increase funding flexibility in the
tertiary education
treatment of public and private tertiary education
treatment of public and private
is simply code for supporting is simply code for supporting
private commercial interests over
private commercial interests over
the rights of
New Zealand students to a
the rights of New Zealand students
tertiary education by robbing needy Peter to pay for profit
Paul. So as I said earlier on this
is the main reason
I said earlier on this is the main tertiary
I said earlier on this is the main reason why the Labour Party
absolutely opposes this bill because
it will further privatise tertiary
it will further privatise tertiary
education. Part one of this bill
education. Part one of this bill
covers the
covers the amendment to the principal act as it relates to
international students. Clause
34 amends Section 238(i) so that
the funds of the expert education
levy can be used to reimburse
students if a private school or a partnership
unable to reimburse the students. This will hay low
international
international students to be reimbursed for their fees but
they will still be able to continue
their studies in New Zealand in the
event that either of these schools
fail. We know, because this has
been covered very well
in the media over the last few months and over
the last couple of years, that there are
a number of fraudulent agents that
are currently
are currently operating in New Zealand. The Government needs
to step up in this
area because students and their
families, their lives are being ruined
and ultimately the tertiary education
lives are being ruined and sector as a whole may pay the price
of this fraud. It is New
Zealand's international reputation, our
reputation for excellence
in education, that may
be irreparably damaged if this current
Government damaged if this current
Government does not step up and
sort this out. We also know that right now there
are certain sectors
in our society that are currently using skilled
migrant labour and they utilise
short term visas,
including working holidays and student visas to fill
the skill gaps that we are
currently experiencing
experiencing right across New Zealand, but especially
in Auckland. But we also know that
this current National Government is not
actually transitioning a lot of our young
people. Thousand of our young people
successfully from secondary
schools on, either to further
tertiary education in the tertiary education
sector or into employment. We
also know that this current
Government has not actually addressed the
fact that we have over 90,000 of
our young people now under the age of 24
who are not in
education, employment or training. We know that
this number has increased from just
over 70,000, 12 months ago. This is an
70,000, 12 months ago. This is an
issue that I would have thought
would be strongly addressed in this
would be strongly addressed in this
bill, that we should see more of
what this current
Government would be doing to address those who
are not in
not in education, employment or not
not in education, employment or training and to address the
fact that we have so many that we
are needing to be skilled and in
training. But we do not see that
strongly covered. Part 2 of this
bill covers, and
it actually panders to private providers in education in
a number of ways. First, it proposes
that private
that private training establishments, PTEs should get the
same rate of funding as
universities and polytechnics and
Waninga but we should ask,
and polytechnics and Waninga but we
of those private companies get what is essentially
is essentially massive corporate subsidy from all of us
as
be much better invested on New be much better invested on New
Zealand students and should be so
invested at this time when
public institutions, our staff
and our students at those public
institutions are under resourced and
are enormously stressed. We know
this from recent studies,
over 1,000 staff in those
institutions have been surveyed and they have told us
they are enormously stressed and
under a lot of pressure. Private
companies should not be given the
under a lot of pressure. Private same status as these of our
independent universities
independent universities and our polytechnics. Our
polytechnics. Our public institutions have legal obligations
to teach New Zealanders from all
backgrounds, from all walks of
life backgrounds, from all walks of life
and from each area
in Aotearoa New Zealand. They maintain and they
protect our academic freedom
and they support New Zealand with
robust, unbiassed research. By
contrast, private,
robust, unbiassed research. By providers main obligation is to make
a profit for their shareholders and
for their owners. According
to Stats New Zealand just last year, tertiary
fees have gone up by more than
since National Government took since National Government took
office. Our institutions are
not coping with the funding freeze ender
this National Government. The
enrolments at many of our public
institutions continue to decline.
The recent
The recent contestable funding process has seen a significant
process has seen a significant
transfer of funding from
public institutions to private ones.
Regional polytechnics and institutes
of technology, they
are suffering. They are struggling for survival as
we speak. Public institutions
should continue to receive a differentiated
level of funding because
amongst other things, their capital
investment remain in our public
ownership. Private
ownership. Private establishments are under no
obligation whatsoever to continue to use their accumulated
educational purposes. Public
funding for education should go
towards education, not just towards capital
adocumentlation and
education, not just towards capital
and profit dividend for shareholders. We have mixed feelings
shareholders. We have mixed feelings
on some of what
is proposed by this bill. One of the things that we have
on some of what is proposed by this mixed feelings about is we
think that we should have an
open debate about whether or
not Warninger should be able to use the term
university. We think we should have
an open debate about this but there
is merit about a debate before
it is allowed to use this term. We
know universities already use
that term in their Maori translation right
now, but we are open to a
debate on this. As I conclude, I would like to
acknowledge those in the opposite
benches because they have had a
really good consultation
process in preparation of
really good consultation process in
Sadly, however, significant measures within this bill remains,
tinkering around the edges of the National
Government, just twittering
around with the system and we do
not support this bill.
with the system and we do not support this bill. I'm just going
to warn the member
about her language. I think it
warn the member about her language.
will not formally do anything about it but the member should take care.
Mr
Mr Barr
Mr Barr clay. Thank you very much. I thought you were about to warn the
member of having inconsistent...
The member will now sit down and
not comment on my ruling. He
knows absolutely that he is not allowed
to. When the member gathers himself
he can start again. Todd Barclay. As
I was saying it is great to be
able to speak on the first reading of the
Education (Tertiary Education and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. I
Other Matters) Amendment Bill. I
just wanted to pick
up on a couple of
just wanted to pick up on a couple Other
just wanted to pick up on a couple of points following on from
my colleague, the from the Education
and Science Committee
around international education. The
point around the importance of it, in
particular. International education
last year was our fourth largest