Strange JamieJAMIE STRANGE (Labour): Thank you Madam Chairperson Tolley. I appreciate the opportunity. I'd like to begin by acknowledging what the Minister just mentioned about the regional polytechs. I can certainly vouch for that having travelled around the country and been involved in education before coming to the House—that many of our regional polytechs are struggling. It's important that the Government take stock of that and look at how we can assist our public institutions in that way.In terms of the bill I'd like to focus on clauses 12 and 13. Just a little bit of background to clauses 12 and 13: when the bill was first put forward by the previous Government clause 12 inserted the new section 159NA which concerned the principle of equal treatment of all tertiary education providers—so essentially saying that both public and private would get the same amount of money. Then clause 13 relates to that—which amends section 159O to require the Tertiary Education Commission to have regard to the principle of equal treatment of all tertiary education providers.Now these two clauses received 2035 submissions—2035. That's a significant number of submissions and the submissions came from a range of areas like University of Auckland Universities New Zealand the Tertiary Education Union—they came from a range of areas. So what's happened is that with the change of Government we've made amendments to these clauses and the amendments can be outlined here in new section 159OA Variation of determination of design of funding mechanisms" inserted by clause 14. I'd just like to focus on that for a couple of minutes and I've got a couple of question for the Minister if he'd be so kind to answer them as well. Now when I read about this about the determination of funding where the Minister may vary the determination of the design of the funding mechanisms it's basically about valuing our public education system. It's about saying "Look this is a Crown-owned entity and it must be supported." There's a phrase here that I'd like to use that relates to this bill and that's the fact that education is first and foremost a public good. The definition of public good is "A commodity or service that is provided without profit to all members of a society for the well-being of the public." I wonder if the Minister would like to elaborate on the aspect of education being a public good and how this bill will support public education providers and in doing so support students. So how will students on the ground be practically supported by this bill?Now if we have a look going back to this section 159OA there are a number of safeguards. There's a number of safeguards if you look at subsection (2) here: "The Minister may only vary a determination—(a) if it is reasonably necessary to do so; and (b) by making changes in relation to the matters mentioned in section 159L(2)." Then it moves on to talk about consultation and I think this is a very important point here. It says in subsection (3) there: "Before deciding to vary a determination the Minister must consult—(a) all organisations that would be affected by a variation that the Minister proposes; and"—secondly—"(b) all other persons and organisations that the Minister considers ought to be consulted." If I could ask the Minister a second question there he might want to elaborate around the importance of consultation and what form that consultation will take. Then we move on to subsection (3A) there: "However the Minister is not required to consult under." some various areas.So just summarising my points there the first one is around the aspect of education being a public good—so how will the Government investing in public education support students as opposed to what the bill previously sought to do which was to give equal treatment to both public and private. So why has the Minister focused on the public aspect and how will that benefit our students? The second is around the point of consultation. Having been a member of this Government for five months there is a strong sense of collaboration that I've noticed from this Government and I sense a real focus on collaboration on consultation and it's something that I find very encouraging. So I look forward to hearing from the Minister exactly how he practically plans to consult before deciding to vary determination. Thank you."