Clark David: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Clark David: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Sitting date: 29 January 2013. Volume:687;Page:7567. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Dr DAVID CLARK (Labour—Dunedin North) 
: 
 What we heard there from the member for New Plymouth Jonathan Young was a piece of fine rhetoric at points. We heard the word “delivery” on many occasions but we did not hear much to back that up. What we have seen is a Government that has delivered higher unemployment that continues to deliver 1000 New Zealanders every week to Australia that has delivered dropping median wages and that has delivered the biggest gap between rich and poor that New Zealand has ever seen. 
There were also some moments that reminded me of  
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure 
. There were some linguistic flourishes that we should cherish. But what sits behind all of that rhetoric is a Government that is overseeing an omnishambles. This Government is seeing its support leach away and is seeing desperation creep in as the public of New Zealand realise that beneath the rhetoric is failure—a failure to deliver on promises. The latest promise is to get apprenticeships up and running again. John Key has said that he will supply a sugar hit to those who take up Modern Apprenticeships. It is tragic I would point out that taxpayer money is now being used—cash—to produce enticements to solve a problem that this Government created. This taxpayer money is required to attempt to solve a problem that this Government created. There are 20000 fewer apprenticeships now than there were when this Government took office— 
Dr Rajen Prasad 
: How many? 
Dr DAVID CLARK 
: —and it is proposing to generate an extra 10000. There are 20000 fewer than when this Government took office. 
Labour believes that education is the engine room of the economy and we have a plan to deliver a stronger engine room and economic growth. This Government is playing catch-up. It is halfway aspirational to get back to where Labour was with the 100000 extra places in the tertiary sector that Labour created during its time in office. But this Government has continued to underfund skills training for New Zealanders. We need every New Zealander properly educated to the best of their abilities so that they can contribute to the greatest of their potential for the betterment of their own lives for their families and for their communities. And the changes that this Government has wrought in the sector have meant that thousands of Kiwis have lost the opportunity to upskill as a result. 
 We have seen restrictions on student loans we have seen caps on university places we have seen the slashing of adult and community education funding we have seen the rolling back of the 20 hours’ free early childhood education and we have seen $145 million redirected away from skills training. Young people in Labour’s view need to be earning or learning. They need opportunities to better themselves and right now there are 85000 young people who are not in training education or employment. That is shameful. These 85000 New Zealanders are effectively being thrown on the scrap heap by a Government that seems not to care. This Government seems more interested in preserving the privilege of those who already have than in making an economy where everyone can benefit. 
In 2010 almost 5000 prospective students were turned away from universities because enrolment caps had been reached. This pattern continues. If we contrast this record with a Shearer-led Government’s hands-on approach we have a plan outlined for a world-class education system at your local school we have a plan laid out for affordable housing addressing the market failure that is affecting so many Kiwi families and we have a plan for jobs. We see apprenticeship opportunities being created with David Shearer’s plan for affordable housing and job opportunities. So when we think that that contrasts with 20000 fewer apprenticeships under National we see a stark contrast. We see two different parties with very different views of the world. 
So in Dunedin in my own town what has been happening? What has been happening with Modern Apprenticeships? Well if we look in the Dunedin area we see that in December 2008 as Labour left office there were 343 people enrolled in Dunedin in Modern Apprenticeships. By December 2011 that had fallen to 255 people a reduction of 26 percent—a 26 percent reduction in Modern Apprenticeships. So the best thing that John Key’s announcement might achieve is seeing apprenticeship levels recover to close to what they were when his Government took office. It is hardly going to create the step change that we hear in the National rhetoric. National has finally worked out that youth unemployment and a drop in numbers of apprentices is a problem. We must keep reminding ourselves that this problem is of its making. 
The picture is actually worse than that if we dig beneath the statistics and we see that much of John Key’s announcement is actually about a rebranding exercise. He has decided to call just about everybody enrolled in industry training an apprentice. It is a branding exercise. So when Labour’s 2008 Budget funding ran out and the number of apprenticeships dropped by nearly 20 percent the number of industry trainees in the same period had dropped by 37 percent. John Key is trying to count now some of those industry training people in the Modern Apprenticeships scheme to boost his figures. 
Dr Rajen Prasad 
: Oh they don’t deny it. 
Dr DAVID CLARK 
: They do not deny it. Across the House those members sit with their heads down. They know that the plan that John Key has announced is not really a plan. It is a poor effort at trying to cover over paper over the cracks in a failed attempt at improving the lot of those people who put themselves out there to better themselves. 
Labour by contrast does have a proper plan and it starts with an improved focus on careers advice access to training in schools youth transition services and dole payments to employers to take on apprenticeships for 18 and 19-year-olds. We would increase places for young people in education and training. Some of the results as National announces its apprenticeship policy—we see on the one hand it is announcing something that is vaguely in the right direction; at the same time it is removing money with the other hand. It is giving with one hand and taking with the other. 
In the  
Otago Daily Times  
this week there have been three stories about postgraduate students affected by the National Government’s latest round of cuts. The first one: Lisa Jankowska has been under the impression she would get her student allowance this year. She is enrolled in a 1-year course and enrolled halfway through the year. She has got to re-enrol because it is the second year of enrolment. She does not receive a student allowance. She will not be able to finish her course easily. Her 1-year Master’s degree in commerce is under threat. 
The second story: a student doing a 2-year postgraduate diploma in natural history film-making and communication. A young woman called Veronica Harwood-Stevenson said she would have probably chosen to stay in her job in the film industry in Wellington if she had known her allowance would be stopped. She has gone from $244 a week on a student allowance to $175 a week on a student loan. She will be left with an extra $10000 loan. She would have chosen not to better herself over the longer term because it is very hard to get by without that allowance and New Zealand would have suffered had the changes already been in place. As a result though she personally will suffer by the Government’s changes. 
The third story in the  
Otago Daily Times 
 this week on a similar tune: a fellow called Anthony Davidson who has been working for 3 years on his MSc. He has been travelling to the Auckland Islands to study nationally endangered southern right whales. With 1 year to complete his MSc he fears he may now not be able to. He has clicked over 24 years of age and is no longer eligible for allowances—a Master’s degree going begging. 
These are just some examples of those many people affected by the changes as National seeks to tighten again the criteria for access to loans and allowances as it again seeks to make sure that those who do not have the means cannot study and that only those who already have wealth are able to access further opportunities. This is a shameful approach from the Government. It is a hands-off Government that sees unemployment rising that sees skill levels dropping and that is failing to invest in the way that would see a prosperous future for our country. 
We need a visionary Government that is willing to take the tough decisions that is willing to be hands-on that is willing to implement pro-growth tax reform and universal savings policies and that is willing to give the kinds of tools to the Reserve Bank that will help an export-led recovery. Instead we have a Government that has got the worst economic growth record in 50 years with its hand on the tiller guiding us off into a sunset that does not really exist.