Flavell Te Ururoa: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFlavell Te Ururoa: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 22 August 2007. Volume:641;Page:11346. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]7.TE URUROA FLAVELL (Māori Party—Waiariki) to theMinister for Tertiary Education: He aha nga mahi kua kawea e ia hei tautuku i nga tutohutanga a te Taraipiunara o Waitangi mo Te Wananga o Aotearoa ara a (Wai 1298) i panuitia i te rua tekau ma toru o Hakihea i te tau rua mano ma rima a ahea te Kawanatanga tuku ai i te katoa o tana urupare whai tikanga mo ia tutohutanga?[What action has he taken to comply with the recommendations of the Waitangi Tribunal concerning Te Wananga o Aotearoa—Wai 1298—released on 23 December 2005 and when does the Government expect to release a full formal response to each recommendation?]Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister for Tertiary Education): Discussion on a partnership agreement with the three wānanga has been proceeding for some time. I also expect to take a full formal response to the tribunal’s recommendations to Cabinet in the near future for approval.Te Ururoa Flavell: What strategies have been developed to ensure that consultation and negotiation with Te Wānanga o Aotearoa take place between the wānanga and the Crown at the level of the council the Minister for Tertiary Education and the Secretary for Education?Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN: There have been intense and ongoing relationships between the Crown and Te Wānanga o Aotearoa over the last 2 years or more with the involvement obviously of the Crown manager and the commissioner. We have had frequent reports and engagement between the Tertiary Education Commission and thewānanga. I am confident that the wānanga is now on a very much more secure basis for future growth and development than it was some 2 years ago.Hon Brian Donnelly: Does the Minister agree that the aggressive growth strategies pursued by the previous chief executive officer of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa went way beyond the defined purpose of wānanga and placed that institution at long-term risk; and can he confirm that the current administration recognises this and has set in place policies that will strengthen the institution into the future?Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN: I think that is a very fair comment. I think it also has to be said and it was sometimes forgotten in the commentary on the wānanga a few years ago that any tertiary institution that grew at the rate that that institution did over such a very short period of time would have run into major governance and management problems. It went from well under 3000 equivalent full-time students to something like 32000 equivalent full-time students in the space of about 4 or 5 years. It is very doubtful whether any tertiary education institution could grow at that rate without creating very significant difficulties.Te Ururoa Flavell: What administrative and financial assistance will the Minister provide to assist Te Wānanga o Aotearoa in meeting the costs in carrying out the reviews audits and inquiries undergone by that institution as recommended by the tribunal in Wai 1298?Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN: The wānanga has already had an extremely large settlement in relation to its Waitangi Tribunal claim in terms of the capital funding of wānanga. We are of course still in negotiations with Raukawa but we are approaching the completion of those in relation to its capital claim. Awanuiārangi has already had its payment in terms of the capital claim. The Government will not be funding the claims to the tribunal itself.Te Ururoa Flavell: Can the Minister confirm that the cost of having Mr Brian Roche and his team at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa has exceeded $3.2 million for the 2 years to 31 March 2007 is it likely to cost another $2400 per day plus GST for each day they are on site for the rest of the year and does he think that this is an acceptable cost to continue to be met by Te Wānanga o Aotearoa; if so why?Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN: Yes I do because that cost and that activity have turned around the wānanga from a position where it was not so much collapsing as exploding and had entered into all kinds of strange activities to one that is now on a secure and safe basis for the future. The progress that has been made in conjunction with the council headed by Craig Coxhead and the chief executive of the wānanga means that we have some reasonable confidence that in fact Mr Roche should be able to be withdrawn before the end of the year.