Moroney Sue: Education (Polytechnics) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Moroney Sue: Education (Polytechnics) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:659;Page:8530] 
SUE MORONEY (Labour) 
: 
 This is a very interesting day in New Zealand politics. Maori have learnt today that they can have a flag which some of them agree with on one day of the year but they cannot have a seat around the table in their polytechnics where they rely on so many of their young people to be trained for their futures. I think that is very telling about this National Government and about its agenda towards Maori people. It is also very telling about the Maori Party and its support for this bill which as we have already heard removes the dedicated Maori representation from polytechnic councils. 
The debate has been enlightening for another reason. We have finally heard the Minister’s second reading speech. She gave it about 2 minutes ago. It was supposed to enlighten us on the reason why this bill is before Parliament. According to the Minister who got up on her feet just a couple of minutes ago the reason is that the polytechnics cost too much. Apparently our polytechnics cost too much. I would like the Minister to get back up on her feet and tell us how much money will be saved by this bill. If that is the reason and if it is a cost-cutting measure how much is being saved by the culling of maybe five or six representatives from these boards? 
I did make a second reading speech on this bill I say to the Minister. She was not in the Chamber at the time but I asked the question then about how much money these people got paid for being on these councils. When we asked that question in the select committee the answer from officials was that actually they did not get paid very much at all. It might have been a couple of hundred dollars if they were lucky. Essentially it was a case of people providing a community service for a community that they cared about. What is this Government’s response? The Government’s response to those people is to say that they are not wanted. Their ideas and their passion for skills and industry development are not wanted around the polytechnic council table. Their knowledge of their communities and the responsiveness that they have been so good at are not wanted in the polytechnic council. 
What is the agenda here? I do not believe it is about cost cutting. Nothing in this bill will save a nickel or a dime. It is simply about taking away the community’s voice. It is about increasing ministerial control over those councils. I think given this Minister’s performance New Zealanders should be very worried about what this Minister has in line for polytechnics. One of the strengths of our polytechnic sector has been its responsiveness and its understanding of the local industry. Polytechnics have done that through having representatives around the table who thoroughly understand the local job market and the local training and skill needs and who are able to impart that knowledge around the table. I am not sure what this Minister is so frightened of about having those voices around the table. 
She also said in her second reading speech just recently which took about 4 minutes—or probably 3 minutes actually—that the polytechnic council sector had been letting young people down. I see no evidence of that. What I see in the area that I am familiar with Wintec which is in the Hamilton and Waikato area is that they have done a very very good job particularly in the area of skills. But this Minister’s response in believing somehow not through any research review or report— 
Moana Mackey 
: Maybe through an editorial. 
SUE MORONEY 
: Oh she may have read it in the newspaper. I do not know. Maybe she read it in the book about Riley the rat. She has made an assessment that the sector has been letting young people down and her response is to take away the student voice from polytechnic councils. How concerned can the Minister be about the needs of young people in our communities when she has put forward a bill that takes away the rightful representation of students around the council table? If she is so concerned about educational standards why has the Minister put forward this bill and why have the National members on the select committee argued for and voted for the position of staff representative to come off the polytechnic councils? If those members were concerned about educational standards they should have stood up for those things and they did not. 
I think we need to hear some more from the Minister. Because if that was her second reading speech well when the constitution of these councils is challenged the officials will not have much to report on will they? They will not have a second reading speech to rely on to find out exactly what the Government intended and what the real intention was behind these Government changes. They will have nothing to refer to because in the House on the day of the second reading Gerry Brownlee I think it was stood up and said virtually nothing.