Upston Louise: Education Amendment Bill (No 4) — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Upston Louise: Education Amendment Bill (No 4) — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 16 August 2011. Volume:675;Page:20845. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupo) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to take a call on this omnibus Education Amendment Bill (No 4). Although I would be sorely tempted to talk about another piece of legislation I am happy to talk about this bill. As the Minister for Tertiary Education said earlier the changes to the student services fee show that the Government is on the side of students. That is clear as the previous speaker Carol Beaumont said from the comments of the New Zealand University Students’ Association. I quote directly from its submission: “NZUSA is very supportive of the aims of improving transparency ensuring greater involvement of students in decision making and improving the accountability of tertiary education providers to the student body.”  
One of the things that was quite apparent when we heard submissions on this particular part of the bill was the great variance between polytechnics and universities. It appears that polytechs are able to hold their fees for support services at a very low level or actually not to charge them at all so one thing that bothered me was the significant variation in fees. But rather than talk about something that has been covered quite well I will focus more on export education.  
This Government is focused on growth this Government is focused on jobs and this Government is focused on reducing bureaucracy and red tape. If we look at export education we see that it is valued at $2.1 billion. But as we all know and as has become very evident from this bill export education is an opportunity and a potential that is significantly untapped so the bill provides for the rationalisation of organisations and it provides them with a much clearer focus. When I talk to the export education providers in the Taupo electorate I find that one of the things that has frustrated them is the fact that three different organisations have been trying to promote international education overseas and they literally trip over one another. So the creation of this new Crown agent—Education New Zealand—will be of significant benefit in making sure that the process of promoting our education overseas is far more streamlined and effective. The functions of the new Crown organisation Education New Zealand include promotional and marketing activities the management of Government representation for activities in support of international education and industry and student support.  
It is quite telling that we have had very little discussion about new Part 21 which will be inserted in the Education Act 1989 by Part 1 but this part will grow our economy and get our export education sector up and going again whereas it has been stagnating since 2005. This Government takes exports seriously wants to grow the sector and is willing to invest in it. We want to get rid of the barriers that stand in the way of economic growth whereas members opposite want to spend more money at every opportunity. They never tell us how they would fund that spending.  
New Part 21 is a fantastic part of the Education Amendment Bill (No 4) and it will grow our export education industry which is currently sitting at $2.1 billion. We look forward to the fact that we can grow that opportunity and grow that potential overseas. It will benefit not only businesses in my electorate but also businesses up and down the country. It is just so fascinating that members opposite are so plugged-in they cannot handle the fact that we want to grow the economy and increase exports. They just do not want to talk about it. I am quite staggered.  
I am proud of our Minister. I am proud that the Minister has been listening to the sector and has been paying attention to the businesses that operate in that space. The Minister has removed some of the barriers for those businesses in a vital part of our economy.  
We know that this country does well if we bring students here to study. They spend money while they are here. They spend money in Taupo they spend money in Canterbury they spend money up and down this country. New Part 21 in Part 1 is fantastic for the changes it makes and for the creation of Education New Zealand. It is fantastic and that is why I am so proud to support this bill.