English Bill: Education (Export Education Levy) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
English Bill: Education (Export Education Levy) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:614;Page:10643] 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (National—Clutha-Southland) 
: 
 That is a bit rich coming from this Minister that it is now our responsibility to maintain the credibility of international education when he has been the Minister in charge of it for 4 years! This bill is a signal of his failure. 
Going back to the early 1990s measures have been taken by Governments to maintain the credibility of the export education sector. A big question that the House has to answer tonight when considering this bill is why it is that Government agencies have failed to do the job they are charged to do by statutes passed by this House? This bill is about levying providers retrospectively to pay for the failure of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority. That is what it is about. Let us just clarify the retrospectivity of it. Clause 4(3) states: “If before subsections (1A) to (1C) came into force the agency responsible for the administration of the levy has made any payment that could have been made or for which it could have been reimbursed from the funds of the levy had it been in force at the time the payment was made the funds of the levy may with the approval of the Minister be used to reimburse the agency for that payment.” So it is retrospective. 
The Government has already spent the money it will levy with this bill—a bill that will not be passed for some time. The money has already been spent yet the Minister has the gall to get up and say: “I hope no institution collapses so we’ll never have to use the money.” But he will collect it anyway. So it could be that the money is spent before the law passes and after the law passes the Government does not need to spend any more money. It could be a total waste of time. 
Let us just get into the detail. This bill has been a reaction to some sensitivities from foreign governments about export education not just in this country as the Minister pointed out but in a number of countries. We are not the only country that has been asked for a list of approved providers. In fact Australia Canada and the UK have been asked not just New Zealand. It is not a feature of our market alone or of the people the Minister hates—that is the private providers whom he cannot stand the sight or stench of. 
We are not being picked on. This is a reaction to the Modern Age Institute collapse and the Carich collapse. I thought to myself being new to the job that since those institutions have collapsed and left the students high and dry it must be that they were never checked up on—and that would be terrible. I had a look and what did I find? I found that these institutions have been checked up on very frequently. Between October 2000 and 2003 the New Zealand Qualifications Authority conducted three quality audits of the Modern Age Institute of Learning. When we look at those institutions we see that one of the central issues is whether the money students have paid has been put in the trust fund. The authority asked the Modern Age Institute whether it had put the money in the trust fund and it said “Yes”. The authority said: “Thank you very much. We believe you. We’re off.” Now the whole private training sector will pay $400000 for that mistake. 
Carich collapsed and who was there right alongside Carich day by day month by month? It was the Ministry of Education and the new and much-beloved Tertiary Education Commission. They stood right by Carich’s side as it fell to the dirt and took its creditors and students with them. What were the bureaucrats doing? The Minister’s own officials watched those institutions collapse because of their incompetence then the officials went to the Minister’s office and on the spur of the moment said: “Pass a piece legislation to cover our costs.” The cost to the Government is $700000. I would like the Minister to tell us what proportion of that money went to students? Can he confirm that $400000 went to students and the rest went on officials’ flights and accommodation? 
That is the inherent problem with this legislation. The people who pay the bill have no control over what happens. In this case the Minister’s officials mucked up. They let two institutions collapse as they watched; but they got to send the bill to the other private training providers who have no control over who comes into the industry no control over how officials spend the money and no control whatsoever over the vindictiveness of a Minister who wants to rub out any private provider of anything including education to foreign students. That is why the levy is wrong. The Government agencies should be able to monitor the sector as they have been required to in the past. Why have they not? 
Why is it that New Zealand Qualifications Authority accreditation does not mean anything to the Chinese Government? When the Chinese Government asks for a list why can the Government not just give it a list of New Zealand Qualifications Authority accredited providers? The reason is that the Minister has no faith in the authority to do its job properly. The law does not state that the authority monitors only public institutions; it states that it monitors all tertiary educational institutions regardless of whether they are public or private. But when the Chinese Government comes knocking the Minister says: “You can have the list of public institutions but we don’t believe that the NZQA does a good enough job. So where it says ‘accredited by NZQA’ don’t believe that.” He was right. I agree with him. The New Zealand Qualifications Authority is hopeless. It is disgraceful and negligent and the students have paid. 
The Minister has given the authority permission to continue being reckless and negligent. It can do what it likes; the bill gets sent to the private training providers not the Minister. The students will get their money and that is a good thing—they should. However the New Zealand Qualifications Authority faces no sanctions whatsoever for its failure none at all. The Minister divides the world into two. If public providers go down the toilet he just fronts up with the cash. In the last 4 years my guess is that the Minister has put over $100 million into saving polytechnics that were going down the tubes. He has put in over $100 million in capital injections. The Northland Polytech has been under restructuring for 2 years. Why is he not levying all the other polytechs for the huge cost being run up by the polytechs—for 2 years at $2500 a day and the restructure is no closer now than it was 12 months ago? Why does he not levy the polytechs for that failure? Of course he will not because they are nice State institutions that deserve to get all the money they need whenever they need it. A private institution will get the levy when the public institution stuffs up. Instead of passing this legislation the Minister should get the New Zealand Qualifications Authority into his office sack the chief executive sack the operational people— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Is the member saying that I should sack the chief executive? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Yes. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: That’s outrageous! 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The Minister should stop quacking. He usually keeps that behaviour for public meetings. 
The Minister should sort out the New Zealand Qualifications Authority because it sold those students down the line. It failed to do its job. The authority is a statutory body charged with monitoring those institutions and it did not do that. That is why we will oppose this legislation. If we thought there was a comprehensive package of measures where we could rely on the State institutions to enforce the code of pastoral care and rely on the New Zealand Qualifications Authority to do the auditing and monitoring it is meant to do then we would have an open mind. However the Minister refuses to put pressure on the Government institutions and he is making the private ones pay the bill.