Turia Tariana: Education (Establishment of Universities of Technology) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Turia Tariana: Education (Establishment of Universities of Technology) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:641;Page:11641] 
TARIANA TURIA (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Speaker. Tena tatou katoa. The focus of the Education (Establishment of Universities of Technology) Amendment Bill is very much a topic of passion for the tertiary sector. Adding a new category of institution—“university of technology”—is a proposal that I know will generate much heat. 
The central premise of the bill which is that more flexibility is needed to better recognise dual-sector institutions is an argument in which we have considerable interest in terms of the argument for kotahitanga—our unity of purpose. In an environment that aspires to promote the growth of knowledge—as one would expect to find in education environments—we believe that we should value every contribution as part of the collective pursuit. We also believe that the expression of manaakitanga towards others requires us to work collaboratively in the spirit of mutual respect and harmonious relationships.  
The central challenge confronting Parliament is that institutions with an exclusive focus such as those that the Education Act interprets for universities polytechs colleges of education specialist colleges or wananga should not be threatened by the existence of a new category of institution—namely “university of technology”. However this is not the first time that the question of definition has entered the tertiary sector. A paper given by Aroha Te Pareake Mead at the United Nations workshop on traditional knowledge held in Panama City in 2005 chronicles a very similar journey for whare wananga. Mead argues that although mainstream universities have translated their name into te reo Maori—for example Victoria University being translated to Te Whare Wananga o te Upoko o te Ika a Maui Aoteaora—they were vehemently opposed to the whare wananga taking on the name “university”. The opposition to this became so intense that the New Zealand Vice-Chancellor’s Committee lodged a complaint with the Minister of Education and the Advertising Standards Authority that Te Whare Wananga o Aotearoa was describing itself as a university of New Zealand. Yet ironically at no time did the universities ever acknowledge the inconsistency in their own use of a traditional Maori term.  
Other aspects of interpretation and definition surround this bill. We have heard concerns that the bill is advancing the commodification of education—that is in promoting a view that education should be exported as a commodity in the international market the bill overlooks the importance of education as the transfer of knowledge. Another interpretation of the bill is that it is not just about Unitec but about the transformation of the tertiary sector. Such a view put forward by Unitec is that changing the categories may have a transformative effect on the very nature of learning. People will be more able to engage in education and will benefit from more diverse opportunities to research design develop learn and teach trades and vocations. 
We know that a key concern for Maori is that the policy of strategic relevance that the Tertiary Education Commission believes to be the pathway forward may not necessarily connect with what Maori communities are looking for in education. As Te Wananga o Raukawa recently told us it is quite possible for the Government to hit the target but miss the point. What remains uppermost in our analysis of this bill is the need for the Crown to make a commitment to actively protect the taonga that is matauranga Maori as well as to ensure that there is an opportunity for all to make a distinctive contribution to the nation’s tertiary education sector. We believe in transformation and we believe in liberation. We most certainly believe in the revolutionary impact of education. 
The Maori Party will therefore support this bill going to the select committee in order to allow the tertiary sector and the public to have a say. I take this opportunity to congratulate Brian Donnelly on presenting this bill to the House. Kia ora.