Woodhouse MichaelHon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National): Thank you Mr Chair. One of the more I think measured submissions to the Education and Workforce Committee was from the Otago Polytechnic who probably didn't display quite the tub-thumping outrage that our near neighbours in the southern region did with Southern Institute of Technology's protest meeting that the Minister of Education very bravely attended. The subsequent week was much more measured as was the submission and I want to talk to it in relation to my Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) 437 regarding Otago Polytech's role as a future subsidiary.Now what the Otago Polytechnic said in its submission was that—it pointed out actually that when Cabinet originally agreed to the provisions it was for the continuation of the New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology subsidiaries unless there were good reasons not to do so. It pointed out that the bill when it came through to the select committee provided for the automatic dissolution of subsidiaries on a given date. It recommended that that not be the case and that actually what they described as the earned autonomy" of polytechnics should be able to be maintained. That wasn't followed; my SOP will enable that to occur. There are very good reasons for that. I think the southern South Island polytechnics are the exemplar of good vocational academic and financial performance.It doesn't just happen actually—it wasn't like that 15-odd years ago—but through good management good academic excellence and a high level of pass rate that came out Otago has a very very good reputation. It has a global reputation particularly in health sciences. Both the University of Otago and Otago Polytech with its nursing midwifery and occupational therapy programmes are qualifications that can be taken anywhere in the world and a prospective employer will know where Otago is.They have a significant concern about the loss of autonomy that could have been protected if Otago is allowed to remain a subsidiary of New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology. Cabinet looked at that at the start and decided against it which I think is a reflection of the centralised ethos the collectivist centralist ethos of this Government actually that it knows best. Well I can tell the Minister that the Otago Polytechnic staff students and stakeholders know that that isn't the case. They know that a good polytechnic does require that level of autonomy it does rely on that level of employer and stakeholder engagement.I have been an employer that relies on the product that comes out of the Otago Polytechnic and I was super impressed with the willingness that they had to listen to me as the employer of their product and say "Look I think it can be improved in this way." or "I can help by enabling students to come whether they're arboriculture students or mechanical engineering students or nursing students and work in my organisation as undergraduates." Now the reality is that level of autonomy is going to be lost if the bill as it remains in the committee of the whole House is passed in to law I have no doubt. That was the concern that the Otago Polytechnic had; it's the concern that my SOP seeks to address. The last thing I want to touch on is the SOP—I think it's in Mr Falloon's name—regarding the management and control of the assets and other colleagues have talked about this. I don't think Otago has quite the asset base particularly cash and physical assets that other organisations around the country have. But the reality is they did not come to pass purely because of Government fiat and investment. They came about because of the community's involvement in this polytechnic. The community is going to have quite a bit to say about the Government by fiat by law appropriating those assets for central use particularly if they are liquid assets—cash assets—without any guarantee that they are going to be hypothecated back to this region. So I remain concerned at the loss of autonomy the loss of identity and the loss of control over the academic programmes. These two SOPs seek to remedy that and I commend them."