Beaumont Carol: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee 
Beaumont Carol: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee 
[Volume:673;Page:19344] 
CAROL BEAUMONT (Labour) 
: 
 How timely it is that I get to respond to some of the comments that the Minister of Transport has just made about industry training. I concur with the comments that my colleague David Shearer made about this Government’s lack of commitment to lifelong learning. One particular aspect where the Government is a complete disgrace concerns the role of the Tertiary Education Commission in funding industry training. Just for the record let us note that industry training has been slashed in this year’s Budget. After $55 million of cuts last year a further $90 million has been taken out over 4 years. That means that tens of thousands of trainee places have gone. 
There may be issues in relation to needing to improve quality but there are two ways we can go here. We can either just cut money from the system and have fewer trainees or focus on what is working. That is where the Minister failed to address the issues. Many industry training organisations are doing a good job delivering good outcomes for trainees and lifting skill levels in New Zealand. We should be not cutting money from that sector but actually finding out what works and investing money there. I think it is a complete disgrace that $55 million went from industry training and into the university sector instead of that money being put into funding more apprenticeships and more industry training where we need it and where it is working. 
The Tertiary Education Commission is meant to be responsible for implementing the tertiary education strategy. That strategy states: “The Government sees the tertiary education system as a key national asset which enriches New Zealanders’ lives increases their employment opportunities and helps to build a productive skills base to drive economic growth.” Well frankly the record in the skills area is a completely disgrace. Participation rates in industry training are down; participation rates in apprenticeships are down. It seems that National thinks these are “nice-to-have” things rather than essential for meeting the skills shortages that we all know exist. Business groups unions and community groups understand that there is a problem here but this Government does not understand that. I would just like to quote Phil O’Reilly who says: “As we get out of this current slump—and let’s hope we do some time—we’re going to have skill gaps appearing all over the place. We know that business people are looking increasingly at that issue asking what the story is there and asking what we are going to do about it.” That is a good question. What are we going to do about the skill gaps that exist in New Zealand? 
The reality is that investing in industry training and apprenticeships lifts productivity which is something that Government members say they are concerned about. There is no doubt—all of the evidence is there—that lifting skills and better utilising skills will lift workplace productivity giving us economic growth better and more satisfying jobs and better-paid jobs. Why does the Government not support that? I think the failure to invest in our people is actually a form of economic vandalism. It is short-sighted. We are going backwards in relation to many other countries including Australia which has provided an additional $3.6 billion in funding to skills and training over 6 years in its recent federal Budget. That was on top of a higher base than ours. 
What are we doing? Not only are we cutting investment in skills and therefore the ability to lift our workplace performance but now the Prime Minister says that as well as that we will cut workers’ rights. We will have workplaces that are low quality low skill and low wage. That is the prescription of this National Government. Anybody who thinks that that will deliver the kind of income we need as a country and the kind of economic growth we need as a country is wrong. If the Minister thinks that is funny then he needs only to look at our comparative performance in relation to countries like Australia and the Scandinavian countries where there is a significant investment in skills. He needs to ask himself what the difference is. Why do Australian workers get 30 percent higher wages than New Zealanders? Part of the answer—not all of it but part of the answer—is because there is more investment in people. It is recognised that paying people properly means that employers will want to ensure that they are well skilled and that their skills are well utilised. 
So I say to the Minister that the work of the Tertiary Education Commission in implementing the tertiary education strategy has gone wrong. The reason it has gone wrong relates to the direction given to it by that Minister. I urge him to relook at the cutting of industry training. It is the most short-sighted cut that I can imagine and it sits on top of 2 years of no new initiatives in skills. We saw cuts of $55 million last year and now we see a further $90 million of cuts in skills training. That is an absolute disgrace.