King Colin: Industry Training and Apprenticeships Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKing Colin: Industry Training and Apprenticeships Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 05 November 2013. Volume:694;Page:14374. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]COLIN KING (National—Kaikōura): It is with enthusiasm that I speak during this first reading of the Industry Training and Apprenticeships Amendment Bill. It is always good to have a conversation with the Labour Party when you are talking about industry training because over there on the other side there is really a morass of different views and opinions and yet you have to learn to understand the Industry Training Act from the point of view of what it actually means. You heard earlier on Grant Robertson talking about why the Government did not act earlier but really in the Industry Training Act the fundamental principle is that you have got to have employment. So the employer and the apprentice work through this arrangement.What the other side was rambling on about and Andrew Little over there is obviously equally confused is that there are two systems of funding. Under the Industry Training Act you have the standard training measure funding and under the polytechnics you have the fulltime-equivalent funding. I just want to put that out there to clarify some of the double-speak that was coming from those Opposition members.What is happening here in this bill is very opportune and very appropriate and again it adds to the suite of legislation that will add value to industry training and add value to the pathway of industry training right back from the point of view of what the Government has done around the vocational pathways in the National Certificate of Educational Achievement. We now have the vocational pathways. We will have early meetings and an introduction of the industry training organisations to those students who will come on through and complete their trade training when they have employment funded under a standard training measure model. So it is very appropriate that the Minister for Tertiary Education Skills and Employment has brought this bill to the House.I just want to reflect for a moment for the benefit of Andrew Little on the wasteful spending of the Labour Government when it had its Modern Apprenticeships programme. I can remember actually studying one of the Modern Apprenticeships coordinator’s performance. It spent $250000 and never had one completion of a Modern Apprenticeship.Simon O’Connor: How much?COLIN KING: The sum of $250000 was paid out to a Modern Apprenticeships coordinator and it never had one completed Modern Apprenticeship. That was typical of the wasteful spending under Labour. We saw it in health.Andrew Little: Go back to the Tourism Board.COLIN KING: We saw it in health Andrew Little. We saw it in health. Labour doubled the spending but did not get any more performance. What did Labour do in industry training? It tripled the pay tripled the amount of money going into it with no better quality.What have we got today under this bill? We have got the New Zealand Apprenticeships and this will provide a level of training to an apprentice regardless of their age. That is exceptionally good thinking.What actually happened under Labour was that you would go into a factory and you would have two Modern Apprentices and you would have six older apprentices and they would all get the same deal. It was just a sort of snout in the trough way of funding. It was very very poorly run. What we have got today is far more refined. I must pay respect here to Lockwood Smith. Lockwood Smith would be so pleased to see that we are finally starting to get to a stage where his vision around industry training will be met. It is so very sad that those people over on the other side who profess—and I use that word carefully—to represent the workers do not have a clue.I go back to what Grant Robertson was saying: imagine trusting employers to deliver training! Well I am afraid that there are a lot of wonderful employers out there who do the training. Tell that person over there who spoke so disrespectfully about our business people who are the backbone of this country our employers.Andrew Little: How’s this member’s relationship with Anadarko going?COLIN KING: Andrew Little should just breathe through his nose and actually apologise for the reckless wasteful spending that we saw from the Labour Government in the industry training and apprenticeships situation.It is a real pleasure to support this bill. I look forward to working with the sensible grounded people of the Education and Science Committee. We will get the bill reported back to the House I am sure by 10 March 2014. Thank you.