Martin TraceyEDUCATION (TERTIARY EDUCATION AND OTHER MATTERS) AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingHon TRACEY MARTIN (Associate Minister of Education) on behalf of the Minister of Education: I move That the Education (Tertiary Education and Other Matters) Amendment Bill be now read a second time. The bill supports better outcomes from the tertiary system by giving Government agencies better tools to identify and manage questionable behaviour in tertiary education organisations. It also imposes higher consequences where contract breaches or illegal activities are confirmed and it broadens the protection and arrangements for students studying across our system to support student well-being. I wish to thank the members of the previous Education and Science Committee—a particularly hard-working select committee it was too—and the current Education and Workforce Committee for their diligent consideration of the bill. I also wish to thank the 2000 organisations and individuals that made submissions on this bill. I will briefly cover the substantive amendments that the Education and Workforce Committee has made to the bill. The Government intends to support the amendments recommended by the committee. The amendments illustrate that in its deliberations the committee has been particularly mindful of submissions received from submitters during the select committee process. The first change will be removing the principle of equitable treatment and removing the private training establishments name change proposal. The committee has amended the bill to remove the proposal to insert a principle of equal funding treatment of public and private providers into the Education Act 1989 and the proposal to change the name of the private training establishment sector to independent tertiary establishments. I welcome the committee's amendments to remove these proposals. The vast majority of submitters on the bill were strongly opposed to both of these changes. In response to submissions the committee has also amended the bill to include a new type of private training establishment called a community tertiary education provider. I support this amendment. Inserting the term community tertiary education provider" into the Education Act 1989 allows the Government to recognise the value of those not-for-profit private training establishments that have special roles or intentions such as providing tertiary education for the public good. Clause 10 of the Education (Tertiary Education and Other Matters) Amendment Bill enables the Tertiary Education Commission to charge an organisation a fee relating to the cost of an investigation by the commission when a breach of funding condition is found to have occurred. This strengthens the commission's ability to hold tertiary providers to account for their use of public funding. The committee has amended the bill so that the commission must provide notification to the affected provider when an investigation is commenced by the commission. Clause 16 allows the commission to give funding approval to a provider subject to conditions it considers reasonably necessary for the effective monitoring of the performance of the system in the tertiary sector. The committee has amended the bill to require the commission to consider any submissions from affected providers before giving funding approval. These amendments improve the bill by strengthening the accountability settings of the commission and by making the commission more responsive to providers. To address ongoing concerns about provider behaviour clauses 9 and 38 strengthen the offence provisions in the Act by clarifying the definition of a student's record of achievement and introducing a new offence for making false representations on a student's record of achievement. The committee has amended the bill to firstly clarify and improve the definitions in this section. Secondly the committee has made amendments to significantly strengthen the offence provisions. These amendments increase the penalty for offences concerning the falsification of student records from $10000 to up to $50000. Increasing the penalty up to $50000 also has the effect of increasing the time the New Zealand Qualifications Authority has to pursue a prosecution from one to five years. I welcome the committee's amendments to further strengthen the offence provisions. This provides a strong incentive for providers to act honestly and with due diligence in their maintenance of student records. The committee has amended the bill to remove clause 28 which would have allowed a tertiary institutions council to pass resolutions in writing without the need for a meeting. I welcome the committee's amendment. I think it is important to maintain public access to tertiary institution council meetings. Clause 27 of the bill allows councils to conduct meetings via audiovisual means. This amendment goes a long way towards modernising council arrangements. The committee has made several minor amendments to the bill which I support such as including a definition of a "contract of enrolment" for international students in schools and clarifying that providers should publish compulsory student services fees on their websites as per a student amount. There is a Supplementary Order Paper that will be introduced. Clauses 26 and 27 of the bill allow a wānanga to apply for ministerial consent to use a protected term such as "university". The committee has recommended no changes to this proposal but the Government is proposing to make a small change. At the appropriate time the Minister of Education will be tabling a Supplementary Order Paper that makes an amendment to the proposal to allow wānanga to apply for ministerial consent to use a protected term. In particular the Minister of Education proposes one change to the consultation process a Minister must follow. When considering a wānanga's application for consent the Minister of Education proposes that the Minister must also consult with experts in kaupapa Māori education. This is alongside the current requirements which are that the Minister must consult with the institutions organisations representing institutions and other relevant bodies that the Minister considers appropriate. This amendment will balance the consultation requirements already in the bill. The bill is a vital part of strengthening the tertiary education system to strengthen accountability in the tertiary system and to broaden student protections. I now commend the Education (Tertiary Education and Other Matters) Amendment Bill to the House."