Shearer David: General Debate 
Shearer David: General Debate 
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DAVID SHEARER (Labour—Mt Albert) 
: 
 In 2008 John Key said in a speech at Ellerslie: “Young people are a group I’m passionate about. For they more than anyone will determine the future shape and prosperity of New Zealand. The energy and enthusiasm of the vast majority of our young people make me hugely optimistic for our country. But the sad fact is that a growing number are failing to deliver on their potential.” I could not agree more but 3 years down the track what have we got? We have a Government that has actually delivered us 18000 more people into unemployment and not into training. This is not about Job Ops; this was about “photo ops”. This is a Prime Minister who has concentrated on getting his photo up rather than on getting the jobs and delivering for the young people of this country. There are 18000 more young people not in training and not in education. What sort of legacy is that? 
Let us look at some of the gimmicky projects this Government has rolled out in the last 3 years. We have Community Max where people have learnt how to grow vegetables but it does not turn that into any long-term jobs. We have boot camps and these have failed absolutely miserably—90 percent of the people who went through those have started reoffending. We have created much more fit and able criminals. Even Sir Peter Gluckman in his report pointed out that this particular project has failed as well. 
Mr Joyce has shown his passion by stripping $145 million out of vocational training and skills—$145 million has come out rather than gone in. After 3 years of being passionate about our young people we have seen something that is passionately dreadful. We have a situation where 18000 more young people are unemployed and not in training and that is pathetic. We know that 77000 skilled people are needed in the construction area alone—77000—yet we know that under this Government Modern Apprenticeships which teach the very skills that we are looking for have declined by 15000. Do we have any aspirations or plans? Did Mr Joyce have any aspirations or plans when he stripped $145 million out of this for the building sector and for creating those 77000 skilled people whom we need? And we know we need them. We know that the leaky building project will need building people. We know we are not building enough houses in New Zealand. We know that Christchurch needs a huge building effort but right now employers are not able to take on apprentices. 
What is Labour doing about it? We are making available 9000 new places in apprenticeships. How are we doing that? We are doing that by enabling those people who once would have been paid the dole. We are helping employers to take on those people as apprentices. That is what we are doing. We are swapping the dole for assistance for employers to take on those people. There will be 9000 additional apprenticeships. That is the sort of thing that one prepares for now when one knows that further down the line we will need those people in those construction areas. There will be 1000 new shared or group apprentices and 5000 new training places. All up there will be 25000 training places and assisted employment places for those people whom I spoke about who are neither in employment nor in training. That is what Labour is passionate about. 
We are passionate about our young people. We are not passionate about those photo opportunities that Mr Key has followed and did not deliver on in 2008. And we have had the audacity of the Minister of Education who came into this House today to talk about and boast about what she will do in the future when she has delivered virtually nothing of what she said in 2008 she would do. It is a disgrace. It is a disgrace that she came in and boasted about what she has not done for the young people of this country.