Cunliffe David: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers Questions to MembersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCunliffe David: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members[Sitting date: 09 December 2015. Volume:710;Page:8696. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]12.Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Labour—New Lynn) to the Minister for Tertiary Education Skills and Employment: Does he agree with the New Zealand Herald report that the “student funding scandal” is “the result of a funding crunch intersecting with a reporting and monitoring system that operates largely on trust”; if not why not?Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister for Tertiary Education Skills and Employment): No I do not agree with what is a reasonably breathless hyperbolic characterisation in the New Zealand Herald—as I generally do not agree with breathless hyperbole. The reality is there is no funding crunch. There have been some issues at a small number of institutions across the 734 funded by the Tertiary Education Commission that have not been following the funding rules. It is worth noting that the recovery from those reviews into issues dating back to 2009 is a very small percentage of this sector’s funding over that period.Hon David Cunliffe: I seek leave to table a Parliamentary Library report dated 17 June 2015 that shows the cut in New Zealand’s total investment in tertiary education under National has gone from $3.2 billion in 2009 to $3 billion in 2015-16.Mr SPEAKER: It is a marginal call but I will put the leave. Leave is sought to table it. Is there any objection? There is objection.Hon David Cunliffe: I seek leave to table a Deloitte review of the Tertiary Education Commission and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority dated 21 April 2015.Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table that particular report. Is there any objection? There is not. It can be tabled.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.Hon David Cunliffe: Can the Minister confirm that whistleblowing at New Zealand’s largest tertiary provider Intueri Group has uncovered rorting so serious that its share price dropped from $1.30 to just 35c last week?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: No. I can confirm though that Intueri is not New Zealand’s largest tertiary provider.Hon David Cunliffe: I seek leave to table a New Zealand Qualifications Authority report on Quantum Education Group a wholly owned Intueri subsidiary which—Mr SPEAKER: Order! I will put the leave. Leave is sought to table that particular document. Is there any objection? There is none. It can be tabled.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.Hon David Cunliffe: What are the names of the two other tertiary providers currently being investigated for potential fraud by the Tertiary Education Commission along with Intueri?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: The member is wrong. The Tertiary Education Commission does not investigate fraud. That is a matter for the Serious Fraud Office and I think that is a little bit of a problem with some of his accusations. As I pointed out to him initially there are 734 funded organisations. At any one time there is a number—normally a small number—that are being investigated for various reasons. The funding recovered from the reviews to date is something like $25 million which is about 0.18 percent of the total $14 billion funding the sector has received over the period in review back to 2009.Hon David Cunliffe: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. With respect the Minister has not even addressed the question which began with the words—Mr SPEAKER: No the question was very definitely addressed.Hon David Cunliffe: —“What are the names”—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member addressed the question by disputing some of the facts the member had used.Hon David Cunliffe: Have students at the two other providers currently being investigated by the Tertiary Education Commission been notified of those investigations or have they yet to receive their special Christmas message from the Minister?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: Once again I think we are seeing the breathless hyperbole that was shown at the front of the question that the member endorsed from the New Zealand Herald. The reality is that when an investigation takes place as one often does in the tertiary sector it would be prejudicial to tell anybody including the students of any issues in regard to funding or any of those matters. I am confident that the tertiary authorities are taking the appropriate steps in these matters.Hon David Cunliffe: Given that the New Zealand Qualifications Authority has so far failed to detect fraud and mismanagement in a number of providers and instead has expressed high confidence in the worst offenders does he still retain confidence in it as his watchdog or is his experiment in privatising tertiary education about as successful as his work with Novopay and the governance on Serco?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: You see there you go—that is the breathless hyperbole. I knew it was going to turn up towards the end of the question. The member is confused with the greatest respect. The New Zealand Qualifications Authority is not the funding body for tertiary education. It measures educational achievement and that is one of the basic mistakes the member makes in regard to his questions. In suggesting that there has been any attempt to privatise the tertiary education system I should get the member to look back at the previous Labour Government which I think had as much private tertiary education as there is today and once again demonstrates the house of cards that is the member’s logic.Hon David Cunliffe: I seek leave to table the following reports where the New Zealand Qualifications Authority expressed full confidence in—Mr SPEAKER: Order! Just list the reports please.Hon David Cunliffe: —providers that were rorting the—Mr SPEAKER: Order! Just list the reports.Hon David Cunliffe: Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi dated 22 February 2012; Western Institute of Technology dated 22 August 2012; Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre dated 26 January 2011; Manaakitanga Aotearoa Trust dated 21 August 2013 in which high confidence was expressed by the monitoring agency.Mr SPEAKER: Order! The last part is unnecessary. Are they publicly available?Hon David Cunliffe: They are available but not distributed.Mr SPEAKER: They are available.