King Colin: Budget Debate 
King Colin: Budget Debate 
[Volume:647;Page:16524] 
COLIN KING (National—Kaikoura) 
: 
 For the benefit of those members of the public who are listening I note that that was the Minister of Maori Affairs Parekura Horomia. I remember the first time I listened to that man speak in this House. He said he had shorn 500 sheep in a day. The truth I suggest is more likely to be that he had shorn 500 sheep in a week. 
We are talking about the Budget here. I had a very interesting experience when I sat in on the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee when it was looking at submissions on the free-trade deal with China. It was wonderful to see the members from the Federation of Maori Authorities coming forward to say that Maori have learnt that poverty does not pay. But when we look at the Minister of Maori Affairs we see that he has not kept up with the pace of Maori—who own 10 percent of the New Zealand farming investment and are doing remarkably well. 
Maori are looking to a National Government to take them forward so that they can create wealth for their people and empower them. It is accurate and true that this Labour Government believes in keeping people under control. There is an old adage that if we give a fish to a family they will feed themselves for a day but if we teach that family how to fish they will feed themselves for a lifetime. 
For the next few moments I would like to address literacy and numeracy trades in schools productivity failure by the Labour Government and getting people aged 15 to 19 into education employment or adequate and quality training. Then I want to talk about the disastrous results brought about by this Labour Government. 
One of the very sobering aspects of this Labour Government which must really irk members like Trevor Mallard and Steve Maharey is that within our workforce we have 900000 people with literacy and numeracy problems and challenges that would prevent them from partaking in any economic gain that this country might get. Labour might think it has solved the problem but we have a huge problem in that 43 percent of our workforce is unable to contribute to our economic gain. 
In actual fact if we look at Labour’s website we see that a certain Trevor Mallard—who is at present leaving the House and I should not talk about that—said that by 2004 this Labour Government would have it all sorted and we would be on our way onward and upward. But it has not happened. Sadly the most vulnerable of this country—the 900000 who are unable to read write and do maths to a standard that would take us into a high-skill high-wage economy—are in our system. That is pretty severe because 80 percent of the people who will be in our workforce by 2010 are already there and 60 percent of the people who will be in it in 2020 are already there. The failure has been—[ 
Interruption 
] Let me spell it out for the Labour members who are on the Government benches for the short time that remains. The failure has been that schools under Labour have been expending 100 percent of their energies getting 20 percent of their students through to university. What about the other cohort—that major part of the New Zealand education system? Well I am sorry to say to the Labour members on the other side of the House that those people have been ignored. That is an indictment. That is something one does not hear about in Dr Cullen’s Budget. 
Now let us talk about trades in schools because that is one of the answers—one of the most positive answers. It is a policy that the National Party articulated at the Employers and Manufacturers Association meeting in Auckland in June 2007 when John Key talked about putting hands-on skills back into schools. That again brings to mind a situation when the Minister of Education at the time—again Trevor Mallard—humiliated and demoted technology teachers with trade-skills backgrounds. That is a shocking state of affairs. It is an incredibly vindictive and humiliating situation and it still exists today. But after John Key had so articulately explained his policy around trades and skills in 2007 Labour the “me too” Government said in January 2008: “We’re going to do it as well.” What is it doing? It has a pilot going whereby 20 schools are doing Youth Apprenticeships. 
Now when one drills down into what Labour’s youth apprenticeships are we realise that all they are is a façade. They are no different from an extension of the Gateway programme. This Labour Government has no vision and no substance and there is no investment in the education of our future generations. When one stops and thinks about it it is humiliating for those members on the other side of the House to consider that 50 percent of Maori boys leave secondary school with no qualification—without a National Certificate of Educational Achievement level 1. In actual fact 25 percent of young Pakeha lads leave school with nothing as well. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: That’s why we’ve got Schools Plus. 
COLIN KING 
: That is interesting. I would like to deviate from my notes for a wee moment and talk about Schools Plus but I see that time is getting away on me. There is so much with which to lambaste this Government in terms of its failures. 
The state of the nation speech by the Leader of the Opposition John Key the future Prime Minister of New Zealand dealt with a youth guarantee policy and also youth justice. It articulated some solutions to the many problems we are facing inside education and those solutions will be some of the pillars of the new National Government in 2008. John Key articulated some very very positive solutions going forward. What was the Prime Minister’s response? It was a quick make-over of her speech and she talked about Schools Plus. 
People who are listening to the radio or watching television will be quite interested to learn that Schools Plus is nothing more than a shell—a framework—with no substance. This is exactly what the Labour Government is turning into. Schools Plus will not come into force until 2011 yet the Government is carting it around the country talking and having hui. The Government is having a talkfest and the feedback I am getting is that it is policy on the hoof from Labour as it tries to appear to be an enthusiastic aspirational Government. Well I am sorry but it is failing miserably. 
This Budget talked about addressing productivity and as we look across again at the Government benches and talk about productivity we know we are 30 percent behind Australia. That is an appalling situation. Labour members may be interested in some other statistics that have been generated under their watch. Forty-three thousand of our finest have left this country and are seeking opportunities in Australia and 79000 New Zealanders have left in total. As I have said 43 percent of our workforce is unable to contribute to the economic wealth of this country. In actual fact 25 percent of all our tertiary-educated tax-funded students have left this country. 
Members can compare that figure by way of a benchmark with a country nearby where only 2.5 percent of tertiary-educated students have left to go overseas. That comparison illustrates just how abysmal this Labour Government has become in its custodial responsibility of empowering future generations. We will be left with the legacy of educational failure by the Labour Government.