King Colin: Estimates Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKing Colin: Estimates Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 01 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19076. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]COLIN KING (National—Kaikōura):It is a pleasure to take a call during the Appropriation (2014/15 Estimates) Bill debate. I just want to focus on the fine job that is being done by this Government around education and skills training. It is not an easy part to get right. When you look at the transitions between our compulsory education and our tertiary education it has always been a challenge. However it would have to be said that the National Government is a far better and far more trustworthy steward of the nation’s economy and of managing this very very challenging situation and location within the education system.Our Youth Guarantee scheme has proved to be very successful. It has been a difficult area because some people learn far better in the workplace or in the tertiary education sector than they do in the compulsory education sector and that is what this Government has done. Any individual between the ages of 16 and 19 who wishes to avail themselves of the opportunity can get tertiary education to level 3 for free. That is a great step forward. Vocational pathways have been structured with the—The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member. We have a vote specifically on skills and employment which comes under Vote Tertiary Education and the member is actually moving into that area now when this vote that we are discussing is economic development and employment. So I do not know whether the member was intending to focus on the whole area of skills and employment which will come up shortly or whether he has something else to say on economic development. So I am just inviting the member to come back to the substantive matter of Vote Economic Development and Employment.COLIN KING: When we look at the development of 84000 jobs in 2013 one does certainly see how the Government’s agenda around training for skills and employment is very appropriate. When you think about what contributes the most to the economy of a country it is very important that those people who come through our education system present themselves to our employers as ready and fit for employment.When you think of a country that is 4.5 million people in size with a workforce to support a First World economy it is very important that those who are going through our education system are fit for purpose. We have got to not just look at those people who are fit for employment but also find ways to improve outcomes for all of our young ones as they leave school whether they are European Asian Pasifika or Māori. It is a piece of work that has been done very successfully by this Government and Budget 2014 keeps building on the progressions that have been made. It is with great pride and confidence that we see that trades and skills are being promoted in such a way now that they are truly recognised as contributing to economic development. It is so very very important.When you look at what the Government has done it has incentivised training in five specific areas and those specific areas are to do with economic development especially in construction infrastructure manufacturing technology and primary industries. It is also very interesting to see that the Government is going one step further with a six-part vocational pathway into employment which is going to further contribute to the nation’s economy and that is in the creative industries. Effectively we can see that the Government is very focused on ensuring that everybody lives up to their potential and that economic development encompasses not just building bridges building primary industries or increasing technology but that it is also directly linked back to our education system whether it be early childhood education the compulsory sector or our tertiary education. It will ensure that we do have the right number of engineers coming forward and that we do have those skills appropriately anchored back into our education system so that we can build an economy that will not only take us forward in economic development terms into the future but well beyond that.When we stop and really analyse the whole question of economic development it is tied back into the nation. It is a very fundamental and basic principle that you have got to have the qualifications and skills to be able to carry that on with a passion and that those people whom you put up for employment have the various opportunities that should be available to them.Vote agreed to.