Hughes Darren: Motions — Hon Steven Joyce—Conferral of Degree 
Hughes Darren: Motions — Hon Steven Joyce—Conferral of Degree 
[Volume:661;Page:9685] 
Hon DARREN HUGHES (Labour) 
: 
 Today the House joins in unity—in fact I think the country joins in unity—to honour Steven Leonard Joyce latterly of the North Shore with a student ID number of 0816886. The academic records from Massey University which were laid on the table by the Minister himself—this will be a good speech Gerry; it is worth staying for. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! 
Hon DARREN HUGHES 
: I withdraw. That was outside the Standing Orders. I return to the motion moved by my colleague the Hon Trevor Mallard to congratulate— 
David Garrett 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I believe that the speaker on his feet referred to the pending absence of the Minister which I understand is not in order. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member apologised for having made that reference. 
Hon DARREN HUGHES 
: One has to be quick around here. We will look for that on the transcript. The member of Parliament Steven Leonard Joyce began his study for the degree of Bachelor of Veterinary Science in 1981. That will mean by definition that he will not remember any other event in 1981 much like the Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key. He was busy studying for his Bachelor of Veterinary Science that year and everything else that was going on around him in the city of Palmerston North would have taken him by complete surprise. I will start in 1981 and then go right to the other end when the degree was finally conferred in 2002. The 20-year journey that the Minister for Tertiary Education took to get his degree conferred is a journey he ought to be proud of. I believe that the only way he was able to do it—and the reason we congratulate him today—is clearly that in that 20-year period he took adult and community education night courses in order to bridge the gap so he could get that 20-year degree. We congratulate him on the motion before the House today. 
There are many papers associated with that degree but only some of them make up the degree. 
Hon Steven Joyce 
: All in 3 years Darren. 
Hon DARREN HUGHES 
: Sorry? 
Hon Steven Joyce 
: 3 years; that’s all it took. 
Hon DARREN HUGHES 
: Well I am looking at the transcript the Minister has tabled. It says here he started the course in 1981 and in 2002 the degree was conferred. I am being kind to the member; I said it was 20 years but it turns out that it took 21 years to get the degree. We are making no judgment about that. Today is about congratulating and honouring the Minister in charge of tertiary education in our country; we do not want to do anything else other than that. 
My colleague Mr Mallard made reference to the Minister’s extraordinary political skills. They have been built on the basis of his degree. In joining in the congratulations today we pay tribute to him for the extraordinary way in which he has managed his political career since then. As I look through the papers I see many of the things that I think have helped him. The one that really stands out to me is the A- mark he got in animal behaviour. I would have thought that even though that was an academic course every Monday morning it must feel like an applied course when he is in the Cabinet room watching the machinations of the Government. 
As he has already moved into Anne Tolley’s seat in the House has taken away half of her portfolios and no doubt will send the  
Hansard 
 record of today to her I believe it is worth reflecting on what has made up his extraordinary academic career. As everyone knows there are times in our careers when we go forwards and times when we go backwards. I suspect that after the SuperGold card incident and today’s particular events the Minister may be feeling the pendulum slightly correcting itself after 15 months of being told how wonderful he is. As my colleague the Hon Maryan Street pointed out sometimes academic careers have high points and sometimes they have low points. Certainly there are a few low points in the transcript. None of that should take away from the success of the member over the 21-year programme he undertook to secure an undergraduate degree. There is an old saying that God loves a trier and I think the Minister for Tertiary Education has shown us that if one sticks with it and applies himself or herself it is possible to achieve an undergraduate degree in science and zoology in New Zealand. 
There were things that were not completed—items of work that the Minister throughout his studies was not able to get around to completing. In offering our congratulations I say that the Opposition has no objection if the Minister decides to take up some of those courses again so he may continue to see his career trajectory take off in the way it has. Papers in monetary economics advanced economic theory and economy of development were not completed by the Minister. As Mr Mallard has already stated the next natural career move for the Minister of Transport Mr Joyce would be to move into the finance portfolio. Already we can see that the degree papers he was successful in have assisted him but it has not yet been possible for him to make that final leap across—just one seat over in that particular respect—so he can take on issues related to economics. 
There were many things in his degree course that were not completed but there were other things where he made a fair go at it—for example trade legislation. It would be great if we had two Ministers of Trade in a row—Mr Groser and Mr Joyce—who knew absolutely everything. Most countries are lucky to get one Minister of Trade who knows absolutely everything and we have Tim Groser for that! I ask members to imagine the beauty of living in a country that is mined to hell on one hand but with a Minister of Trade who knows everything on the other hand which would happen if Mr Joyce followed Mr Groser in that respect. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Aaron Gilmore. 
Hon DARREN HUGHES 
: Mr Mallard says that Mr Gilmore could become the Minister of Trade after that. Can members imagine if Mr Gilmore tabled his academic transcript? He is so talented and distinguished; it would resemble the Auckland telephone book. 
Hon John Carter 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The motion is to congratulate the Minister on his academic achievement and the member who is speaking is straying outside of that. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I hear the member. Could the Hon Darren Hughes come back to the motion. 
Hon DARREN HUGHES 
: Sure thing. I am sorry; I was responding to interjections. It is not fair for the Minister to have to share the limelight with anyone else today. This is Steven Leonard Joyce’s day. It is his day to be in the sun and it was wrong for me to mention any other member of Parliament. I apologise to him for that; it was uncharitable of me on such a special day for him. I know that as we are speaking down here and doing the serious work of congratulating him right now the Hon Gerry Brownlee is baking one of his big old cakes upstairs for him with a few candles on it to say congratulations and well done. 
When we look at how the Minister used that academic degree we have to look at some of the other academic publications that came after that degree and have helped him with his political career which we are congratulating him on today. The academic textbook most strongly associated with Steven Leonard Joyce student ID number 0816886 would be  
The Hollow Men: A study in the politics of deception 
. That would be the textbook I think that would have assisted him— 
Hon John Carter 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I say again that the debate is a very narrow debate. It is to congratulate the Minister. The book  
The Hollow Men: A study in the politics of deception 
 has nothing to do with academic achievement and the member should be brought back to the debate. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I think it is a fair point of order. I invite the member to continue but be mindful that it is a narrow debate. 
Hon DARREN HUGHES 
: It is a narrow debate. I was just going to say that I think it is very hard to argue that Steven Joyce has nothing to do with  
The Hollow Men: 
A study in the politics of deception 
; most of the book is about him. In politics some of those works can become academic textbooks even if at the time they are published that is not the intention. That is the only point I was making and I apologise to the acting Leader of the House Mr Carter for that transgression if that is what he believes it was. 
There is a lot in the academic transcript about theory and we know that the— 
Hon John Carter 
: I’m not the acting Leader of the House. 
Hon DARREN HUGHES 
: Mr Carter used to have a great sense of humour. It is a funny thing when people are auditioning for Cabinet. 
I want to go to the year 1983. The Minister undertook the course “Introduction to Computing” and in 1983 it would have been the hippest most modern available course at that time. The Apple IIe would have been the computer of choice used. Now that he is the Minister for Communications and Information Technology I think his most current piece of work in that regard would be the roll-out of broadband which he now has ministerial responsibility for. It is no surprise to me that in the 1983 academic course most closely aligned with his role as Minister for Communications and Information Technology and broadband he only got a C. That might be a similar pass mark to the one that is given to him now but at least he saw it through until the end when he got a C mark. 
As Mr Mallard has already stated in his generous and gracious motion of congratulations to Mr Joyce today his career has been built on his academic transcript. The House is very grateful that it has been made available to us today to review just some aspects of it. It is an occasion to be warm-hearted towards the Minister but of course we will want to check where pages 1 and 4 of the transcript are because it may be that the House wants to return to it to take up a few more points that might be in there. 
It is not fair to comment on courses that were not undertaken; we have mentioned those that were taken but not completed we have mentioned those where he scraped through and we have mentioned those such as animal behaviour where he did very very well indeed. We could explore some of the courses he did not bother to do. That would show some of the areas where his interests did not lie at that time. But today is not a day for politics; today is a day for our Parliament to come together to look at somebody who we believe is a future Prime Minister of New Zealand—Steven Joyce. He runs rings round most of the other Ministers because he does the work. When they are sleeping he is plotting. That is what he is doing to make sure that he can make the achievements he makes and can serve our country in the way he does. 
It only remains for me on behalf of Her Majesty’s loyal Opposition to congratulate the Hon Steven Leonard Joyce. That 21-year degree programme has paid rich dividends for him and we look forward to seeing what happens if he ever does a postgraduate diploma.