Wong Pansy: Education (Export Education Levy) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Wong Pansy: Education (Export Education Levy) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:614;Page:10684] 
PANSY WONG (National) 
: 
 According to Trevor Mallard who is bringing in this bill international students would have more confidence in New Zealand’s export education sector by paying more tax. Then private educational providers were made to collect this additional tax as a reminder of Labour’s loathing of private enterprise. 
It is a move that would push international students into State schools. We have already seen State schools’ enrolment increase for 2004 probably at the expense of private providers. Our State schools have come to rely more and more on international students because funding for education has been channelled into bureaucracy. In the past 2 years funding for bureaucracy in the education sector has increased by 50 percent while schools are crying out for more resources. Schools are put on a compulsory diet while bureaucracy fattens. 
Labour would argue that the additional tax imposed on international students could be justified on the grounds of user-pays. So let us examine then whether these users are getting good value for paying the existing tax of $183 per person plus 0.45 percent of their fees. This provides them with the reassurance that the institutions they enrol with are accredited with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority that institutions are monitored that any necessary follow-up actions will be swift and effective that trust accounts will be kept for prepaid tuition fees and accommodation funds and that the standard of qualifications will be high. 
Well the failure of Carich Training Centre alone illustrates that reality is falling far short of expectation. Apparently all tuition fees were to be paid into a trust account for the first week of enrolment because students were entitled to a refund if they withdrew from that institution in the first week. However I have in my hands a bank transfer form that clearly demonstrates that tuition fees were paid directly into Carich’s Visa account rather than into a trust account. 
That reminds me of the trust account at the failed Modern Age Institute of Learning. There was no money left in the trust account when that institution collapsed. Incidentally the New Zealand Qualifications Authority had done two quality audits at the institute and as late as May of this year—just 2 months before that institution went into liquidation—had obtained a reassurance from its accountant that the trust account was operating satisfactorily. It was hardly in the interests of the accountant an employee of the Modern Age Institute of Learning to tell the New Zealand Qualifications Authority that the accounts were not in order. How trusting! 
I was approached by former Christchurch Carich students who found out that they could not enrol at Christchurch Polytechnic because the equivalent computing course offered by Carich was not compatible with the standards required by the polytechnic. Did Carich have the accreditation to offer that course? If so does the New Zealand Qualifications Authority apply the same standard of accreditation to all institutions? The Auckland Carich students could not get a firm answer from either the New Zealand Qualifications Authority or the insurance company Contractors Bonding Ltd as to whether they could obtain refunds from the insurance cover. They did not even have access to a copy of the insurance cover and I have still not managed to get the insurers to send me one. 
This is a system of user-pays where the users have absolutely no say as to which alternative provider they can go to. The insurance company calls the shots. Some students went to an institution approved by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority and ended up sitting in classrooms without computers for 2 weeks. Some went to another institution and then got a letter from that institution asking them to make up the shortfall from the insurance company. That is why there have been reports of students being auctioned to the cheapest provider. 
On the topic of Carich I have in my hand photos of the Minister for Information Technology the Hon Paul Swain at the opening of the purpose-built Carich international students campus in the heart of Auckland on 30 May this year. Labour Ministers do love photo opportunities do they not? When Carich was in obvious trouble 5 months later the Hon Paul Swain was nowhere to be seen. 
The lip service paid by Labour to export education is obvious when one reflects on the different treatments of other export industries. Our largest export industry is dairy earning $6.4 billion followed by tourism at $6.1 billion forestry at $3.4 billion with export education coming in at $1.7 billion. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry administers 98 pieces of legislation and over 100 regulations to go with them. Tourism New Zealand got its own dedicated legislation. In the 2002 year the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry spent $68 million on enforcement and industry monitoring and a further $82 million on biosecurity. Tourism New Zealand had a budget of $58 million. The Government appropriated an additional $15 million to target the US market and earmarked $34 million for the America’s Cup challenge. 
In order to maintain our reputation we pay so much attention to ensuring that a single can of export beef reaches a high standard before it leaves this country yet when it comes to export education Labour is callous and careless in ensuring the well-being of our young people mainly from Asia. Not only do those international students have to pay for the systems of monitoring and follow-up they also have to pay more when the system fails. They have no say in paying higher taxes and no control over how that money is spent. When this Government and its officials fail they blame the private training institutions. They make successful institutions collect extra tax to bail out the Government. 
Trevor Mallard’s so-called charm offensive trip to China this year was a disgrace. Mr Mallard was quoted in the Chinese media as saying that New Zealand did not want that many students anyway. I wonder why taxpayers wasted their money in funding his trip to China when he is trying to convince the Chinese not to send students over here. If Helen Clark is serious about holding individuals accountable she should remove Trevor Mallard from the export education portfolio and give it to someone who cares and can provide leadership. Passing legislation to tax international students studying in private training establishments because of the failings of her Minister and officials is totally unacceptable. The National Party will certainly not support this legislation which is a total outrage.