English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:624;Page:19230] 
7.  
Hon BILL ENGLISH (National—Clutha-Southland) 
 to the  
Minister of Education 
: How much funding if any was allocated from the Strategic Priorities Fund for each of the following courses: the animal homeopathy course run by Bay of Plenty College of Homeopathy the art of health course run by Taruna College and the nail technology course run by the National School of Aesthetics? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Minister of Education) 
: 
 The Strategic Priorities Fund was established in 2002 following our Government’s decision to cap the funding for private training establishments which previously had been funded on a “bums on seats” formula developed by the member when he was in Government. In order to receive funding providers have to demonstrate that courses meet a range of criteria including: first getting people into jobs; second regional needs; and third links with industry. I am advised that those courses will this year receive around $180000. 
Hon Bill English 
: Has the Minister seen a memo from the Tertiary Education Commission that explains that late last year it decided not to fund alternative therapies and some other types of courses from the Strategic Priorities Fund; can he explain to the House whether its change of mind was because of pressure from him so that the Strategic Priorities Fund is now paying for a course like the art of health which includes in its subject matter “Cosmic and Earthly connections: 7 fold human being in relation to the planets organs metals and soul types.”? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I am not sure why the member hates Rudolf Steiner schools so much. That course is run by the organisation that trains the teachers and workers in Rudolf Steiner schools. I do not myself quite go for that approach but I do not believe Ministers should stop it. I had no influence on those decisions. 
Hon Brian Donnelly 
: What specific steps has the Tertiary Education Commission taken in order to focus enrolment patterns to meet the objectives for the tertiary education strategy or is a “bums on seats” funding policy still the order of the day? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: There has been considerable work in this area as the member is aware—for example through the Performance-based Research Fund into which $200 million is going. That is a move away from “bums on seats” to a strategic approach. There has been a major development in Modern Apprenticeships—a move away from a “bums on seats” approach to one that is strategic. In this particular area there was evidence provided that a group in New Zealand’s dairy regions such as the Waikato the Bay of Plenty Southland and the Wairarapa is committed to ensuring that animal health standards meet overseas expectations of quality—in particular the increase in demand for organic produce and meat. Again frankly that does not mean much to me but it is worth $70 million to exporters. It is a rapidly growing market. Opposition members may hate people who have alternative approaches but this Government does not. 
Nandor Tanczos 
: With regard to the Minister’s answer to that question does he think it is important strategically for the organic sector as a growing export industry to have vets who can treat animals without chemicals so that they can maintain their organic certification or does he think like Mr English that neither the education sector nor the agricultural sector need to respond to market demand? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I think the answer to that is it is a bit of both. Fonterra has indicated that if companies meet US standards for dairy products they get a premium of 16 percent and that that will be moving up to 20 percent. That is a market matter and in order to get those premiums antibiotics cannot be used. People do use organic and other methods. The Opposition members may not like us to export organically raised milk or meat but this Government will not oppose it in the way that Bill English does. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: In addition to concerns over the strategic priority of some of these training courses does the Minister believe that the reported 25 percent decline in enrolments in one training organisation is a result of my exposure of shortcomings or does he accept that the previous levels may well have been inflated by fraudulent enrolments? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: On the fundamental point of the member’s question the numbers were dropping well before he made his revelations. 
Jill Pettis 
: Is funding for those sorts of courses new? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I happened to pull out information about a group of courses that were approved in 1999 and amongst that group were homeopathy golf and health and natural rebalance therapies. I think that a few Opposition members could use the latter. 
Hon Bill English 
: Can the Minister confirm that he is aware that the Education and Science Committee has asked the Tertiary Education Commission to release the tertiary enrolment figures for 2004 and that the commission has agreed to release them but that he is stopping the release of those figures because he is trying to hide further evidence of massive growth in low-level low-quality courses at the expense of trades and apprenticeships; and why does he not release the figures? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I intend tomorrow or on Friday to release the figures on apprenticeships which will prove that what the member says is untrue—and I think he knows that. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: I seek leave to table documents that show fraudulent enrolments in a tertiary training course. 
Documents by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Hon Bill English 
: What would the Minister say to the parents who spoke to their petition on special-needs education to the Education and Science Committee this morning—which included stories about children at school who require nappies but have no one to change them—about his history of stupid decisions about the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars on tertiary education courses that students do not attend while those children with special needs go without? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I would tell them to listen very carefully to the member try to run down New Zealand organic farmers. I would say to them that this Government has worked very hard to get people into jobs and to build the value of the economy so that we can supply the sort of special education that all of us think is necessary. I would also say to them that the very low priority that the previous Government put on training special-education teachers is showing now. I do not know why National hates the parents of children with special needs. 
Rodney Hide 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I am sitting here not as a member of the National Party or the Labour Party but I ask you to consider that the Minister in his answer said that members of an entire party hate the parents of special-needs children. You accepted that as an answer to a question. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Would the Minister please withdraw that comment. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I withdraw.