Nash Stuart: Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Nash Stuart: Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
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STUART NASH (Labour) 
: 
 We are talking about clause 6A “Sections 229A to 229C apply to private training establishments”. I have had a little bit of time in the university sector. I was a director of strategic development in a university so I know a little bit about the tertiary education sector. 
Hon Members 
: Oh! 
STUART NASH 
: Yes—and members on that side of the Chamber might learn something. With regard to private training establishments student unions are pretty much vital to the inner workings of these institutions in terms of how they cope. Typically a lot of students go to private training establishments because they are practical they offer a good course and often they are local. There are a lot of private training establishments around the country. I am not too sure how many. Does Mr Shearer know how many? 
David Shearer 
: More than 300. 
STUART NASH 
: There are more than 300 private training establishments around the country. These establishments provide an awesome service because they normally allow students to stay in the area where they grew up. If students want to become mechanics or do some sort of trades course they can go to a private training establishment. For a lot of people that is perfect. For a lot of people that is staircasing. It gets people into the education system. Sometimes they have not engaged with the education system or they have fallen out of the system. 
The private training establishment sector provides a very valuable service. Not only does it train people but it gives people confidence. It gives students confidence to re-engage in the education process and the sector. But what happens with this situation is that people who might have fallen out of the system at some stage are coming back in. These people may not necessarily be academically inclined or have much confidence in their own ability. They know what they want to do but they suffer from a crisis of confidence although that is probably too strong a term. They do not have confidence. They go to a private training establishment to gain confidence and gain qualifications. 
But where they gain confidence they also build comradeship. Often just as important as the qualification they get is the friends they make. Where do those students make friends? It is in the functions and confines that student bodies provide. That is why student organisations are so important. Often if people are new in a private training establishment they do not know much about anything. So they go along to the student union and meet people of like mind. They meet people on their course. They meet people who can mentor them—that is just as important—and provide support. 
It is my estimate that nearly every single person who is on a student body has been at that establishment for a while so they know how it works. They know what first-year students have to face and they know how to get around a lot of the problems that first-year students encounter. They deliver a number of very valuable services to many students. If this bill takes that away then it is taking away one of those important stepping stones that students need to continue along with their education. 
A lot of students get to the first month and they struggle a little bit. The first or second assignment may be due in and they are not too sure how they are going along. They may decide: “Oh shivers this is getting a bit too hard for me.” and they go along to the students association. They have a sit-down with someone who has been there before and knows what it is about and that person talks them through it. It is a mentoring role of sorts. What happens? I have seen this before. At the end of that course that student goes back to the student union and back to the person who has mentored them or provided support and says that without the support that was given he or she would not have reached the end of the course. That is what happens. 
The ACT Party says it is the party of private enterprise of getting people ahead of economic enterprise and of taking individual responsibility so it absolutely astounds me that it is actually ripping out one of the steps that provides those things. This bill takes away one of the vital support structures in private training establishments that allow students to get ahead. That is why this bill really surprises me. When I learnt that this bill was the only member’s bill put up by the ACT Party that may get through this House I wondered whether it would be the legacy of that party. 
Every student who goes to a private training establishment and drops out has Heather Roy to thank. Heather Roy—she can correct me if I am wrong—has five children. One of her children may end up being one of the students at a private training establishment who is supported by a student union but no longer will be. I do not know the age of her children. 
Hon Judith Collins 
: Don’t bring a member’s children into it. 
STUART NASH 
: As for you we’ll get started on you. You keep quiet. Don’t talk to me like that. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: The member cannot bring the Chair into it in the way that he did. If the member reflects on how he used that particular pronoun it is quite out of order so please be careful. 
STUART NASH 
: My daughter or my son may be one of the students in the future that needs the support. But it is not about my children who attend private training establishments because clause 6A deals with private training establishments; it is about young New Zealanders who want to engage in education. They often go to private training establishments. 
Young New Zealanders often use private training establishments as a stepping stone to further their educational career and their professional and personal development. If this is taken away what do we end up with? We end up with a further hollowing-out of the education system that has started under that Government. I think it is an absolute disgrace. 
The only person who should be happy about this is the Minister of Corrections because she knows that when people fall out of society they end up in her prisons—and she is rapt about it. That Minister will end up with the largest portfolio in the country if this Government has its way. Members opposite call this success. I remember when Bill English said at a select committee that the Government was going to sell State assets. Shane Jones asked whether the Government was going to sell a power station to build a prison. Bill English said yes that is what the Government will do. 
I will finish up because I had only three points to make. The first point was that if we take away students associations from private training establishments then we take away the important support that students need to get through their qualifications. If this bill takes away the ability of student unions to be established and provide the support that students need at private training establishments then the community is worse off. Thank you.