Duncan Helen: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Duncan Helen: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:610;Page:7211] 
1. HELEN DUNCAN (NZ Labour) 
 to the  
Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education) 
: What progress is the Government’s industry training strategy making in meeting the skill needs of business? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education)) 
: 
 Our new  
Industry Training 2002 
 publication which I will seek to table at the end of this question reports that a 12 percent increase in trainees to 106997 took place during that year and that a 12 percent increase in participating employers to 24576 took place. These are very good results to report as we complete the first year of the second term of a Labour-led Government. According to the Business New Zealand survey released at the Industry Training Federation conference nearly three-quarters of firms believe that staff training and skill development improve their company’s performance. 
Helen Duncan 
: How broad is the support for workplace learning as a means of obtaining productive and effective workplaces? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: We have support from both business and unions. In fact next week I will be joining with Business New Zealand and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions to launch our tripartite Skill New Zealand campaign. Surprisingly support for skill development is not universal. An alternative approach of simply firing employees after 2 to 3 years when they get “a bit stale” was promoted in a recent email newsletter this month by the unofficial leader of the National Party Mr Don Brash who has been trying to implement this policy in recent months. 
Simon Power 
: Does the Minister agree that the Industry Training Strategy initiated by the National Government in the early 1990s is successful because it is industry-owned and industry-led and in the light of recent findings from the Business New Zealand and Industry Training Federation survey that only 42 percent of respondent businesses were aware of an industry training organisation covering their enterprise or industry how does the Minister hope to achieve his own target of 250000 in formal industry training by 2007? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I think that the secret of success has been the partnership between the Government the employers and the trade unions. I point out that in terms of awareness the National Party is so out of touch that it sent its early childhood education spokesperson to the industry training conference—who confessed when he was there that he did not know what an “ITO” was. 
Craig McNair 
: What effort has been made by the Minister to integrate the tertiary education system and to ensure that polytechnic courses that offer continued upskilling are not viewed as a second-rate option to university courses? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: That very issue has been at the centre of the tertiary education reform process that has at its heart the integrative funding framework which ensures that skills are treated as equal to other forms of education. 
Jill Pettis 
: What are the future prospects for industry training in New Zealand? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: The prospects for industry training are bright in most workplaces as we move towards having a quarter of a million trainees with further investment by this Government. But I do know of one workplace—the National Party—where people are not allowed to learn from their mistakes and where they are not allowed to take their experience and provide for the effective operation of that workplace.