Lees-Galloway Iain: Education (Polytechnics) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Lees-Galloway Iain: Education (Polytechnics) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
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IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North) 
: 
 It is typical of the nature of the Education (Polytechnics) Amendment Bill that the Government is already trying to take closure motions on it because this bill is all about stifling debate. Members will be aware that in my electorate of Palmerston North tertiary education is a substantial industry and a substantial part of our economy. This bill has sent shock waves through people working at the university the polytechnic the wananga and the other private training establishments around the city because they are wondering who is next. 
Hon Maryan Street 
: Tell them about UCOL! 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY 
: My colleague Maryan Street is asking me to talk about the Universal College of Learning and that is exactly what I am here to talk about. This bill does not suit the needs of that polytechnic in any way whatsoever. The homogenised one-size-fits-all approach to tertiary education that this Government is so obsessed with does not suit the Universal College of Learning at all because it has three communities to represent. It has Palmerston North where its head office is based it also has Whanganui and it also has Wairarapa. People have been so concerned about the implications of the limitation on community representation and community involvement that the mayors of Wairarapa and Palmerston North have both been moved to submit to the Education and Science Committee on this bill. Unfortunately their views were completely ignored and again that just sums up the Government’s approach to this. It has completely ignored representations made by the communities directly affected by this bill. 
I have a question for the Minister for Tertiary Education. I do not believe for a second that she will get up and answer it because she has not made a contribution to the debate so far today― 
Chris Hipkins 
: You might get a Christmas card! 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY 
: She might send me a Christmas card but I will not hold my breath. My question is why she has started with the polytechs. We all understand that this bill is a practice run for the universities the wananga and anything else she can get her hands on but I ask why on earth she has started with the polytechnics. They are the institutions that are most closely linked to their local communities. They provide the kinds of services the kind of trade education that their local communities need. Who should have the most say in what those institutions are doing? It should be the employers. They need to have input on the kinds of graduates they need. It should be the workers as well. They should have input on the kinds of skills that the people coming out of polytechs to work alongside them will have. It should be the local communities. It should be those who have the most interest in what those polytechs actually do and what they achieve but this bill shifts the emphasis away from that away from academic freedom and away from freedom of debate and it puts all the power in the hands of the Minister. 
This is not nanny State. I have heard a few members make comments about nanny State this afternoon. This is bully State. This is the Government getting right in the thick of it taking control of our polytechnics and having a one-size-fits-all view that just does not work and will not work. For goodness’ sake why should the student body have its voice on polytech councils stifled? Students should be in there making decisions and being part of the education that they receive but no everything will be shifted to majority control by those who have been appointed by the Minister because she knows best. She will not tell us talk to us or engage in this debate but apparently the Minister knows best. 
Grant Robertson 
: Can she actually speak? 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY 
: Well that is a good question; we might find that out soon. The absolute guts of this bill is about restricting freedom of debate academic freedom and the ability for communities to have a say in their own tertiary education and what is provided to their communities. In Palmerston North we have an organisation that works with three different communities. The initial bill—before the bill made it to the select committee—proposed having eight people on the council; there was no way that those three communities could have been adequately represented. But now as Maryan Street said the bill that has come back from the select committee is even worse. It has clamped down on the ability for communities to decide who they want on the council to the point where only the Minister will have any say in and any control of how our polytechnics are run.