Salesa JennyHon JENNY SALESA (Associate Minister of Education): Madam Chair Williams thank you so much for this opportunity to speak on this Education (Tertiary Education and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. I would like to talk about two Supplementary Order Papers (SOP)—the honourable Minister's Supplementary Order Paper 15; and I'd also like to address the Hon Paul Goldsmith's Supplementary Order Paper 17—as well as the use of the term university" by wānanga.I'd like to begin with the Hon Paul Goldsmith's SOP and I refer to proposed new section 159NA inserted by proposed new clause 12 where it states: "Funding mechanisms consistent with [the] principle of equal treatment of all tertiary education providers". Subsection (1) states that "Every funding mechanism must be consistent with the principle that an activity or [an] approved programme or training scheme is to be funded at the same rate … directly comparable activity [to be approved by the programme training scheme] regardless of the identities of the tertiary education providers concerned." Now one reads this to mean that when any of our students attend a private training establishment a PTE and if a similar student was to attend a university to study a course that is similar—if this SOP was to be approved—the PTE and the university would be paid at exactly the same rate.Now herein lies one of the major differences between those of us on this side of the House and those on the opposite side of the House. We do not agree with privatisation of our education system. Our education system in Aotearoa New Zealand is world class. We would like to retain that world-class education system. However we will do it by making sure that our education is fair and equitable for everyone. Now another major difference between this this side of the House and the Opposition side of the House when it comes to education is the focus that we have especially for our most vulnerable children—our Māori students our Pasifika students—and how they are dealt with in the education system.When we look at availability and accessibility of tertiary education one of the things that has been mentioned is our polytechnics. Now regional polytechnics have been discussed before—the fact that they haven't been funded adequately. The outgoing Government did not fund our tertiary education system—especially our regional polytechnics—adequately but what I can say is that I can say the same thing of Auckland polytechnics. The polytechnics in Auckland—for instance MIT the Manukau Institute of Technology which is in Ōtara as well as Unitec—have also not been getting adequate funding. Therein lies the difference on this side of the House and our opposition to this SOP is because we will continue to ensure that we will fund the State education system adequately and we will ensure that all of our students regardless of where they live and regardless of their socio-economic status get access to good education right throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.The SOP of our honourable Minister the Hon Chris Hipkins—in proposed new section 253C(3)(e) in new clause 36(5B) it states: "in … case of a wānanga [we would] consult with such persons or bodies who are knowledgeable in āhuatanga Māori ([which is] Māori tradition) and tikanga Māori (Māori custom) within a kaupapa Māori pedagogy as the Minister considers appropriate." Now I have one question to the Minister about this particular SOP: who would the Minister need to consult with with regard to the SOP that he's proposing?Now the last thing that I would like to discuss is with regard to the use of the term "university" by wānanga. We know that under this particular legislation when and if we pass it a wānanga would have to apply—so the three wānangas that we have Te Wānanga o Aotearoa Te Wānanga o Raukawa and Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi would have to apply to the Minister for consent before they could describe themselves by using the term "university". Now I have a few questions for the honourable Minister. If a wānanga is granted consent to use the term "university" would it then legally be called a university honourable Minister?The second question is: is there a risk that students and employers especially ones overseas who might be coming to attend one of our wānangas—may they be confused or misled into thinking that a wānanga is a university in the same way as Victoria University or the University of Auckland is? And my last question honourable Minister—and this is in reflecting with quite a few of the vice-chancellors that came and presented to us. Some of them of course did not agree that wānanga should be allowed to use the term "university" and they thought that it should be kept as a protected term. Now in allowing wānanga to use "university" would we create a reputational risk for Aotearoa New Zealand and if not how can this risk be managed? Thank you very much Madam Chair."