Davis Kelvin: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
Davis Kelvin: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:655;Page:4542] 
KELVIN DAVIS (Labour) 
: 
 My contribution to the Appropriation (2008/09 Supplementary Estimates) Bill and the imprest supply debate will centre on tourism and education. 
Tourism speaks for itself when we look at the statistics. Tourism is our greatest export earner. It contributes 20 percent of our economy. One in 10 New Zealanders is employed in the tourism industry. It makes sense to invest in tourism. When we look at the figures for our investment in overseas marketing we see that we receive $26 back for every dollar we spend in Australia we receive $11 back for every dollar we spend in the United Kingdom and we receive $16 back for every dollar we spend in the United States. 
The money we spend marketing New Zealand to overseas markets is a return we receive within a season. Members can imagine that people over in Australia now who are looking at the “what’s on in New Zealand” advertisements about the ski season and the snow-covered mountains do not look at those advertisements then decide to visit New Zealand in 10 years’ time in order to enjoy the snow experience. They want to come now within the season within 12 months. So it makes sense that New Zealand invests in marketing. 
Unfortunately when we look at the Budget we see that $6 million has been taken off the fund to market New Zealand. I have spent time talking to people in the tourism industry in Kaitaia the Bay of Islands Whangarei Auckland Wellington and Queenstown. Every single tourism operator I spoke to said we have to invest in marketing New Zealand so that we maintain market share overseas. Countries such as Norway market themselves as the New Zealand of the north asking why customers should travel for 24 hours to get to New Zealand to see fiords and snow-capped mountains when they can fly just 2 hours from London to experience the same deal. People from the United Kingdom will take the short option unless we maintain our market share. It is unfortunate that our funding for marketing has been cut. 
When we are told that we are in a recession and there is not much money to go around it just absolutely blows me away that the Prime Minister in his role as Minister of Tourism can find a lazy $50 million sitting in his back pocket to build a cycleway. We know now that that cycleway will not be the dream strip of concrete or whatever it was going to be running from Te Rerenga Wairua—Cape Reinga as others know it—down to Invercargill. Instead it will be a series of great rides. I am a cyclist; I enjoy cycling. The cycleway is not a bad idea I guess. But the $50 million cycleway was going to create something like 3000 jobs. So far I know of one job that has been created by the cycleway. I know that somewhere there is a policy analyst who is employed to try to progress the cycleway. So I guess the cycleway has not been a total waste of money; $50 million has gone towards funding some policy analyst somewhere who is trying to progress this idea.  
I was at the Trenz conference the week before last in Auckland where a number of tourism operators came together to sell their wares to companies from overseas. If New Zealand tourism operators can get their businesses in magazines and brochures overseas then it is really beneficial and lucrative to their businesses. We were told the Prime Minister would make a significant announcement so people held their breath waiting for this significant announcement on tourism. What did we get? We got a facelift for Auckland; $20 million is going towards buying Queen’s Wharf. I can solve another problem for the Government with that $20 million. When the Rugby World Cup is over—when party central is over—we can put the containers back on Queen’s Wharf throw in some windows with bars and have Queen’s Wharf prison. We can kill two birds with one stone. 
I want to ask the Prime Minister how many tourists he will attract who are not already going to be here for the Rugby World Cup at party central. How many people are sitting in their lounges somewhere in the United Kingdom Europe or the United States saying “Wow! New Zealand is doing up its waterfront and doing up Queen’s Wharf. It will fill in the potholes on Jellicoe Street so let’s go to New Zealand.”? Absolutely nobody is going to come to New Zealand just because Jellicoe Street has been done up. It is a joke. I have to tell members that the delegates at the conference were highly disappointed. They got nothing out of it. I do not disagree with the party central theme for the Rugby World Cup. It will be fantastic for those people who are here for the Rugby World Cup. But I think we are suffering a bit from “world-cup-itis”. No tourism operators outside of Auckland will benefit in any real terms from Jellicoe Street having a new layer of tarseal and a lick of paint. The tourism industry is disappointed. The Prime Minister decided he wanted to be the Minister of Tourism and he promised so much yet the tourism industry received so little. I share its concerns because as I said earlier the tourism industry from Cape Reinga to Invercargill is saying that marketing of New Zealand is the best value for money we can get. In the Budget I am sorry to say funding for marketing was cut. 
Moving on to education I hung my head in shame at question time today to think that some people believe that moving Maori kids who are failing at secondary school to university is the solution to fix schooling. The solution to fix schooling is investing in teachers and professional development. I take the point made earlier by my whanaunga over there Tau Henare that teachers’ colleges should be training teachers in skills such as Te Kotahitanga. It is a fantastic programme; he is right. [ 
Interruption 
] It is being done. The principles of Te Kotahitanga are being taught in training colleges at the moment. But the big problem is that a number of teachers who have been teaching for 20 or 30 years have not yet had that experience. They need to be trained. They need professional development to be invested in them. Teachers who have been teaching for 20 or 30 years will not have had the benefit of Te Kotahitanga. It is important that we understand that. That is why professional development is the way forward. 
If we are going to solve the problem of Maori underachievement we should not shift the problem on to universities. One of the problems in trying to engage Maori kids in schools is that they do not like being lectured to. They do not like what we call “talk and chalk”. Yet Dr Sharples said today that we should move the kids to university so that instead of being in a class of 25 or whatever they can be in a class of 500. They will have a lecturer at the front of the lecture theatre whom they can see with binoculars who will definitely “talk and chalk” to them and who will basically turn them off. That is the pedagogy that turns kids off. It is very disappointing to see that professional development has been cut and also that adult education courses have been cut significantly. Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker Roy.