Hipkins ChrisCHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka): What a disappointing contribution from Todd Muller the member who has just resumed his seat. It was boring it was lifeless it was full of hollow platitudes and it made the member look like he wanted to be anywhere else but in the Chamber defending his colleagues and this Government's Budget and I am not surprised. He is one of the better ones over there I have got to say and if even he cannot summon up the energy to sound enthusiastic about this year's Budget I think that says everything about a Government that has run out of puff has run out of steam and is going through the motions. He would rather be anywhere but here having to actually defend the Budget that those members have passed.And it is not surprising—86000 young New Zealanders and counting are currently sitting at home doing nothing. They are not in education not in employment and not in training. Those are the numbers—86000 and counting—under this National Government. That is a significant increase on when those members became the Government.Instead of doing something about that this Government wants to keep throwing barriers into the road of those young New Zealanders. Student fees for tertiary education are up 40 percent under the current Government's watch. Student debt is at $16 billion. Did you know that since the student loan scheme was introduced we still have not reached the point where the amount borrowers are paying back exceeds the amount that is being borrowed? The overall student loan balance more than 20 years after student loans were introduced continues to balloon every year. It is an unsustainable scheme and we need to do something about that.The Labour Party has got some answers. The current National Government has completely run out of puff. Well we have not. We have got plenty of fresh ideas including a plan to provide all New Zealanders with access to at least 3 years of free post-school education because we know that the future of our economy and of our country relies on education. The more educated the population the more productivity we will have and the more we will earn as a country and that will be fantastic for New Zealand.Having 3 years of free post-school education is an investment that will pay dividends for our country. But it is not just institution-based education provision we are interested in; it is on-job training as well. The Labour Party has got a pragmatic common-sense approach when it comes to boosting the number of apprenticeships that we need in New Zealand. We need more apprenticeships and there is no doubt about that. We have a critical shortage of tradespeople that is currently being filled through immigration and yet we have got these 86000 young New Zealanders whom we could be training up to take on some of those jobs. Our plan to convert the dole to an apprenticeship subsidy for those young New Zealanders simply makes sense because it is money that we are already spending.Our plan to introduce more funding for night classes and adult education also makes sense because we know that as the world in which we work and live changes adults are going to need to be re-engaging in the education system more than at any time in the past and yet this Government is cutting funding for those very programmes that are targeted at adult learners. We want to see those programmes revitalised so that all New Zealanders have the opportunity to achieve their potential. For New Zealanders who find that after 10 15 or even 20 years in the workforce the job they are doing is no longer required we want to ensure that they have the opportunity to retrain and to re-educate for the new jobs that are going to be available.Does it not say everything about the confused priorities of this Government that an adult on a job seeker benefit gets more financial support than somebody who is on a student allowance and is studying or training to improve themselves so that they can get a better-paying job? We have a cycle for some New Zealanders that involves them going from a job seeker benefit to a low-paid job back to a job seeker benefit into a low-paid job back to a job seeker benefit and into a low-paid job. We have got to break that cycle.One of the ways we can do that is through education and training and yet the current Government is focused on putting barriers in the road of those people who want to upskill themselves and re-educate themselves. Well the Labour Party is going to stand beside them. We are going to make sure that we break down those barriers so that they have the opportunity to undertake training or education right throughout their life so that that education will genuinely be a lifelong thing for all New Zealanders because it is going to have to be. It is going to have to be not just because of the changing nature of work but because of the changing nature of the way that we live.This is a Government with no real plan. It has run out of steam. It has got no new ideas. We are more than ready to step in. We have got plenty of fresh ideas.