English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:616;Page:11636] 
9.  
Hon BILL ENGLISH (National—Clutha-Southland) 
 to the  
Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education) 
: Does he believe taxpayer-funded courses such as the Eastern Institute of Technology’s He Waiata ma te Whanau which offers participants the opportunity to “relax” at home and sing along with songs on the radio and Tairawhiti Polytechnic’s Twilight Golf meet the objectives of the tertiary education strategy? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education)) 
: 
 Community education courses like these which do not lead to a formal qualification but have been approved by the academic board of the institutions have been funded through classification 5.1 since 1997. However I have acted to limit spending available for this classification as volumes increased dramatically over the last year and we want to focus our resources on higher-priority areas. It is lucky this Government was here when the issue arose because as that member knows his Government had no way of doing anything about it; we do. 
Hon Bill English 
: Does he stand by his statement: “It is very important to ensure our research efforts and student enrolments are concentrated in areas of high performance and high strategic relevance.” and did he contribute to the Tairawhiti Polytechnic advertisement for Twilight Golf that states: “realise your TIGERISH dreams learn to use your WOODS no golfing experience necessary”? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: The answers are “Yes” and “No”. But I do like the sound of that course. Perhaps Mr English and I could take it under 5.1 sometime. 
Helen Duncan 
: What reports has he seen on the proposals to take a more strategic approach to funding tertiary education? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I have seen statements to “trust institutions to run themselves.” and that students “do not need some Minister in charge of tertiary education telling them what they should and should not study.” They came from Nick Smith. But now Bill English tells us exactly the opposite. Clearly confusion reigns on the other side. 
Hon Brian Donnelly 
: Given that he has no record of pass rates can the Minister assure the House that all students funded for the course He Waiata ma te Whanau have actively participated in the programme and have not simply filled out a form expressing interest in doing a supposedly free course? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: If the member has evidence—as I guess he does if he is asking that question—of people who have enrolled but have not complied with the course requirements then he should make that known to the institution or if he wants to give it to me I will make it known to the institution. 
Bernie Ogilvy 
: Will the Minister act immediately to investigate the projected $115 million blowout in funding for community education this year and does he concede that one of the reasons for this overrun is that per student funding often exceeds the actual cost of running a course thereby resulting in taxpayers’ money paying for the profits of providers? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: That is a good suggestion. It has already been done. 
Hon Bill English 
: What action has the Minister taken to find out whether Tairawhiti Polytechnic has achieved value for money in spending $11 million on the singalong course on which somewhere between 8000 and 10000 people were enrolled—roughly a quarter of the population of Gisborne? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: As soon as these kinds of issues are drawn to my attention I act on them. In other words I ask the Tertiary Education Commission and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority to look at all these kinds of courses when I hear these kinds of reports. Once I get information I will know exactly what is going on. 
Hon Brian Donnelly 
: For evidentiary purposes what would the Minister say if he were informed that two members of this House were accosted late one evening in a hamburger bar by a recruiting officer for the Eastern Institute of Technology who offered them a free course and that they filled out forms but were never ever contacted by the Eastern Institute of Technology and never ever did any part of the course? The members happened to be Ron Mark and Edwin Perry. Was the funding of $5500 ever provided for them; if so will the Minister require it to be paid back? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I would be outraged particularly if they did not get their hamburgers. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The Minister was asked a question. I would like him to give a fuller answer please. 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I was asked I think whether I would be outraged by this evidence that the member might give me if he were able to. I would be outraged if the member gave me that evidence; so he should give it to me so that I can be outraged. 
Hon Bill English 
: Can the Minister confirm that the Tertiary Education Commission is auditing the course referred to and others at Tairawhiti Polytechnic; if so can he describe how the Tertiary Education Commission will find out whether 8000 people in Gisborne did listen to their radios in the comfort of their own homes and thereby completed the course given that that was the only requirement of the course? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: Yes I have asked the Tertiary Education Commission to look at that particular course. The member will know that as a result of those inquiries the institutions concerned have already gone on the public record in defence of the value of those courses. As I say we are continuing to dig deeper. We have capped this funding and I repeat that unlike the previous Government we have dealt with this issue—it never could. It ran a bums-on-seats policy. 
Hon Bill English 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Just a moment. When a point of order is raised only one person is allowed to speak. 
Hon Bill English 
: I asked quite a specific question about how the Tertiary Education Commission would audit whether people who enrolled in the course actually did listen to the radio in the comfort of their own homes. The Minister did not address that question at all. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: If the Minister could briefly come to that particular part of the question as it was asked. 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: As I said in my answer I have asked the Tertiary Education Commission in the form of Max Kerr to look at this. I expect that he will find out the exact answer to the member’s question. But I do not know standing here exactly how the commission will do that. All I know is that it will do it.