Woods Megan: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWoods Megan: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 05 June 2013. Volume:690;Page:10744. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr MEGAN WOODS (Labour—Wigram): Budgets are about priorities and Budget 2013 writ large once again that tertiary education is not a priority for this National-led Government. It is a slow and painful attack that is changing the way we view and approach tertiary education in this country. It is a long and steady shift. It is a long and steady shift from public provision to private provision. It is a long and steady shift from backing our students to study to not backing them and to not investing in our future. This Budget missed the opportunity to invest properly in tertiary education and in New Zealand students in the process. This is yet another anti-education Budget like those we have seen in the last 5 years from this Government—that education is a cost to be cut and not something to invest in. We have seen this in so many areas and notably we have seen it in the area of tertiary education.But this really is not surprising given that the Minister for Tertiary Education Skills and Employment Steven Joyce sees tertiary education as something that needs to be dampened down. Tertiary education is not something that he sees as positive for the future of our country any more; no we have a Minister with the self-declared aspirational aim of dampening down demand. He is a Minister who thinks that success in his portfolio is turning students away from our tertiary institutions rather than enrolling them and empowering them with the skills and the learning that a tertiary education can give to people. This is what aspiration for New Zealand has come to mean under this Government: cost cutting and turning people away. We saw it in the last Budget when we limited access to education by cutting student allowances for postgraduate students. This Government might talk big the rhetoric of the fact that we need to be an innovation-led economy that innovation is our future and that we need research and development but it turned off the tap of that innovation incubator that is postgraduate study. We have seen this Government and this Minister have to concede that his moves in the last Budget have meant we have fewer postgraduate students in this country now as a consequence. This is something for which we will pay the price for a long time to come.What did we have in this year’s Budget? What group did the Minister turn his guns on to dampen down demand for education? Those over 40. As a 39-year-old I take great umbrage at the fact that this Minister does not think that someone over 40 can learn anything else. This is a Government that is really taking literally the idea that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. This is a Government that is ready to throw anyone over 40 on the scrap heap and tell them that they are not worth investing in that they have nothing to offer the nation and that we as a nation will not get any benefit from retraining them. The Government is telling people over 40 all over this country “We don’t need you.” By limiting student support and student allowance to 120 hours forthose over 40 we are denying ourselves as a country opportunities in so many areas. This is a Budget of lost opportunity. You know National Governments past and the National Party used to believe in the notion of lifelong learning. Even while we were chasing Lockwood Smith out of windows at the University of Canterbury in the 1990s he still did believe in the notion of lifelong learning. He still thought that people whatever their stage in life had something to offer and something to contribute.But what we have seen in terms of tertiary education in Budget 2013 is once again National’s commitment to the two-speed economy—the two-speed economy in relation to geography. This is a Government that when it comes to tertiary education has given up on the regions. It has made funding decision after funding decision that is leaving the regions cold—Hon Anne Tolley: Rubbish!Dr MEGAN WOODS: —in terms of the provision of tertiary education. It is a Government that simply does not believe in it. Members opposite are telling me “Oh this is rubbish.” and Anne Tolley in particular is calling out something. Well I am going to talk about the Eastern Institute of Technology in that Minister’s electorate and what the Eastern Institute of Technology has lost under her Government. The fact is that levels 1 and 2 provision has fallen all over New Zealand and most notably in the regions. When that Government made a decision to competitively tender out levels 1 and 2 foundation tertiary education it made a decision to do national provision. The national provision has meant that regions all over New Zealand are suffering.Anne Tolley instead of barracking across the House might like to give some thought to what it is that the region that she represents has lost. What has the Eastern Institute of Technology lost since her Government has been in Government? Well it lost $2.3 million in 2013 as a result of that competitive tendering. That is right—$2.3 million cut from the Budget and fewer students in that part of the country who can stay in that region and receive their tertiary education. All this is at a time when 2574 people from Gisborne and the Hawke’s Bay have permanently migrated from that area to Australia. This is not a Government that is willing to back our regions. This is a Government that has seen apprenticeships in that Minister’s area fall by 40 percent since 2008. This is not a Government that is backing the skills training and the education of our young people while all the time Hawke’s Bay has had a skill shortage in the area of industrial electricians welders and precision engineering—all things that could have been taught at the Eastern Institute of Technology if this Government had not decided to slash funding and slash costs.But it is not just Minister Anne Tolley’s area that has lost funding. Canterbury Gisborne as I mentioned Hawke’s Bay Nelson Marlborough the West Coast Otago Taranaki Waikato and Wellington have all seen a net loss of levels 1 and 2 provision in their regions because of the cuts this Government has put in place. What we have seen is $51.6 billion less going into our polytech sector since Budget 2011. A further $38 million was put out for this private provision and where did this $38 million go if it did not go to our polytechs? That is right it went to private training enterprises. Again it is continuing the theme of moving from public to private provision of tertiary education in this country. This is something that this Government cannot be proud of. This is a Government that is letting down its young people and is not properly providing tertiary education opportunities in our regions. In so many areas this is a Government that has no plan for and has given up on regional New Zealand. Tertiary education is just another area where that Government has done it.It is time that we had a new approach. Labour is proud of its history from Peter Fraser right through to the last time when we were in Government in the way in which we have backed tertiary education. We democratised it and we allowed people to enterit. It is time that we got back to that. The world is changing. The merchant bank approach to our economy is no longer enough. We need a Government that knows that skills and a productive economy are absolutely central to our future. This is not a Government that believes in that; instead it is a Government that sees the training of our young people and the tertiary education of our young people only as a cost to be cut. This is not something that can continue. We look forward to a time when we have a Labour Government that will deliver a Budget that sees tertiary education as an investment and will back our young people in that.Dr Cam Calder: This principled pragmatic—