King Colin: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
King Colin: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Sitting date: 30 January 2013. Volume:687;Page:7663. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
COLIN KING (National—Kaikoura) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to rise and speak in support of the Prime Minister’s statement and I would have to say that New Zealand has some tremendous opportunities going forward. Just reflecting on the last speaker Dr Kennedy Graham the Greens need to be very clear and articulate when they talk about their policies to the population if they ask that New Zealanders be prepared to give away their competitive advantage in what we do in the most efficient way in the world and that is turn sunlight and grass into protein. We cannot be so incredibly negative when we look at the clunky models within Kyoto that measure things in one-dimensional facts. When we look back on what those decisions were in the early 2000s we see that there is a need for a far more dimensional view because what comes first? Is it the solution to global warming or is it the issue confronting the world of feeding the 6 billion or 8 billion people that goes forward? Let us get some balance around that—food clothing shelter and employment are so very very important. 
Talking about employment was it not wonderful to hear the Prime Minister’s inspiring speech with its statements around boosting skills and supporting jobs. This Government is doing what no other Government has ever done and that is running a super-efficient trade training system. It was a real thrill to go down to Christchurch at the end of last year and touch base with the building and construction industry training organisation and the employment hub down there and see just how far-reaching into the corners of the communities of New Zealand that situation is achieving. We will see 300 trainees coming down from Rotorua to work with Fletcher Construction Hawkins Construction and other construction firms. That is absolutely fantastic. So this Government is launching a five-pronged new vocational pathway within the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) and that is long overdue. We want to be able to become a nation of people who highly value those skills trades and similar. 
So when you look at it in the context of how you actually get to a stage where you become a nation of people who are able to be a high-wage economy it is not just about a miraculous silver bullet or a transformation and this is what the Prime Minister spoke about. It is about putting the building blocks in place from an early situation even in early childhood education—whether it is around what Minister Paula Bennett is working hard on around the white paper making sure that children are brought up in families they feel safe wanted and needed and are warm dry well-fed and fired up to get into education. From that point of view it is looking at what we do as a society in the context of bringing through our generations and what values we have. This was echoed constantly in the Prime Minister’s statement. That is what gives us and other New Zealanders confidence in this Government. Effectively there are a whole lot of pieces to the jigsaw puzzle that have been disconnected for many many years. This Government the Prime Minister and those Ministers within Cabinet are working to bind those together so that we do definitely have a direction. 
When you look at the training that vocational instruction will deliver when you look at the manufacturing side of things the primary industry the service industry and the social services you will see that these are all essential parts of our community and they are good reliable employment opportunities and this Government is backing them. There are 4000 places available in the trades and services academies. What a wonderful inspiration it must be to likeminded people like me. I did not necessarily find the whiteboard all that inspiring but I loved to get my hands into the bottom of a gearbox of a motor and rip it apart and then put it back together. That sort of thing what the Prime Minister was talking about during his speech is what is making the transformation within the lives and in the classrooms and families of New Zealand. 
We have 8700 Youth Guarantee places. Those places are incredibly important because up until recently there was that opportunity to apply for a leaving certificate and get a job. How enduring that job was we were not too sure; it was just a matter that the schools cooperated to some degree. If these young ones were being a problem they were moved on. But there are 8700 Youth Guarantee places and those places are for 16 and 17-year-olds who are at a very crucial stage in their lives. We are revisiting the Modern Apprenticeships scheme because it was a pretty blunt tool that actually had more money thrown at it than it delivered apprentices. We are working from January 2014 to combine all apprentices within that Modern Apprenticeships content and that was something that was talked about way back in about 2005 when I first came into the House. There was policy development and this Government has taken that on board and we are now going to implement it because previously to be a Modern Apprentice you had to be between the ages of 16 and 21. If you were 22 you were too late—no good. It really did not send the right signals but this Government is addressing that issue. 
This Government will spend another $12 million in the first year and that money will rise over time. It will be aimed at creating a culture change within New Zealand of really valuing apprentices. When you look at countries around the world you see that it is very important that we do that because it is Germany that has the lowest level of unemployed youth between the ages of 18 and 25 and it is all about their structure and the way Germany values skills training. So at the moment we have got some work going on and this Government is going to keep pushing on with it because the credits and the value of apprenticeships need to have a greater content of education. 
That takes us back to the reason why we have that goal of getting 85 percent of our children up to level 2 of NCEA. A lot of people might say “Well what’s so magical about level 2?”. The magical thing is that at level 2 a person is able to be an independent learner. They can do the extramural distance learning courses and that is just so very important. This Government is incredibly focused it is being innovative and it is elevating the aspirations of those people who want to reach out and become apprentices. The first 10000 apprentices from April of this year will receive $1000 towards their tools and their off-job course training costs or if they are in a priority construction trade this Government will give them $2000. I believe that this is really inspirational and we have just got to keep pushing on with it. 
When I heard all the wonderful speeches coming from this side of the House and actually looked at the Prime Minister’s statement I took it as an indication that this Government has an agenda. It is working solidly in a very difficult situation. It is putting this country at the forefront of economic prosperity and that is what other countries aspire to. I just want to say in conclusion that the Prime Minister and this Government have got it entirely right in getting the apprenticeship structure elevated to a stage where those young people who are looking at options as far back as when entering year 9 at high school can follow those vocational pathways and really prosper. I have great pleasure in supporting the comments by the Prime Minister and his statement.