Hipkins hits back on polytechs

Invercargill MP Penny Simmonds calls the Government’s polytechnic ‘‘mega-merger’’ a ‘‘horrendous waste of taxpayers’ money’’ – which the education minister rejects.

Simmonds is the National Party’s tertiary education spokesperson and the former chief executive of the Southern Institute of Technology.

She said the Government’s ‘‘much-lauded polytechnic megamerger’’ was failing to deliver on its promised financial efficiencies.

‘‘This is a horrendous waste of taxpayers’ money, and it reinforces my concerns that the Labour Government’s plans to merge the polytechnic sector together would not address the financial viability issues,’’ Simmonds said.

The merged entity, Te Pū kenga, was forecast to reach a net deficit of $110 million this year, compared with the $48m deficit posted by New Zealand’s institutes of technology and polytechnics (ITP) in 2019, before the reforms, she said.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins rejected the claims, saying Labour had pumped more than $90m into the ITP sector when it came into power ‘‘to stop them going under’’.

Without reform, deficits were projected to be as high as $156m in 2022, he said.

‘‘Last year, Te Pū kenga forecast a deficit of $46m but actually delivered a small surplus,’’ Hipkins said, adding that Te Pū kenga had been in existence for only a relatively short period of time, and had inherited a sector that was in a great deal of difficulty.

The back and forth came after Simmonds asked Hipkins questions in Parliament last week about the financial state of Te Pū kenga.

Hipkins said deficits were exactly why reforms had been introduced but that they were still a work in progress.

‘‘There is still a lot more that needs to be done.

‘‘I still have confidence in Te Pū kenga undertaking that change process, but it is a complex programme of change, and it does have risk associated with it,’’ he said.

On Friday, Simmonds said there had been ‘‘a total lack of accountability’’.

Concerns raised by the Tertiary Education Commission that Te Pū kenga was not meeting expectations and warnings from the auditor-general that the entity was not addressing underlying financial problems were ‘‘clear evidence that Labour’s attempts to restructure New Zealand’s polytechnics and technical institutes are failing’’, she said.