May 15, 2025

Government failing Maori higher learners

Matthew Tukaki Posted On May 15, 2025

#opinion:

The Minister for Vocational Education and Training is failing on her commitments to Māori.

Penny Simmonds has introduced legislation to reform the Vocational Education and Training sector. What she has delivered is more decision-making power for herself and less representation for Māori.

This legislation does not provide Māori with the confidence they need to be sure that the reforms will deliver for our vocational learners.

Māori make up a significant and growing proportion of learners within Vocational Education and Training. The opportunities provided by vocational education give individuals the ability to earn higher incomes and provide a better life for their whanau.

That was why when Labour established Te Pūkenga, we actively sought to embed the needs of Māori into the system by ensuring there would be representation at every level of the institution.

The Minister’s new legislation does not have these same protections, there is no dedicated requirement for polytechnic councils to include Māori representation and only mandates it as far as it is ‘reasonably possible’.

Additionally, the Minister was warned that a federation model could result in a loss of facilities in some regions that would particularly impact Māori. Now she has chosen this model, there is no statements outlining the ways federations will have to uplift Māori achievement and honour Te Tiriti.

Before he was elected to Parliament in 2020, Shanan spent 15 years in education leadership and management at tertiary institutions improving access to higher learning for many young people, Māori and Pasifika.

He grew up in Hawke’s Bay and has whakapapa to Iwi including Ngāti Whitikaupeka, Rongowhakaata and Ngāti Kahungunu.

As Labour’s spokesperson for Auckland Issues, Shanan is committed to working alongside the community to set the city up for the future. He’s focused on ensuring that infrastructure is resilient, that public services – like hospitals and schools – are world-class, transport connections meet the needs of a growing city, and that there’s warm, dry housing for everyone.