Bill passes first reading to disestablish Te Pūkenga
Legislation to disestablish New Zealand's centralised vocational education and training system passed its first reading in Parliament yesterday.
"Today, we've taken a major step forward toward a vocational education and training system that works for learners, employers, industries and local communities," Vocational Education and Training Minister Penny Simmonds said.
"The Bill, which has passed its first reading, will return decision-making to where it belongs — in the hands of regional polytechnics and industry.
"This is a common sense reset that ensures polytechnic education and training is responsive to regional needs and work-based learning for apprentices and trainees is led by the industries that rely on it."
The Education and Training (Vocational Education and Training System) Amendment Bill proposes a structural reset of vocational education, focusing on two key priorities: restoring local decision-making for polytechnics, and giving industry greater leadership in standard-setting and work-based learning.
Among the key changes in the Bill are:
• Disestablishing Te Pūkenga and creating a network of regional polytechnics, which will operate as standalone institutions or within a federation. Te Pūkenga will remain as a transitional entity for one year to manage unallocated programmes and activities.
• Replacing Workforce Development Councils with new Industry Skills Boards, effective January 1, 2026. These statutory bodies will be governed primarily by industry representatives and responsible for setting standards, undertaking workforce planning and advising the Tertiary Education Commission on relevant funding matters.
• Transferring work-based learning functions from Te Pūkenga to Industry Skills Boards for up to two years, allowing time for new delivery arrangements across polytechnics, private training establishments and Wānanga to be developed.
•Amending training levy provisions to enable Industry Skills Boards to levy industry members, subject to industry support.
Ms Simmonds said implementation would take up to two years, with the first group of polytechnics and new Industry Skills Boards in place from January 1. — APL
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I am a bit worried that there will be unintended consequences. Both the risk of actual harm but also the responsibility for making the decision might not actually feel like being at the centre. It might feel like having a really, weighty responsibility and decision to make." Benton-Greig said she was concerned the law change creates potential for a lot of pressure and potentially violence against victims. Many sex crime cases involve intimate partners or ex-partners, and she is concerned that offenders, or family and friends of offenders, could put pressure or even inflict violence on some victims when deciding whether to agree to permanent name suppression. "Domestic violence doesn't just magically disappear when there's a trial," she said. "Unless we are sure there are no current safety issues for people, I am really worried about how that might put those victims under pressure." 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