14-07-2025
South Waikato Mayor Condemns Decision To Close Local Education Provider
South Waikato Mayor Gary Petley has expressed his 'extreme disappointment' at the planned closure of the District's Toi-Ohomai campus in Tokoroa, after just two years in operation, and vowed to seek ways in which his Council can step in to fill the void going forward.
Petley said news of the trades training centre closing at the end of the year was a huge blow to a community that already ranks among the five-most deprived in New Zealand, and which has one of the highest Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) rates recorded nationally.
'This is a short-sighted and lazy decision driven by Te Pūkenga's (the national network for all the country's 25 polytechnics) need to find $9m in savings. They are taking the easy way out, rather than finding other ways to achieve operational savings and to become sustainable, and it's come at the detriment of the people of South Waikato.
"As it stands, our data from the recent Long Term Plan shows 23 percent of the 15-24 age bracket in our District fall under the category of not currently being employed or in the education or training system.
'There is no shortage of research and evidence that tells us a critical factor in efforts to lift people out of those statistical categories, and out of deprivation, is to invest in education.
'My Council has made a strong commitment through its Long Term Plan 2024-2034 to have all our young people either working or in employment, and that remains a non-negotiable if we are to improve the lives of people in our community.'
Without the presence of a local training provider, people in the District face the prospect of travelling an hour or more to a campus in Rotorua, Tauranga or Hamilton, with limited public transport options currently available to those regional centres.
In addition to the concerns around a lack of education opportunities, Petley said the Toi-Ohomai closure would have an immediate restraining impact on a local economy already reeling from the recent loss of around 150 jobs at the Kinleith Paper Mill.
The District had nearly double the New Zealand average unemployment rate from March 2022 to March 2023.
'This will impact existing businesses here and businesses looking to relocate to the District, which would create new jobs. It was a big selling point that we had a campus here for trades training,' Petley said.
'By removing this critical service, you are condemning South Waikato people to another generation of poverty.'
Mayor Petley said he will be using his strong relationship with local MP Louise Upston, who is also the Minister for Social Development and Employment, to elevate his concerns, while work was already underway to see what Council can do to fill the void internally through existing initiatives like the WORKit Programme
More information on the demographic profile of the South Waikato District, its challenging levels of deprivation and statistics relating to this can be found here.
