NZ Parliamentary Education Trust

Members of Parliament in New Zealand now have an opportunity to undertake further education and training supported by the Parliamentary Education Trust. The first 14 MPs began a Post Graduate Certificate in Public Policy at Victoria University this month.

The establishment of the Trust could not have been possible without two significant supporters - Speaker of the House, the Rt Hon Trevor Mallard who has championed the establishment of the Trust and businessman and philanthropist, Sir Owen Glenn who has pledged significant ongoing investment.

My speech explaining the genesis, ambitions and goals of the Trust is below:

Mr. Speaker, Members, fellow trustees and colleagues. Thank you for attending this event to launch the Parliament Education Trust.

Today we would like to tell you about the Trust’s goals and encourage you to be part of the programme.

The idea for high quality education support for MPs was an important recommendation out of the Report of the Seventh Triennial Appropriations Review Committee, entitled “Towards a world-leading democracy”.

The report was written by Bill Moran, Dame Annette King and Eric Roy and was presented last August 2018.

It noted that New Zealand’s democracy compares extremely well internationally, but that there are some smart ideas that could be used to improve and future-proof effective representation.

The question the reviewers asked was, “are we doing well enough?” The answer was very much “yes we are, but there are some terrific opportunities to strengthen what we have and to do better”. The writers said it was “a time for boldness and courage” and they encouraged the Speaker to plot a new course for an MMP-plus parliamentary democracy.

One of the conclusions most relevant to today was that more could be done to support MPs to build and develop their skills and knowledge. 

It makes sense that enabled MPs means the best representation for New Zealanders, and it’s the support of this ambition that motivated the Speaker, Hon Trevor Mallard, to draw together a group to establish this Trust. The Trustees are myself, The Speaker, Bill Moran, Bill Birnie and Sir Owen Glenn.

The argument for better support of MPs’ education and development is compelling.

All MPs come to Parliament to do the same role – to be a representative and a parliamentarian – but we all arrive with a different basket of skills and experience.

And though there are now induction seminars for new MPs, most learning is on the job, and even then some skills don’t naturally get picked up without a learning framework.

The ambition to provide opportunities for extra education and training support for Members is at the heart of the Parliament Education Trust.

Such development and education support will be tailored to the individual learning journey of each participating Member. You will hear more about how this will work today.

We will explain the range of options, including a Postgraduate Certificate in Public Policy delivered by Victoria University which leads to a qualification. There will also be career development support, speakers on relevant topics, and other modules.

The Trustees are very aware that a cookie cutter approach will not work as each MP will have different educational needs and interests.

There are many options to pursue. For example, a Member could decide she or he wants to develop chairing and governance skills, learn more about financial analysis (particularly useful when doing financial reviews), research skills, management of people and budgets, policy development, efficient constituency work, legal frameworks, communications etc etc.

Participation does take some self-assessment and belief that you have more to learn, but I respectfully suggest that even parliamentarians who have served for many years can benefit from continuous learning.

Members aiming to become a Minister one day might think about whether they wish to build their skills around team-building, people management, and developing a policy and portfolio agenda. 

Both Sir Michael Cullen and Sir Bill English have indicated their support for the Trust’s work, and have and agreed to participate. They will share their wisdom and experience as effective MPs, Ministers, and as leaders.

I’m sure their insights on preparation for becoming an effective Minister, how to construct strong policy or advisory teams, and managing people and budgets will be particularly valuable.

Now, I know some might not be convinced about the need for MPs to have access to such support, perhaps preferring a sink or swim approach.

That may have been satisfactory in the past when Members would have many years of service prior to reaching higher levels, but in an MMP environment MPs often experience shorter timeframes before they are thrown in the deep end as a Minister.  Mindful of not taking the swimming metaphor too far, it seems logical that there will be better swimming and perhaps fewer potential drownings with access to continued coaching, planning and education. This is the core idea that underpins the Trust

Some might wonder about time commitments, and Trustees have been mindful of structuring everything to fit with Parliament’s timetable and to make sure it’s manageable.

Do not be fearful about your capacity to return to formal study or if you’ve not been to university before - as I’ve said, MPs come to Parliament from different paths. You were smart enough to be elected, so you are smart enough to continue on your learning journey.  

There is a time commitment, but it is achievable, and the workload is pitched to be manageable. The financial support from the Trust for this course is not insignificant.

We have been funded by a generous donation from philanthropist Sir Owen Glenn, who believes such an investment in education will enhance our representative democracy. The Trustees are hugely grateful to Sir Owen for his generosity and innovative thinking in supporting this idea.

Finally, before I hand over to Verna Smith, Director of Masters Programmes for Victoria University, to talk about the structure and content of the course, I hope you will indulge me one personal reflection.

I think it’s terrific the Speaker is championing this concept. It would have been excellent to have had access to a programme like this when I was starting out, to learn more about things such as select committee governance, as one example.

As the review committee’s report noted, “a powerful select committee system is essential to a Parliament that has only one house”. It’s beneficial to learn more about performing those important legislative, financial and scrutiny functions.

Learning new things is invigorating. It’s good to get the brain working a different way.

I nervously returned to formal study recently to plug some gaps in my knowledge. My son was shocked I had done this. He said “old people don’t go to University”. I told him that interested old people never stop learning new things to try and doing things better.

I think this is the reality with the pace of change, even for Millennials. Lifelong learning is not just a slogan.

I hope The Parliament Education Trust can support you in your education and career plan for the future. There’s a lot to gain.

And finally, thank you for the work you do for New Zealand.