• Developing The Export Education Industry
• Obituary - Betty Wark
• Guidelines For Contracting NGOs
• Community Internship
• Wellington Employment Partnerships
• Benefit Entitlement For Non-Resident Spouses
• Coalition Government Praised

Developing The Export Education Industry
Funding is to be provided in Thursday's Budget to kick start the implementation of a new export education strategy, Associate Education (Tertiary Education) Minister Steve Maharey told the Board of the Education New Zealand Trust last week.

Export education currently contributes around $700m annually to New Zealand's GDP and has the potential to grow to over $1b annually within three to four years. Funding was provided in last year's Budget to develop a strategy with the industry to achieve its potential. Mr Maharey said a further $1.3m will be provided in the coming financial year for industry development and quality monitoring activities. It is expected that industry development activities will become self-funding via an industry levy from 2002/03 onwards.

Although the number of international students studying in New Zealand is lower than in other countries we have a bigger proportion of international students relative to our domestic roll than the US, the biggest player in this industry. The purpose of the strategy is to expand the industry in New Zealand in a way our education institutions can handle.

Mr Maharey said the industry could count on the continuing active support of Government Ministers. Prime Minister Helen Clark has taken representatives on overseas trade missions and Trade Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton and Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff have also been active offshore in support of the industry. Education Minister Trevor Mallard is working on relevant issues within the school sector. A revised and strengthened Code of Practice for International Students will come into force following the passage of education legislation currently before Parliament

Obituary - Betty Wark
Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey paid tribute to Auckland identity Betty Wark who died last week.

'Ma Betty' cared for thousands of young people over the years at the Auckland hostels she ran. Mr Maharey said Mrs Wark had provided a lifetime of service to her community providing warm beds and good old fashioned advice to young people living on the margins of Auckland society. "Betty Wark had a huge capacity for compassion, tempered with a firm disciplinarian hand and that she had turned around many lives. Ma Betty will be missed but her legacy will live on in the lives of the many thousands of young people who she turned around," Steve Maharey said.

Guidelines For Contracting NGOs
New government guidelines on contracting with Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) were released last week by Associate Finance Minister Trevor Mallard.

The Guidelines for Contracting with Non-Government Organisations on Behalf of the Crown were drafted by Treasury after consultation with a number of government departments and more than 30 NGOs. For some time, the Government has had some concerns about how state agencies contract with NGOs, including whether the contracting processes reflect the relationships based on cooperation and trust that the Government is seeking to have with the voluntary sector; whether contracting arrangements give enough weight to the Government's objectives; whether compliance costs for community organisations are too high; when it's appropriate for contracting to include capacity building for the provider; and how to ensure appropriate accountability for public money. In addition, following an investigation into contracting issues with the Waipareira Trust, the Controller and Auditor-General recommended that guidelines be developed for all Government agencies that contracted with NGOs.

The Guidelines will be issued to all government departments and most Crown entities. They are intended to complement the recent report from the working party on relationships with the community and voluntary sector.

* copies of the Guidelines are available at www.treasury.govt.nz

Community Internship
A pilot Community Internship Programme was announced by Voluntary and Community Sector Minister Steve Maharey and Green Party MP Sue Bradford last week. The initiative is one of the Green Party budget initiatives supported by the Labour-Alliance government and is funded through the Department of Internal Affairs.

The pilot programme will place people who are interested in working in a community sector organisation on six month paid internships. Placements will be available to experienced people working in any of the public, private or community sectors who feel they would benefit from work experience in a not for profit organisation.

Government funding under the scheme is a grant of $18,000 per intern for their six months work, plus a $2000 contribution to the host organisation to cover administration costs. In its first year the programme will fund five internships. It is hoped that if the pilot proves successful more placements may become available in the future.

Wellington Employment Partnerships
Social Services and Employment ministers Steve Maharey and Parekura Horomia attended met with employers, local government and community representatives in Lower Hutt last week to review the progress of the Department of Work and Income's Wellington regional employment plan launched last December.

Initiatives underway across the region show the value of adopting a partnership-based approach to employment development with local communities. These include:

• work with Skill New Zealand and the Wellington Manufacturing Action Group to develop a new five-week pre-employment training programme. The programme is targeted at unemployed people and the aim is to provide participants with generic skills essential for new employees in the manufacturing sector; and,
• the marae visiting programme running at both the Wainuiomata and Seaview marae which takes case workers and work brokers directly to unemployed Maori. DWI staff help their clients identify employment and training opportunities.

Benefit Entitlement For Non-Resident Spouses
Legislation to remove a loophole in New Zealand's social security rules affecting couples where one partner is temporarily in New Zealand was introduced to Parliament last week by Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey.

The Social Security (Residence of Spouses) Amendment Bill provides that where a person applies for a benefit and his or her spouse or partner does not have permanent residency the benefit will be paid at the unmarried rate. At present individuals who are unlawfully or temporarily in New Zealand are not entitled to a benefit. Similarly a New Zealand resident with a partner who is unlawfully in New Zealand cannot get a married couple benefit rate. A loophole in current law has meant that New Zealand residents with partners who are temporarily in New Zealand have been able to qualify for the married couple rate, meaning that spouses or partners temporarily in New Zealand indirectly receive part of their partner's benefit.

Persons lawfully in New Zealand who have or are applying for refugee status, and applicants for residence permits compelled to remain in New Zealand for unforeseen circumstances will not be affected. The bill will only apply to applicants for benefits after it is passed into law.

The legislation will bring New Zealand law into line with Australian rules and, once passed, will come into force on 1 July 2001.

Coalition Government Praised
Labour and the Alliance have demonstrated that coalition Government can and does work in a New Zealand setting, Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey told delegates attending the regional conference of the National Distribution Union in Palmerston North last week. Despite this the contribution made by the Alliance to the smooth running of the coalition Government too often goes unrecognised by the public at large.

Mr Maharey said as a Labour member of the coalition cabinet he witnessed first hand the considerable contribution made by Alliance Ministers and MPs to the successful running of the Government. Examples include the work underway with Jim Anderton on a student summer jobs package and Laila Harré's work to extend minimum wage protection for young workers.