Search

The World of Wearable Art (WOW) event will receive $900,000 from the Government’s $10 million Major Events Fund to help raise its international profile and grow to the next level, Minister for Economic Development Steven Joyce announced today.

“The WOW spectacle offers a world-class experience that enhances New Zealand’s creative image, offers a different kind of experience for tourists and expands the NZ brand,” Mr Joyce says.

The Labour Party seems determined to continue ignoring all the evidence that New Zealand is on the right economic track, by promoting a radical shift into a state-controlled economy reminiscent of the 1970s, Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce says.

The Government has agreed to provide up to $260 million to the University of Canterbury to support its rebuild programme following the destructive Canterbury earthquakes.

“The Government's contribution will fund a new science centre and expanded and upgraded engineering facilities. These will provide modern teaching and research facilities and cater for more students," Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment, Steven Joyce says.

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce today launched a new NZTE-led initiative to help New Zealand digital technology firms compete and grow globally, and lift exports further.

The Government will invest more than $3 million over the next three years to take advantage of the opportunity created by the global boom in demand for the digital technologies that are revolutionising the nature of businesses in all sectors.

New repayable Government grants of up to $450,000 per company will be invested into start-up technology companies to help get them underway, Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce announced today.

The repayable grants will be distributed by a new type of private-sector led technology incubator, which will add its own funding to provide at least 25 per cent of the start-up company’s costs on a one for three basis. 

Economic Development and Small Business Minister Steven Joyce today welcomed a new international report that puts New Zealand third in the world for ease of doing business.

The World Bank’s Doing Business report, released today, is an annual study measuring government regulations and their effect on business across 189 economies.

“This is excellent news. Only Singapore and Hong Kong are higher than us overall and we still rank first in the world for starting a business and investor protection,” Mr Joyce says.

New Zealand’s top researchers have been awarded a record $59m in project funding from the Marsden fund over the next three years, Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce announced today. 

The 109 successful Marsden Fund projects were selected from a pool of 1157 proposals submitted for consideration by the Marsden Fund Council. 

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges have welcomed the Environment Court’s decision to grant resource consents to Bathurst Resources for their Escarpment Mine on the West Coast of the South Island.

“The Escarpment Mine and associated works are expected to create 225 direct jobs and approximately $85 million each year will go to employees, suppliers, contractors and transport providers,” Mr Bridges says.

The entire backlog of around 15,000 outstanding overpayments since Novopay went live last year has been calculated and the focus is now on recovering that money.

“Completing the calculation and processing of overpayments is a significant step in the remediation work underway to clear the backlog of issues with Novopay,” Minister Responsible for Novopay Steven Joyce says.

Minister Responsible for Novopay Steven Joyce today released the reports on complaints and notifications in regards to Pay Periods 13, 14 and 15 of the schools’ payroll.

Pay Period 13, which was paid on the morning of 18 September, paid 90,390 people a total of $177.35 million.

The Government’s apprenticeship re-boot has already signed up 8000 new apprentices since March says Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister, Steven Joyce.

The Apprenticeship Reboot was announced in January by Prime Minister John Key, as part of an overhaul of the apprenticeship scheme to get more apprentices qualified and more in priority trades. From 1 January 2014 all apprenticeships will be combined into a single nationwide scheme called New Zealand Apprenticeships which will be open to all ages.

The Government is making an interim investment into Team New Zealand to retain key team members while a decision is made on a challenge for the 35th America’s Cup, Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce announced today.

Cabinet today agreed to provide $5 million in bridging funding to Team New Zealand to ensure key team members including designers, sailors, support crew and administration staff are secured until May 2014, by which time Team New Zealand plans to finalise a decision on its involvement in the next regatta.

Higher qualifications mean higher employability and higher wages for young people says Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce.

Results from the 2013 Census shows Labour and its leader have been caught making stuff up with population growth spread right across the country, Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce says.

“Population growth occurred in 15 of the country’s 16 regions between 2006 and 2013 – hardly the widespread exodus from the regions as claimed by the Leader of the Opposition,” Mr Joyce says.

The Government has announced a package of new initiatives to encourage further growth in New Zealand's $2.6 billion international education sector.

The latest report on enrolment data from the Ministry of Education shows more New Zealand tertiary students are studying at higher levels, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce says.

The report, Tertiary Education Enrolments 2012, shows a continuing increase in the number of students enrolling in degree and higher qualifications, particularly amongst students aged 18 to 24 years old.
​
In 2012, there were 3,700 more bachelors degree enrolments by domestic students aged 18 to 24 than in 2010 – an increase of 4.3 per cent.

The first ever snapshot of central government spending by region shows that taxpayers’ dollars are being evenly distributed across New Zealand.

Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, and of course the members of Emirates Team New Zealand.

What a fantastic welcome home for the team. These guys deserve this.

I told you guys it was getting pretty big.

I had the honour of witnessing on behalf of the New Zealand Government first-hand the talent, the perseverance, the relentless hard work and the highs and the lows of Emirates Team New Zealand in San Francisco.

This whole team, on and off the water, threw every single thing they had into this event.

Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce has announced that up to $470.3 million over 10 years in funding will be available for the first tranche of New Zealand’s 10 National Science Challenges.

Announced in May this year, the Challenges will take a strategic approach to some of the key science issues facing New Zealand. Three challenges have been selected in the first tranche. They are:

The Government has approved a capital injection of $18.9 million to the Christchurch Polytechnic and Institute of Technology (CPIT) to enable it to further expand its trades training capacity as part of its campus rebuild following the Canterbury earthquakes.

“The Government’s support means that CPIT will be able to expand its Sullivan Avenue facilities to meet further increases in trades training volumes,” Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce says.

The Government is investing $530,000 through the Major Events Development Fund to support the 2014 and 2015 Art Deco Weekends in Hawke’s Bay, Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce announced today.

The Hawke’s Bay annual event is held on the third weekend in February to mark the anniversary of the 1931 Napier Earthquake, and attracts up to 30,000 attendees.  Associated events before and after the main event extend the festival duration to eight days.

Launch of Draft Tertiary Education Strategy and proposed changes to university and wānanga governance

Introduction
Can I thank Pat and Victoria University for hosting me here today.

Today I would like to outline the government’s new Tertiary Education Strategy.

It will chart the direction for the tertiary sector over the next five years, a direction that will ensure we stay up with the world’s best, and deliver on the needs of our students in the 21st century.

Proposed changes to university councils will help New Zealand universities remain internationally competitive, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce says.

“New Zealand universities have been performing very well in a world context, with all eight of our universities now listed in the Top 500 in the world", Mr Joyce says.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce today released the Draft Tertiary Education Strategy (2014-2019) that seeks to improve the way tertiary education supports achievement, industry, innovation, and economic growth.

The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment are consulting with the education and business sectors on the draft strategy, which will set the direction of tertiary education for the next five years.