The State Killed The Apprentice

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Education

The State Killed The Apprentice

"The President of the ASTE is correct when she links the destruction of the apprenticeship system as part of the leaky buildings problem, but her solutions for fixing the building industry's woes are flawed and short sighted,"says builder Peter Osborne, who is also Libertarianz Associate Spokesman for Education Deregulation.

Osborne's comments were made in response to a press release made by Jill Ovens, the National President of the Association of Staff in Tertiary Education (ASTE).

Mr Osborne says, "The collapse of the apprenticeship system during the 1990s happened because local and national governments were heaping taxes, levies and time-consuming regulations - one after another - upon the building industry (among other industries). Neither the taxes nor the regulations helped to improve the industry - quite the reverse; all aded cost and complication. The cost to keep up, especially for a small builder, became so high and margins became so low that to compete some serious cost-cutting had to be made. Apprentice-training is a high burden and low productivity undertaking, and is in most cases a very, very long-term investment. Employing an apprentice soon became an impossible task for a small builder in an over-burdened industry who was struggling just to stay afloat."

Osborne says that both the National and Labour Governments are responsible for the mess; he says both have continued the trend to sap as much out of the industry as possible. "Their meddling, taxing and over-regulating has laid a shaky foundation in the industry and has lead to this problem. Take off the shackles," he says, "and you'll see apprentice numbers climb again."

Mr Osborne concludes, "Libertarianz when elected will abolish state bullying and the forced imposition of taxation, government levies and invasive regulations. This will allow individuals to employ reputable builders who set their own standards, and Builders to concentrate on quality and excellence. They will also have the ability to plan long-term and train staff effectively knowing that they are not bogged down in bureaucratic meddling and knee-jerk responses to puffed-up problems. The training of manual skills will be completely left to the private sector where innovation and excellence are truly recognised."

It's enough to make you vote Libertarianz!

ENDS

For more information contact: Peter Osborne LIBERTARIANZ ASSOC. SPOKESMAN TO DEREGULATE EDUCATION Phone: 0274 326 005, e-mail: ospar@xtra.co.nz

www.libertarianz.org.nz

www.libz.org

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