New Zealand Government : $1 million investment in Maori Trades Training

The Government will invest a further $1 million into Maori trades training in Christchurch, Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment, Steven Joyce announced today.

The new initiative builds on He Toki ki te Rika, a Maori trades initiative delivered by the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, in partnership with Te Puni Kokiri and Te Tapuae o Rehua.

"He Toki 2.0 is a great example of the kind of collaboration between industry, tertiary providers, iwi and Government that the Skills for Canterbury package is designed to encourage" Mr Joyce says.

He Toki 2.0, the revised initiative, will again be offered through Te Tapuae o Rehua with support from Te Puni Kokiri, who will oversee the initiative along with the Ministry for Social Development and the Tertiary Education Commission.

Trainees are offered a fees scholarship for training and a separate grant for tools for those trainees who move into an apprenticeship. Hawkins is supporting the initiative with employment opportunities for successful trainees.

"The relationship with employers means that the training providers can focus on progressing trainees into employment and apprenticeships," Mr Joyce says.

"By learning from the experience gained last year in the first He Toki intake, and from the Pacific Trades Initiative rolled out across Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland this year, providers are well placed to ensure that the Maori trainees enrolling are supported to succeed in the trades.

"This is good for the trainees and ultimately good for employers and for Canterbury.

"This initiative brings the total directly invested so far into Skills for Canterbury to $24 million, made up of $8 million from the Skills for Canterbury contingency funding package and $16 million reprioritised from TEC baselines. In addition to that, ITPs around the country re-allocated another $10 million of their regular SAC funding into trades

training in 2011/12.

"The Government will continue to monitor training demand levels closely, and provide further funding for additional initiatives as and when it is required."