March 1, 2019: Our new Prime Minister's tough day out in Invercargill
Plenty has unfolded since March 1, 2019, when Chris Hipkins was greeted by a sea of orange in Invercargill. Including the fact, he is now New Zealand's Prime Minister.
New Zealand has its 41st Prime Minister in place with Chris Hipkins taking on the country’s most important job. Logan Savory recalls the day our new Prime Minister fronted a sea of orange in Invercargill.
Chris Hipkins probably had a fair idea of what was coming when he arrived in Invercargill on March 1, 2019.
He passed through the arrivals gate at the Invercargill Airport to be greeted by a passionate haka and a sea of orange t-shirt wearing protesters representing the “Standing up for SIT” movement.
Signs featuring slogans such as “No minister”, “No SIT, No Southland”, ‘Let’s Not Do This” were held in front of him.
If Hipkins at that stage wasn’t aware of what might be ahead of him he then picked up a copy of The Southland Times. The Stand Up for SIT campaigners had arranged for the the front-page to be blocked out in an orange advertisement - SIT’s distinct colour - for his visit.
“I’ll be taking a copy of The Southland Times with me, it will definitely be going in the scrapbook,” Hipkins said on the day.
Weeks earlier Hipkins - as education minister - had announced plans to merge New Zealand’s 16 polytechnics into one centralised entity.
The recommendation was in response to the poor financial state of many of the polytechnics.
It was also felt education outlets would be better collaborating rather than competing with each other. And that students should be able to bounce from polytechnic to polytechnic during their studies and their work follow.
But it didn’t go down all that well with many in Southland. The then SIT CEO Penny Simmonds led the chorus of groans and delivered some warnings as to what a merger might mean for Southland, and the polytechnic sector in general.
Ironically Simmonds is now the opposition’s tertiary spokesperson in Parliament as she tries to hold the Government, which Hipkins now leads, to account.
The one size fits all type ideology, where centralisation is viewed as the route to better results, didn’t wash with a lot of Southlanders as they pondered the merger talks in 2019.
Southlanders have often united in an attempt to make their own luck without relying heavily on politicians based in Wellington.
The creation of the SIT’s Zero Fees scheme was one of the more successful and obvious examples of that.
In 2000 the Southern Institute of Technology student numbers were 1100 and declining.
SIT needed a point of difference and they found it through a united Southland front and the “Zero Fees scheme”.
The Invercargill Licensing Trust, Community Trust South, Southland District Council, Invercargill City Council and a group of Southland businesses teamed up to put together a $7.25m fund for SIT.
The fund helped launch the free fees scheme and within three years it had become self-sustainable and SIT climbed to the 5000-student mark. A huge boost for Invercargill, and Southland as a whole.
It’s estimated 40 percent of SIT students remain in Southland to work.
A recent economic impact report had the total spend of the SIT and its students around $157 million annually.
It stated SIT’s Southland operations have contributed $508m in GDP to Southland’s economy during the past five years.
Back to March 1, 2019.
Hipkins had an inevitable task of fronting in Invercargill and to tell Southlanders why the Reform of Vocational Education was the right move for New Zealand, and Southland for that matter.
He met with staff before agreeing to a public meeting at a packed Hansen Hall. As Hipkins arrived a band outside the hall played Bob Marley’s “Get Up Stand Up, Stand Up for Your Rights” tune.
Most of the region’s leaders were in attendance, as well as staff, students, media, and members of the general public.
Prominent businessman Scott O’Donnell MC’d the public meeting in a setting where Hipkins cut an isolated figure at the front of the hall.
Before introducing Hipkins to the podium O’Donnell suggested the SIT has got it right and perhaps it was a model that should instead be adopted.
As the now Prime Minister was invited to the podium the majority in attendance rose to their feet in a symbolic gesture pointing out they were “Standing up for SIT”.
“I’d like to begin by thanking everyone for the very lively and passionate welcome at the airport this morning and the feedback I have received since I’ve been here. It’s very clear that as a community you are passionate about SIT and proud of SIT,” Hipkins said.
For just over an hour, he then went about trying to convince those sceptical attendees that the SIT’s strength would remain under the model in an attempt to calm some of the Southland nerves.
We didn’t know it at the time, but the meeting provided a glimpse into the political future when Simmonds challenged Hipkins on a comment he made about SIT’s funding.
At one-point Hipkins was asked by a member of the crowd if he would resign if the merger turned out to be a mistake.
He appeared to say, “yes”. O’Donnell at least felt he said yes and described it as a “ballsy” call.
I’m sure there will be differing opinions as to just whether it has been a mistake or not, or even if that can be determined yet.
But, at this point at least, the detractors have a bit of ammunition.
Last year a damning memo was sent from the Tertiary Education Commission deputy chief executive to Hipkins painting a very bleak picture of the fortunes of Te Pūkenga, the centralised entity.
It was then revealed the new entity recorded a $63 million deficit with each provider required to make cuts to address the matter.
Locally the new SIT board ditched plans, set up by the previous board, to build an apartment complex on the corner of Kevin St and Tay St.
It also exited long-term partnerships the SIT had locally, with the likes of the region’s three professional sports teams, the Southland Stags, Southland Sharks, and Southern Steel.
Not surprisingly there’s been a sense of “I told you so” that’s flowed from Simmonds ever since.
“Surely the Education Minister must be concerned about this reckless spending when he has recently asked Te Pūkenga to be more financially responsible,” Simmonds stated.
The comment was aimed at Hipkins, but what we now know, as Hipkins steps up the top job, that comment will be for the new Education Minister to address.
Hipkins’ next visit to Invercargill - if he does so in the next nine months or he gets elected in October - will this time be as New Zealand’s 41st Prime Minister.
Plenty has unfolded since March 1, 2019.