Lee Marshall: Motor Trade Association CEO on the sector's desire to take training out of the Government's hands

The automotive sector is hoping to take industry-training out of Government hands.  

The Motor Industry Training Organisation supports on-job learning in sectors like automotive, logistics, and road transport.  

But the Motor Trade Association says under Government control, it has become detached from the industry.  

Chief Executive Lee Marshall wants a transition to being industry owned and led. 

He says the sector is undergoing rapid change, and the training isn't keeping pace.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Nicole this morning for the automotive sector to bring training
back in house. We've got a group of about twenty
industry organizations wanting an industry lead, industry owned approach. The
MTA chief executive Lee Marshalls with us on this Lee,
very good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Good morning Mike.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Is there anything actually stopping you getting on with it?

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Well, I guess ultimately it's not up to us as
it currently stands. MITO, which looks after workplace learning or
apprenticeship for the automotive industry, is part of Tippuukenger, So
it's really part of that consultation that's currently or has
just finished with regards to what happens with the vacational
education system. And our ask is that workplace learning for

(00:42):
automotive is broken out and returns to industry ownership and leadership.
Because what happened under the Tippukenger model, I guess could
be best described as fagnation and that's just not acceptable
for our industry.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Now, I don't blame you, because it's a complete nutter cluster.
If it hadn't been teaed de pou King had in
other words, it was the old polytics system, would that
have still been okay, or is just the system not
right for you guys and you need to do your
own thing.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Look, I wouldn't claim that the old model was perfect,
but I think we definitely went backwards. Under the Tipukenger model,
standard setting in particular was given to the workforce development councils,
which not for every industry as I understand it, but
certainly for our industry, was incredibly ineffective. And at a
time when you know, the technology that you see in

(01:30):
cars is changing at an exponential rate and the education
system needs to keep up with that and it just hasn't.
We take the view that any body that leads training
for our industry needs to be first accountable to the
industry it serves, rather than government.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
So any other industry, would they be all arguing the
same thing or are you sort of somehow a bit unique?

Speaker 2 (01:58):
I think, to be honest, it probably on the sector,
and it probably depends on how much confidence that industry
had in their body. I mean, I think one of
the challenges that we had for automotive is that the
problems that Tippukenga was meant to solve, that of standards fragmentation.
Lots of different bodies doing different things for the same

(02:18):
cause and lack of financial performance. Neither of those applied
to automotive. It did work and it did not operate
at a loss. So in many ways, I think it
depends like there would be others who would have liked
the system as it happens because it solved some of
those problems, But for us it was always irrelevant. We've
gone backwards. We'd like to see it broken back out.

(02:40):
We'd like to see more of a focus on workplace
learning for our industry.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
That was the argument at the time. Not everything was broken.
Penny Simmons, ironically is now a Cabinet minister. She was
running the Southern Institute and they were one of the
most successful in the country. But Chris Hepkins, who knows
better than anybody, of course, hed he said, it doesn't
matter how well you're doing, we'll put it all together,
Good old Chris. The thing about the cows I am
interested in in and surely everybody knows that the evolution

(03:05):
of what's going on under the bonnet is exponential. Why
aren't they keeping up with it or why don't they
understand they need to keep up with it?

Speaker 2 (03:14):
So under the tatoo king A model standard setting was
removed from the entity that organizes training MICO in our
industry's instance, and it was given to the workforce development councils.
And I guess I can only say, like you know,
having dealt with many of these people, even myself, you
know that they approached it with the very best of intents,

(03:34):
but it just ultimately did not deliver anything. We really
saw two years of stagnation. And the problem with that
is you end up with the opposite problem to what
you were trying to solve, because if it stagnates for
too long, then you'll just have the private sector developing
everything the industry needs itself, and all of a sudden
you end up with a fragmented system that you were

(03:55):
trying to avoid in the beginning. So there is in
any case, we'd like to see it returns to industry ownership.
We'd like to see a workplace learning focus. We know
that the best people in the automotive industry learned by
doing the job, not learning in a classroom. You know,
the purpose of the vacational education system should not be

(04:17):
to get bums on seats to pay. You know, polytech
operating deficits.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
FA too much since. You've been far too logical here.
It's it's it's got to stop. Listen. I appreciate your
insightly Marshall empty chief executive. Who would have thought that
the Minister of Education Chris Hipkins didn't know what he
was talking about?

Speaker 2 (04:37):
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Speaker 1 (04:40):
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