Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Quite the opposite—the chief executive of the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology and many others are saying if you're worried about the loss of staff, let's put it to the country. A very clear choice on a policy of which Mr Little and his colleagues never had the courage to tell the electorate: that they would be robbing regional New Zealand of control of their local polytechnics, and that's why this reform should not come into effect until the public have had a say through the ballot box. 