The pulling of a UCOL automotive course at Whanganui Prison was a decision made by "experts", Whanganui MP and Courts Minister Chester Borrows says.
"I spoke to Corrections about that today," Mr Borrows said on Thursday during a tour of several Wanganui facilities with three other National MPs.
"The prison are the experts in rehabilitation.
"If they decide this isn't working for us, then by their measures we wouldn't expect them to keep doing something that isn't working."
The "low level" course was being run at the prison in Kaitoke as "more of an interest course", he said.
"A lot of people weren't successfully completing it, and it wasn't leading on to work once people left."
It was also important to remember Corrections was the customer and entitled to "refresh" courses it was running.
"If they decide to take a product off the shelf, they need to make those decisions based on their objectives."
Mr Borrows said it wasn't as simple as using equipment provided by the polytech.
"The [Tertiary Education] Union is saying, 'You've got a garage there'," he said.
"That's not a sensible use of taxpayers' money just to do something on a whim."