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This paper was presented at Vocational education at a distance: the Asia and the Pacific region workshop (TD/IRD 88.96). It discusses the application of electronically mediated means of communication to distance education, focusing on current issues and future trends. After an introduction to the country and a general view of the educational system, the paper provides a brief overview of distance education in New Zealand. The reforms to the vocational education policies are discussed showing how liberal notions of vocational and professional have been appropriated by the Government's Industry Training Strategy and as a consequence been redefined as industrial. The actual and potential impact of electronically mediated technologies on knowledge (and thereby vocational education) is discussed. Finally a case study of electronically mediated industrial education which has been designed by a consortium of industry and education providers and which focuses on workforce development in the automotive industry is described. The conclusion is that, in the postmodern world, electronically mediated technologies are a necessary but not sufficient condition for industrial education.