Parker David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeParker David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 20 March 2014. Volume:697;Page:16899. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]1.Hon DAVID PARKER (Deputy Leader—Labour)to the Minister of Education: Does she stand by all her statements?Hon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education):Yes.Hon David Parker: Does she stand by her statement on Tuesday with regard to kōhanga reo that “I am satisfied public money was spent in an appropriate way.” when the ineffectual inquiry had not even considered the public money spent on wedding dresses at petrol stations and on other private bills; and if she stands by that statement why on Wednesday did she refer the same matter to the Serious Fraud Office?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I do stand by that statement because I relied on Ernst and Young whom we commissioned to carry out the independent review. One of the specific terms of reference that was made available on 16 October to the public made it clear that I wanted answers as to whether public moneys had been expended inappropriately. The answer Ernst and Young gave in its formal and publicly available report was no. Why did I refer it to the Serious Fraud Office on Wednesday morning? It was because on Tuesday evening when I met with the trust board it gave me assurances that it would deal with allegations that related to operations that only it knows about. When it became apparent yesterday morning that it had not and would not I had no recourse but to refer it to the Serious Fraud Office which does have the authority to investigate where I do not.Hon David Parker: Does she stand by her statement at the same time that there was no waste of public money because the public money was spent via Te Pātaka Ōhanga a wholly owned subsidiary?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I never made any such statement. The statement I made was that in all the routine monitoring of the 460 kōhanga reo both by the Ministry of Education and in the Ernst and Young report we found that there was no misuse of funding. This is assisted particularly by the fact that kōhanga reo are paid in retrospect. Unlike every other early childhood centre that the Government funds kōhanga reo are paid in retrospect for services already rendered.Hon David Parker: Is the Minister denying that at the press conference held late at night earlier this week she told the media that they should not be worried about a waste of public money because it was spent by a subsidiary rather than by the organisation to which it was directly paid?Hon HEKIA PARATA: No I did not tell them that they should not worry about wasting money. What I told them was that I had commissioned an investigation by an internationally reputable independent company called Ernst and Young with terms of reference that have been publicly available since 16 October to investigate whether any public moneys had been misused. The answer was no.Hon David Parker: Which has been her most embarrassing blunder as the Minister of Education: larger class sizes as the centrepiece of Budget 2012 which was so bad that the Government flip-flopped within a week; the Novopay debacle which 18 months on is still not fixed and has caused the Government tens of millions of dollars of wasted spending; or losing her chief executive officer Lesley Longstone months into her job with a $425000 taxpayer-funded golden handshake?Hon HEKIA PARATA: Well not as big as the blunder of that member in not contesting the leadership of the Labour Party. However I make no apology—well I do apologise for causing staff duress over a system that was signed off by that Opposition party. But I make no apologies for trying to raise the achievement of every one of our New Zealand children—five out of five.Hon David Parker: If those blunders were not bad enough which of her two this week is the worst: her announcement on the weekend that she was going to introduce performance pay followed by her denial which led to the New Zealand Herald saying “her advisers are unhappy because she has been caught out … telling the truth.” or was it in releasing the shoddy report in the dead of night to cover up the rorts in kōhanga reo and endorsing it as having a clean bill of health only to refer the matter to the Serious Fraud Office the next day?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I do not consider transparency to be a fault. But I do consider it to be a fault that the Opposition relies on newspaper and third-party reporting. It is well known in the New Zealand education sector that it would be difficult to find anyone who agreed with the funding system so much so that when members opposite were in Government a now former Minister of Education asked for a review of funding. In terms of the report from Ernst and Young that I released I publicly said that as soon as I was able to meet with the trust I would release it. The trust met me at 6.30 on Tuesday night. I released it at 8 o’clock—an hour and a half later.Hon David Parker: Why does she not take any responsibility for the fact that the Ernst and Young report did not inquire into the issues that were at large?Hon HEKIA PARATA: As the Minister of Education I am responsible for public moneys. That is what I asked Ernst and Young to investigate. At the same time I expected that the trust would investigate the allegations of its own operations. I have done my part; the trust has not done its part. As a result I have referred it to the Serious Fraud Office.Catherine Delahunty: Given the concern over the use of public money in early childhood why does Kidicorp a wealthy multinational childcare business need $2.5 million of taxpayers’ money to expand its business when playcentres and kindergartens are struggling to survive?Hon HEKIA PARATA: This Government has a Better Public Services target of 98 percent of our new entrants in 2016 having participated in quality early learning education. As a result of that and because we respect that parents want to make choices about which early learning service they want to use whichever childcare service meets the licensing criteria which are publicly available gets licensed and provides the services to the parents who choose to use it.Catherine Delahunty: Given that Kidicorp is the most financially successful early childhood business in Aotearoa New Zealand why is she giving them $2.5 million of taxpayers’ money?Hon HEKIA PARATA: We are backing successful early childhood providers. There are clearly parents who are taking advantage of the 20-hour subsidy provided by this Government to choose to go to Kidicorp.