Pillay Lynne: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations  and State Enterprises — In Committee 
Pillay Lynne: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations  and State Enterprises — In Committee 
[Volume:626;Page:21319] 
LYNNE PILLAY (Labour—Waitakere) 
: 
 I am pleased to speak tonight from a more positive approach to our education system. It is really depressing to hear members on the other side of the Chamber banging on all the time about doom and gloom and not acknowledging all the good things that are happening in our education system. I will start my speech at the beginning with early childhood education. We have seen the statistics and so much research that shows that through investment in early childhood education there are real results later on in terms of achievement. 
Jim Peters 
: For some. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: Yes certainly not for the members of his caucus but generally speaking our children in New Zealand are achieving. We are seeing the statistics about the achievement of 11-year olds now who have had the benefit of early childhood education. That is something I prefer to celebrate. I am proud to be part of a Government that celebrates that. Why are those young people achieving? They are achieving because they had quality early childhood education that delivers. That is why we are increasing our commitment to and our investment in early childhood education. We have committed to 20 free hours’ funding per week in community early childhood centres for the future and we know that that will build on the achievements we already see. 
Jim Peters 
: Only for some. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: I do not know what the member means by that. I just cannot understand why members relish being so negative. I know many of them have chosen to leave after the next election which is a very wise move but I prefer to work and to celebrate all the good things that are happening. Increased investment and achievement in early childhood education means there is also an increased demand for training. That means upskilling and it means scholarships in early childhood education. That is a major investment of this Government and it is one that I am very proud to see happening. 
I will move on now to when children move from early childhood education to primary school which I have seen in my electorate. It has been very very good to celebrate not only with children and our Government but with their parents and with the community at large. There are laptops in every school. Under this Government every schoolteacher now has the ability to have a laptop to work with and to share with the children. What an advantage! That is something that happened under this Government’s funding. We should not forget that this Government—which does not promote vouchers or private education—stands for the right of every child in New Zealand to go to his or her local school. That is something that this Labour-led Government is very proud of. It is a real right that we see not only for our children but for their families and our transport system is not clogged up by people trying to whip across town because a child might be a good rugby player and might have been poached by a school. We stand by the right of every young person in the country to go to his or her local school. 
We should also acknowledge the building that has gone on under this Government. I have been to more school hall openings refurbishments general extensions on schools and general celebrations of achievement than we have seen happen over the last decade in this country. Why? Because we are investing in our schools and we are doing it wisely. That also means many many more teachers and more funding for special education because we know that that investment delivers in terms of achievement. We are not a party that says we think we are spending too much and will advocate for tax cuts that will not deliver.