Tolley Anne: General Debate 
Tolley Anne: General Debate 
[Volume:668;Page:15170] 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister of Education) 
: 
 The cry has gone up—the cry has gone up. Who is in charge over there? I think that probably the man who sits in the far corner of the House is in charge the one with the texts from the person sitting in an office in New York. He is the one in charge. It is very clear that there is no leadership on that side of the House. I have been a whip. I know what it is like to have a split vote. I do not believe that one would have a split vote on a closure motion—a split vote on a closure motion for heaven’s sake! Apart from the fact that Phil Goff seems to talk about everything and know very little there is no leadership in the Labour Party. 
The fact is that we look at this list of a split vote and we see that we again have as my colleague said the magic number of 17. Four Labour MPs came to this House and did not have an opinion on a bill as critical as the Rugby World Cup 2011 (Empowering) Bill. One or two did not even bother turning up. I bet Chris Carter was sitting in the back of the room. It is outrageous that we should see Labour in such a mess that it has a split vote on a closure motion. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Tell the truth. 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY 
: The mad dog sitting in the corner there who needs to take his pills wants to look at the truth. This is the truth. The list states that the Ayes were 23 the Noes were 11 four abstained and two were missing. That is the truth I say to Mr Mallard. How a former Minister for the Rugby World Cup can abstain—abstain—from voting on a bill that will ensure that the Rugby World Cup is a success is beyond me. 
While the Opposition is in disarray this National Government is getting on with the things that matter to New Zealand. Absolutely! The important things that matter to this—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I apologise for interrupting the Minister during her speech; I will stop the clock. The member will desist from that kind of totally objectionable interjection. I mean what I say. He will desist. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I agree with your comment but the difficulty that caused the reaction was a most unparliamentary comment the Minister whilst using the full microphone made about my colleague. She referred not only to a derogatory name but also to an action and it was broadcast with the full microphone on. My colleague did not have that benefit— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: We have interrupted the member’s speech. I heard what happened and it was in response to earlier very unsatisfactory interjections. But as to the last one I will not tolerate members interjecting about personal matters of members of this House. I absolutely put my foot down on that. I apologise to the Minister for interrupting her speech but that will not be tolerated while I am Speaker. 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY 
: I will take the opportunity this afternoon whilst the Opposition is in such disarray to talk about what is happening in the rest of the world. I recently attended a meeting of OECD Ministers of Education. It was amazing when we are in the middle of industrial negotiations with teacher unions to realise what is happening in the rest of the world and to realise how good we have it here under this National-led Government. In Italy 42000 teaching jobs are being lost—42000. In France next year 13500 teaching jobs will go and they are looking at losing 40000-odd teachers. In Russia they are talking about losing 200000 teachers out of their system in order to balance their education budgets—200000 teachers. In Ireland there is a 2-year pay freeze for public servants which of course includes teachers. In England they have just announced their Budget. There is growth of 0.1 percent in real terms each year for the education budget in the next few years. That means that schools will have to save about a billion dollars; they will have to make savings of around a billion dollars. 
That is extraordinary compared with this country where we put a new $300 million into education last year and the year before that. I read on a website today that schools in England will be forced to publish teachers’ salaries qualifications and sickness rates in order to determine whether they offer value for money. 
When we look at what the National Government is doing here in New Zealand we see that we are focused on lifting long-term economic growth in which we know education plays a key part. We want to make sure that all our children learn to read write and do maths while they are in primary school. We want to make sure that every child leaves school with a qualification that will enable them to succeed in this modern world. We know that we had to rebalance our tax system. We know we need better smarter public services.