Brown SimeonSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga): Thank you Mr Speaker for the opportunity to take a call on the Education and Training (Grants—Budget Measures) Amendment Bill. I thought the day after the Budget we'd be down here delivering something for New Zealanders helping New Zealanders get ahead helping to grow our economy helping to make New Zealand a stronger place. But what we're here debating is a bill which simply gives the Government more control. This is a bill which gives the Minister of Education more control and we've seen over the last three and half years how this Minister of Education has come to this House and he's grabbed more and more power in the education sector. Whether it's amalgamating our polytechs whether it's doing this to the early childhood education (ECE) sector every single piece of legislation that he brings down to the House is about trying to get more control—whether it's the Tomorrow's Schools reform. It's about centralisation—SPEAKER: Order! The member will resume his seat. This is about the narrowest sort of bill that you can have. The member's speech would be barely relevant on a second reading; it certainly isn't on a first.SIMEON BROWN: Thank you Mr Speaker. As I was saying this bill is about the Minister grabbing more control in the education and training sector and particularly when it comes to our early childhood education sector.This legislation gives the Minister power when grants are paid to the management of a body corporate for establishing a licensed early childhood education centre. It directs how these grants should be funded. It takes away the ability for businesses to have flexibility. It takes away the opportunity for early childhood education centres to be able to make decisions for their business and be able to manage their businesses in the way they see fit. This is very much in line with the direction this Minister seems to want to take everything in the education sector.The question needs to be asked: did the Minister consult with the early childhood education sector—Hon Chris Hipkins: Yes.SIMEON BROWN: OK when did you consult on that?SPEAKER: Order!Hon Chris Hipkins: I meet with them every month.SIMEON BROWN: Meet with them every month. Well the education sector has told us that they have requested opportunities to be able to have consultation on this bill and now we're being told it's going to go to a select committee for a very short period of time. This is something which again shows the Minister's contempt for the sector—his willingness to come down to this House to ram through legislation in urgency and then send it off to select committee for a very short period of time rather than giving the sector the opportunity to really engage in how this issue is going to impact on them and be able to actually have those concerns addressed.The National Party will support this bill because this is a piece of legislation which we need to have interrogated at select committee. It needs to be looked at properly. We're disappointed that it's not getting the appropriate level of scrutiny that it should. But we do make the point that this piece of legislation is another piece of legislation in line with previous legislation from this Minister constantly bringing more control around what decisions he gets to make instead of allowing the education sector to be able to manage their own affairs and to be able to get on with doing the important work that they do do whether it's helping our young students at school whether it's looking after our children at ECE. It should be about empowering them rather than constantly giving the power to the Minister of Education which seems to be the constant power-grab that he continues to do.