Turei Metiria: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Turei Metiria: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:606;Page:3640] 
7.  
METIRIA TUREI (Green) 
 to the  
Associate Minister of Education (Special Education) 
: In light of the Court of Appeal decision  
Attorney-General v Daniels 
 issued yesterday that the then Minister of Education acted unlawfully when in 1998 he disestablished special needs classes units and services does she agree that the money spent on the appeal and preceding cases would have been better spent on direct funding for special needs children than on litigation; if not why not? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL (Associate Minister of Education (Special Education)) 
: 
 My answer to that question would usually be yes but on this occasion it is no because the High Court judgment against the Crown was so broad and had such serious ramifications not only for education but for other aspects of public policy that the Crown had no choice but to appeal that decision. Prior to the original proceeding being brought by the parents against the previous Government I did meet with them in an attempt to find a resolution to their concerns. The Court of Appeal decision backs up my strong view that litigation is no way to resolve public policy issues. 
Metiria Turei 
: Will the Minister agree first not to seek costs against the parents in this case and second to contribute to the legal costs of the parents whose concern to protect their children’s right to appropriate quality education was upheld by both the High Court and the Court of Appeal? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: The judgment specifically rules on the issue of the closure of units. The real issue that the Crown had to appeal was that relating to the implications of the High Court ruling on sections 3 8 9 and 10. We succeeded on those appeals and there is now going to be a remedies action in the High Court in respect of the situation in relation to the units. What I do hope is that the parties can talk to each other in the intervening period because I would like to see a win-win out of that as the Court of Appeal case has been a win-win for the parents and the Government. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: What is this Government’s commitment to special education that sees young Bernard O’Regan in Reefton deprived of school bus transport each day when all that was required was for the school bus contract tender to include provision for wheelchair access and what is this Minister going to do to fix this obvious stuff-up? 
Rodney Hide 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I ask you for some consistency here. Right through Dr Nick Smith’s supplementary question we had constant chipping because the Government did not like it. You pulled the members up. The Minister over there refused to follow your instructions and continued chipping and you are looking right at her. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member has raised a valid point of order and the member concerned will keep quiet when questions are being asked. 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: I do fail to see what that question has to do with Wyatt Creech’s decision to close units which has just been held to be unlawful by the Court of Appeal. 
Hon Brian Donnelly 
: Can the Minister confirm that the issue in the Daniels’ case was precipitated by the fact that the Minister at the time Wyatt Creech followed Ministry of Education advice that the Education Act did not require amendment to accommodate the Special Education 2000 policy a policy that increased expenditure on special-education students by hundreds of millions of dollars? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: From the advice I have I cannot confirm whether the specific question was directed to the Minister. What I can say though is that what Cabinet considered at that time was a report back to the Minister of Education on the impact of the proposal on the disestablishment decision in terms of ensuring the continuity of the general capacity to offer choice to parents between mainstreaming or a special-education unit but that was after the decision had been made. 
Jill Pettis 
: Did the Court of Appeal comment on the funding of special education in respect of the introduction of Special Education 2000? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: Yes. The Court of Appeal found that “extra funding has throughout been a critical part of the development of SE2000”. Special education funding for 2002 was $329.62 million compared with $170 million in 1995. The number of students directly receiving assistance has risen from about 20000 in 1995 to over 50000 today. 
Deborah Coddington 
: Does the Minister support bulk funding for special-needs students and indeed the principle of bulk funding for all students’ teaching; if not why did this Government appeal the High Court decision? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: I suggest the member read the decision and she would understand why we appealed it. If she had read the Baragwanath decision she would know very clearly that there were very important grounds to do that and we have succeeded on those grounds and that will be a significant benefit. I also suggest the member look at the Special Education 2000 policy because this issue is only one very small component of the total triangle that is funded by way of bulk-funded grant—the special-education grant. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Supplementary Mr Speaker. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No I call question No. 8—[ 
Interruption 
] I am sorry; I call Metiria Turei. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I sought the call and you made the judgment to move on to the next question. Why is it suddenly possible for you to change the tune and having disallowed my having the opportunity allow a Green member to have the call? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Because the member knows I allocate a distinct number of supplementary questions each day. In actual fact the Green Party advised it wanted two calls on this question. It misses out on a large number of others. 
Metiria Turei 
: Will the Minister now accept that the special-education grant funding which is part of Special Education 2000 has failed to provide assistance to hundreds of children with moderate special needs and will she instead ensure that the said grant for children with moderate needs is based on and used specifically for the actual number of special-needs children in each school? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: The member well knows that this Government introduced the enhanced programme funding last year specifically to address the needs of schools that have a higher level of students with moderate special needs than other schools.