Tinetti JanHon JAN TINETTI (Minister of Internal Affairs): I'm delighted to rise to take a call in this general debate really to celebrate the work of our Government and that which we are doing to secure our recovery and tackle the long-term challenges that are facing New Zealanders.We know that it has been incredibly tough for everyone in this country over the past two years and we don't know what the future's going to look like over the next short while because COVID is still well amongst us. We haven't hit the end despite what some commentators may say but we also know that every New Zealander can be very proud of our response as a country because it has been through the efforts of every single New Zealander that we are in the strong position that we are.Yet again we have proven here in New Zealand that it is possible to lead the world when it comes to our management of the global pandemic while at the same time we are making real progress on the big challenges that face this country—challenges like climate change challenges like child poverty and housing. We're not putting those aside because we're in the middle of a global pandemic; we know we have to cope with both.But today I want to focus on how we're securing our recovery and delivering in the education sector and in particular for our most vulnerable students. On Sunday I stood alongside the Minister of Education as we made a pre-Budget announcement of $88 million specifically targeted at improving attendance and engagement in learning. We are investing in existing programmes where the evidence—and I say that again the evidence because they are evidence-based programmes—shows us they are working and making a real difference.There is one programme that I am particularly passionate about the Check & Connect mentoring programme for children or young people in years 8 to 11 which has a proven track record of improving engagement academic performance and retention rates—proven not only in Aotearoa but also around the globe. It's wonderful to see this programme getting more funding to make a difference for more young people. These programmes have all received funding increases since Labour has been in office. The programmes have been around for a wee while but most of them have laid dormant and neglected—underfunded—by the previous National Government.Now normally I wouldn't pay much attention to what National has to say on education. Their track record shows that they weren't focused on evidence. They did nothing but freeze funding and ignore expert pedagogical advice. Now I lived and breathed those poor decisions while I was a school principal and my pupils lived the consequences sadly. But I did find it a little amusing when I heard the National spokesperson for education say in response to our Budget package announcement that this was too little too late."Simeon Brown: It is!Hon JAN TINETTI: Now—and listen up Mr Brown because this might be an educational moment for you—clearly National hasn't been paying attention to what we have been doing and what we've been investing in and improving and researching these programmes since we came into office in 2017. What seems to have been missed is that in the past two years we have implemented many such programmes to help improve engagement for our young people—the $50 million COVID-19 Urgent Response Fund to help address attendance issues and support wellbeing cultural wellbeing and re-engagement in learning; $75.8 million for counsellors in primary and secondary schools; $67 million in Budget 2021 for attendance and engagement; the roll-out of free healthy lunches and free period products; a targeted $15 million package for Auckland students to re-engage post the Delta outbreak; increased places in the Intensive Wraparound Service for our most at-risk students; substantial investment into a curriculum that is relevant and engaging—and that is not all.I'd be happy to put the tonu out and offer a comprehensive briefing to the member who is the spokesperson for education for National on what we have been doing while her party was cycling through leaders. Look we know that National don't like investing in our kids but we also know that on this side we do. We also know there is no silver bullet but the latest $88 million funding package provides a suite of targeted measures to ensure there is support in place for our students who need it most."