Peachey Allan: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Peachey Allan: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:648;Page:17511] 
ALLAN PEACHEY (National—Tamaki) 
: 
 We have had 8½ years of this Labour Government three Ministers nine Budgets billions and billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money and hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars go to special education and it all comes down to one statement made by the current Minister of Education. If the Committee will bear with me I will read it. This is what Mr Carter stated: “Not enough of the money earmarked for Special Education is actually getting to school level and more importantly to the individual student with special needs.” 
What an indictment on a Government’s policy! These are the very least fortunate of our children children who have done nothing wrong with parents who have done nothing wrong; it is just that during a split second in the process of the creation of that life something has gone badly wrong. After 9 years the best the Minister can do is to say that not enough of the money is getting to the children. 
Special education is difficult it is expensive and it is challenging and what our special education children and their parents need is a bit of leadership a bit of intellectual capability and a bit of compassion to make their lives a little bit more doable. How can it be in this country of New Zealand that the principals of special schools tell me they have waiting lists? The waiting list for a parent with a child who desperately needs a special education place means waiting for another parent’s much loved child to pass away. That is what it means. 
I invite the Minister in the chair the Hon Chris Carter to take the floor and agree with me that New Zealand has to do better. I invite the Minister to get up and agree with me that New Zealand has to do better for the very least fortunate of our children and their parents just as I invite the Minister to get up and agree with me that it is wrong that far too many children with special education needs are being bounced from school to school as their parents seek enrolment. I invite the Minister to get up and agree with me that it is wrong that the least advantaged of our children are being told to stay away from school week after week after week. 
I would ask the Minister to address one more thing that is troubling me about this issue. When a school says to a parent of a special-needs child: “Your child can come to school only with teacher-aide support—oh and we can give you only a couple of hours a day.” and the parent says: “Well look we understand the difficulties that our child has and the challenges that our child presents. To give our child a fair crack at school we will fund the extra teacher-aide time.” what is the response of the system so often? It is to say: “No you cannot do that because that is elitist.” 
I invite the Minister when he takes the floor—and I am that sure he will—to tell me that he like me finds that a totally unacceptable attitude. Parents have a right a duty and a responsibility to do the very best they can for their children whatever their family circumstances require and whatever they can manage. If ever there was a system that is increasingly breaking apart then it is the special education system. 
I will finish by making a comment to teachers. The Minister and I spoke to a group of principals in Auckland this morning and I want to share a comment that I made to those people—