Kaye Nikki: Estimates Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKaye Nikki: Estimates Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 21 July 2015. Volume:707;Page:5178. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon NIKKI KAYE (Associate Minister of Education):I am very pleased to speak. That speech from Tracey Martin was a load of rubbish. I normally rate that member very highly but the facts are these: under our Government for the last 6 years we have successively increased the education budget—$10.8 billion in the most difficult financial times. Every single year we have increased the education budget. Secondly when it comes to our most vulnerable students whether that is students who have special education difficulties or whether that is those students who have had real issues in terms of numeracy and literacy this Budget is better than ever for them.Let us walk through it. If we look at early childhood education participation particularly around Māori and Pacific young people that is up. That is up by 4 to 5 percent. That is incredibly significant and that is about the future of our country. When we actually look at the facts in terms of participation around early childhood education we are absolutely on track for 98 percent. We have got more money going into early childhood education—I think there is $75 million in this Budget. That is about doing everything we can to make sure that all students in this country are successful.When it comes to special education this Budget is great in terms of special education. We have got $40 million going into ongoing resourcing scheme funding. That means that for the 500 young people who have and need that additional support whether that is teacher-aide time whether that is physiotherapy or whether that is speech language therapy we are putting the resource into them.I want to acknowledge the Hon Hekia Parata. I think this is a great Budget in terms of what she has done. She has real vision and she is investing in some of our most vulnerable students. The Budget also includes $24 million for additional class support. That is 1500—that is the first phase of another group of students who need that additional help in terms of our education system. So when that member tells us that somehow we have underfunded education well it is a 26 percent increase in special education. Under our Government there is $500 million more for some of our most vulnerable students.When it comes to trade academies there is more money than ever. So when that member says that we are not aspirational for Northland that is a complete load of rubbish. What are we doing in terms of modern learning and education environments for Northland? Well the other day I found out that we are so far ahead of schedule in terms of the roll out of Network for Learning—that is fast uncapped data paid for by the Crown; a real passport to the future for these students—that 600000 students are now connected. That is students in Northland. That is a Government that is aspirational for those people in Northland. That is real actual resources going to those students in Northland. That is on the back of $700 million of investment in both ultra-fast broadband and uncapped data ensuring that our students are equipped for the future.When it comes to school property over 60 percent of our schools were more than 40 years old: we had leaky buildings we had a whole range of design issues and we had a whole lot of relocatables. What have we done? We have invested billions of dollars in terms of upgrading these schools and major redevelopments. I can confirm in this Budget that we have got hundreds of millions of dollars as well going not only into new schools but also into ensuring that we can fix some of those really old schools. Today I announced Lepperton School in North Taranaki. We have 14 schools through our major redevelopment programme we have got more coming and this is on the back of hundreds of millions of dollars as well in terms of investing in growth.So in places like Auckland Hamilton and Queenstown this Budget is good because we are actually building those schools and we are putting those classrooms where they need to be and we are doing that ahead of the curve. From my perspective we are investing more than ever in both school property and modern learning environments but we are actually doing so much for vulnerable students. So we are a Government that is not only aspirational and focused on the future for those students but absolutely focused on some of our most vulnerable students. That is crystal clear in this Budget through the increase in terms of special education funding through the increase in early childhood participation funding and through a range of other projects from the gateway assessment programme which is about ensuring that 3800 needy children get access to early childhood and schooling services to the Year 9 Plus trial which allocates $2.2 million to educational champions.We are a Government that has a strong social conscience and that is also very focused on the economy. To hear from members opposite that we are not aspirational about students and that we are not investing in them is an absolute load of rubbish. This Government has successively increased the education budget every year since we have been in Government.