Kaye NikkiHon NIKKI KAYE (Minister of Education): I am very pleased to speak around Budget 2017 but I think it is important to give a bit of context in terms of where we have come from. We have heard a lot in this debate about school property. Let me remind the Committee of what we were handed in terms of our school property portfolio: old cold buildings. We did not have condition assessments of buildings. We have in a 9-year period compared with the previous Government spent more than a billion more on school property to fix buildings to invest ahead for growth. We have done significant work in terms of bringing our school infrastructure—can I acknowledge my Associate Minister Tim Macindoe—and it is no different in this Budget.We have seen additional investment on a scale of hundreds of millions in areas like Auckland. We are obviously investing in areas like Tauranga and Bay of Plenty. We have already invested in areas like Hamilton and Queenstown. This is a Government that has upgraded fixed and delivered more modern learning environments than anyone in history by far and that is what this Budget is about.The other thing that I would say at a larger level is that we hear a lot from the Opposition and certain stakeholders about this funding freeze" in education. Well let us look at the facts: under our Government Vote Education has gone from $8 billion to $11.6 billion. That is $1.1 billion more over 4 years the largest ever injection of education spending in a Budget and that is under this Government in this Budget. We are focused on obviously ensuring that we get the outcomes whether that is rising levels of participation which we are doing in terms of early learning or whether that is more young people with NCEA level 2 which is happening. We have seen increases in improvements whether that is lifting results in terms of reading writing and maths—again we are getting those results—or whether it is Māori and Pacific achievement and again let us talk about those results. We have gone from a situation where 57 percent of young Māori left our schools with NCEA level 2 qualifications to 74 percent and for Pasifika students it has gone from 65 percent to 80 percent. Not only are we investing but we are getting results.Can I just make this comment. We saw the Labour Opposition release its policy on the weekend. What was one of the core planks of this policy when the whole thing about national standards is that we know where these kids are so that we can invest in them? Labour has said that it is going to scrap national standards but it has not said what for. So to every parent out there in New Zealand you have a very clear choice: a Government that cares to tell parents how their kids are doing in education or a Government that says: "No we're going to deny you of that information and we're going to replace it with nothing."I think that is appalling and that is why in this Budget we are focused on not only having good achievement information but also investing in our most vulnerable. That is why as we just heard from a previous speaker you can see investments in this Budget around oral language and communication—$6 million. You can see investments in this Budget—$34 million to help those children who have severe behavioural difficulties. You can see in this Budget a Budget that is weighted around early childhood to target those kids who may be in vulnerable families. You can see in this Budget increases in operational grants by $60 million. You can see in this Budget another 31000 places funded in early childhood education.This is a Government that is investing more in infrastructure investing more in targeting those kids who are vulnerable and getting greater outcomes and you contrast that with a Labour Opposition that will not even believe in enabling parents to have basic information about how their child is doing. I think there is a clear choice. This is a great Budget.Votes agreed to."