Brown SimeonSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga): Thank you very much Madam Chair and it's a pleasure to be able to take a call on the appropriations debate this afternoon.I just want to reflect on some of the comments made by the previous speaker Chlöe Swarbrick and especially where she started talking about personal stories. Well I have a personal story that I'd like to share from a mother of two children who go to a partnership school in South Auckland. My name is Shiri Te Whatu. My oldest son Haimona Te Whatu graduated as head boy from South Auckland Middle School in 2014. My youngest son Moses Te Whatu currently attends South Auckland Middle School and is in Year 7." She says "It is hard to put into words how invaluable South Auckland Middle School has been not only to my own children but also my wider whānau that have attended. I attribute my oldest son's success to the step-up that SAMS gave him when the current schooling system was failing him. They were able to meet him at his level and empower him to succeed and exceed all our expectations. Due to the confidence and good study habits that he learnt at SAMS Haimona finished Year 13 well and is now enrolled with Air New Zealand and studying a career in aeronautical engineering."A comment she makes—"I have three older daughters in their early 20s. It was always disheartening to see so many students—literally hundreds—start on the first day of school in Year 9 and then just a handful of students complete their schooling to Year 13. SAMS is an important and vital bridge to this obvious gap in our current education system. To take away a school or schools that have been so successful in excelling in results just does not make sense. As a responsible parent I choose to make an informed decision and give my son the very best opportunity available to him. This is South Auckland Middle School."That is what this Government has done. It has pursued ideology over effective education which is making a difference in the lives of those who were not succeeding and not excelling through our education system. And I challenge the Minister of Education to go to South Auckland Middle School and to talk to Moses and to talk to Shiri Te Whatu and to talk about their experience and the life-changing experience that that school has been to that family in South Auckland.This Government has been focused on ideology rather than on what is best for our children. Closing schools was this Government's first priority in education and what a shame—what a shame—that has been that the first thing this Government would do when it came to office would be to close schools. I would've thought that would be the last thing that they would be wanting to do and at a cost of up to $20 million to the taxpayers—up to $20 million.The question needs to be asked: why won't the Minister go and visit? Why won't the Minister engage? It's because of ideology rather than actually wanting what is best for our country's children.The second thing that they were focused on was scrapping national standards leaving parents in the dark so that they wouldn't have an understanding of where their child's learning was at so that they would be able to understand where the additional support might be needed.So the question has to be asked: what has this Government actually progressed? We've heard about what they've cut but what are they actually progressing when it comes to education? Well they're progressing the Education (National Education and Learning Priorities) Amendment Bill. Quite simply it rewords a couple of paragraphs explaining the objective of our education system. Whoop-de-doo!The second is the Education (Teaching Council of Aotearoa) Amendment Bill. They're changing the name of the Education Council. Well that's a big success isn't it? A massive massive change that they're doing!Oh and of course first year free education. I guess hopefully that one will be a success—no no. A zero percent increase in enrolment in our universities—zero percent increase in our universities—when it's going to cost $2.8 billion of taxpayers' money. Well that's what I call a flop. That's what I call a flop. And it's all about the aspiration it's about the ideology but it isn't about what actually works for our children and what will work for our families and on this side of the House that's what we believe in. We believe in backing our families backing our children and making sure that we spend taxpayer money wisely. Thank you very much."