Brown SimeonSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker for the opportunity to speak on the Education Amendment Bill. I'd like to start by reminding Mr Willie Jackson of his comments and his words that he spoke prior to becoming a Labour Party member of Parliament. I'd like to remind him of his comments in regards to Chris Hipkins' member's bill to scrap partnership schools. He said that that bill would receive an E—that's what he said it would receive. It would receive an E. But then he said that when you look at the success this alternative style education model has had for Māori then it gets an A—it gets an A every day. Well I've got something for Mr Willie Jackson. His speech and his actions are an F because they are an absolute fail. He has failed the people that he says he represents. He has failed Māori and he has failed himself because of his dramatic U-turn that he made here in the House this afternoon.This bill that we're debating here today does a number of things but first and foremost it primarily removes the partnership model—it rips it away and it takes this opportunity away from some of our most disadvantaged communities. The Prime Minister said that she wouldn't be closing down these schools unless—the three conditions would be that they receive the same amount of funding as State schools they have registered teachers and they follow the school curriculum. We had those partnerships schools before the Education and Workforce Committee and they ticked all three of those boxes. They told us they received the same amount of money. They told us they had registered teachers. They told us they followed the school curriculum when they submitted to the select committee. But the real agenda that this Government has and the agenda which they are not talking about here in the House is that they want to ensure that the unions have the contractual ability to have collective agreements over the staff in these schools. They want to have the power over the staff in these schools. They want to have a one-size-fits-all model for all education. They don't believe in different models of education. They don't believe in the partnership school model. They don't believe in giving flexibility in teaching resources and flexibility in the classroom so that these children can have the best opportunities to learn and they don't believe in supporting our most at-risk young people in this country. I want to read out part of an email I received from a mother who sent two of her children to South Auckland Middle School. Her name is Shiri Te Whatu and she said 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 current school systems were failing him. They were able to meet him at his level and empower him to exceed all our expectations. 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 nine and then just a handful of students complete their schooling to year 13. I believe that SAMS is an important and vital bridge to this obvious gap in our current education system. We know that this problem in our education is there but not everyone is prepared to do what it takes to ensure that this cycle does not continue. Due to the confidence"—she finishes—"and good study habits that my son learnt at SAMS he finished year 13 well and is now enrolled with Air New Zealand and studying a career in aeronautical engineering."Those are the words of a family a whānau in South Auckland who—their young children were failing in the State school education system but SAMS gave them the opportunity to break the cycle—to break the cycle—and for that young man to be able to succeed. And I'm proud of that young man. He's working at Air New Zealand. He's studying. He has a future—a bright future—and he's working hard towards it. He has aspirations and that was what the partnership school model allowed. It allowed the young people from the most disadvantaged communities in our country from the electorates which are represented on that side of the House to be able to receive an education to be able to break those cycles and to be able to achieve in life. Chlöe Swarbrick: Achievement for our poorest kids went down.SIMEON BROWN: We can hear members on the opposite side of this House complaining about our position and the opportunities that we sought and we heard Chlöe Swarbrick talk about the hundreds of submissions which were received in support of her Supplementary Order Papers. Well I challenge Chlöe Swarbrick to read the dozens of submissions from people in support of partnership schools. The majority of submitters on partnerships schools who submitted on that issue in this bill were in support. If the member is going to talk about the number of submissions on this bill be consistent and support what the majority of submitters on partnership schools actually said when they came before the select committee and when they made their submissions on this bill. Kelvin Davis said that he would resign if partnership schools were closed in his electorate. Well will we see him resign this afternoon when this bill has been passed? I doubt it because there is another man who has broken his promise to his electorate and broken the promises that he said. The other point that I think has been made but it needs to be made again is that there is a Treaty of Waitangi claim being made at the moment. Urgency has been requested to that claim but the Government continues to steamroll this legislation through Parliament and continues to push its agenda—continues to ignore what Māori and what the people who have benefited from these schools are saying. This is a Government which has said that they want to ensure—and we have again heard members opposite talk about how they want to bring the Treaty into our education system. Well the first thing they're doing here is ignoring the Treaty as they let this legislation go through while there is a Treaty of Waitangi claim going before the Waitangi Tribunal at the moment.I'd like to touch quickly on a couple of other parts of this bill and some of the other aspects that it does. I'd like to touch on the elements that it covers in regard to the enforcement powers for the fees-free policy. I think it's important to reflect on the fact that that policy was rushed through and this has taken the Government one whole year—one whole year—for them to get to the point where they actually take some enforcement against people who might be making a false declaration and receiving potentially thousands and thousands of dollars of taxpayers' money if they were to make a false declaration on whether they had received funding before.So I'd just like to make the point that the fine which is in this bill is only $5000. It is a very small fine and we have put Supplementary Order Papers in to say that this fine should be increased that this is about accountability for those who take public funds that their statements that they make should be truthful and we actually believe on this side of the House that it needs to be increased to ensure that it is a reasonable fine which actually reflects the seriousness of the taxpayers' money which is being taken. This was a rushed policy put through and now they're finally putting in place legislation which allows for some accountability to be held.Lastly I would like to touch on the clauses in this bill which relate to the boards of governance the councils in our Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics the polytechs and our universities. We've heard arguments from the other side around how this is going to dramatically improve governance of our polytechs and our universities. The argument has been made that we need to have more elected representatives on those boards. Well I have a point here: we differ on that issue. These are governance bodies and the people that should be appointed to these bodies should have the required set of governance skills which should be on those bodies.Chlöe Swarbrick: What about us Simeon?SIMEON BROWN: Chlöe Swarbrick says "What about Parliament?" Parliament is a representative body. We represent the people of New Zealand. These people are governing a specific body given specific funds and these require a specific set of skills on those bodies. We have put forward the case that those people who are elected if they are to be elected should also have those governance skills as a prerequisite to being able to stand in the elections but that point was put down at the select committee when the argument was made.So let me conclude. This bill is a dark day for New Zealand. It takes away opportunity for some of our most disadvantaged young people. National will oppose it and we will bring back partnership schools when we're back in Government in 2020."