Patterson MarkMARK PATTERSON (NZ First): I rise on behalf of New Zealand First to once again support another fine piece of legislation being brought forward by this coalition Government. I note—what was the number we were up to?—on Tuesday we were up to 1055 collective decisions that we have brought to the table. We're probably over 1100 now. This is another piece of education legislation that we are bringing through. What a powerhouse our Education and Workforce Committee is. The chairwoman Dr Parmar that had previously spoken—you could hear the defensiveness as she tried to defend a system that has been failing far too many of our young people. We are doing something about it and this is a very very active space for this Government.So there are four provisions in this bill as has been outlined earlier. I won't go through them in any particular order. The private schools one that the previous speaker seemed to be so offended by that somehow we were going to be closing down private schools—it's not anything of the sort. The provision about the private schools just ensures that they have to take emotional health and physical safety into account. It is fixing an anomaly. At a time when mental health is at the top of everyone's thinking in terms of an agenda of how we can do better for our citizens this is an absolute anomaly that we just have to get right and fix. This is just making these private schools accountable to the Education Review Office.Cohort entry—another provision that the previous speaker seemed to be railing against. There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that starting school before five makes a single bit of difference—in fact starting school before six has not shown to show any difference in international studies. It is a cultural milestone for every New Zealander. I started school 43 years ago on my fifth birthday and I remember that day like it was yesterday. It was a momentous occasion for me as an individual and it's not a nebulous you know—eight weeks before I was five or whatever. We have taken into account the cohort entry provisions and the ability to streamline entry and that's why we've started with five as the baseline and have given an eight-week provision where a mid-term cohort entry can happen as well. So it does smooth the transition. It takes into account the sensible nature of that but it does not allow us to start before five—that milestone day in every young New Zealander's life.The communities of online learning—and it is true that this is something that's a future-focused provision and the wider review that we're doing of Tomorrow's Schools will take that fully into account. But what we deemed within the pending legislation that was coming forward that progressed under the previous Government is that it did not have the regulatory oversight necessary. It was open to cowboys coming in and we just cannot afford that with our young people. We cannot afford to take those sorts of risks.The fourth provision is the Education Council of Aotearoa and having them take into account Government policy. I recall one of the earlier bills when the Hon Nikki Kaye came down here—one of those many earlier bills that the Education and Workforce Committee brought through. She came down here and alluded to a conspiracy: that Minister Hipkins was going to be taking some Draconian provision to stymie any sort of dissent and thought. But it's nothing at all of the type. All it is doing is requiring the newly to-be-established Teaching Council of Aotearoa to take into account Government policy. While we are giving teachers their own positions on their own professional council—that is a great thing to do but we're not electing them as a dictatorship that can go above Cabinet. So they can still critique Government policy all they like but they have to take into account what the Government policy is what the elected Government of the day—the direction that that Government wants to take. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. And I'd note that the Education Council themselves the very structure that that Opposition over there has been defending and been very defensive about the restructuring of—they themselves recommended this very measure.So there is nothing Draconian at all about this bill. It's just a sensible measure—another one—and within these four provisions they're all very sensible. They will speak and work in with the overall package of this wider suite of measures that we're bringing in as we seek to reform our education system. Tomorrow's Schools is now yesterday's schools. We are taking things into the future and we look forward within this bill to progressing it as another piece in that puzzle. So New Zealand First has absolute pleasure in supporting this through to the select committee. Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker.