SpeechMARK PATTERSON (NZ First): It's an absolute pleasure to rise on behalf of New Zealand First to support this Education (School Donations) Amendment Bill. Contrary to what we've heard from the Opposition this is a very simple bill. It is bringing in a discretionary grant of $150 per student or the option of doing so and in doing so stopping the necessity to solicit voluntary donations. This will make a huge difference to those decile 1 to decile 7 schools and we've heard from many of them both in the select committee and certainly anecdotally just how appreciated it is. For those schools from less well-off communities that haven't got the ability necessarily to raise so much outside capital it takes the pressure off. It gives them some certainty of funding to do the things they want to do that they just can't budget for and we've heard as the Hon Jenny Salesa said that can be down to 10 percent or 20 percent of students actually paying these fees.What a miserable lot the National Party are because what's the counterfactual here—what's the counterfactual? Let's do nothing. That's what they were going to do. Let's do nothing. Let's just throw it to the wolves have a voluntary donation out there see what comes in. We are moving to support schools in our poorest communities. It's just the same argument actually: the running against these learning support coordinators. We're putting 620 learning support coordinators in.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Sorry—let's just focus on the bill shall we?MARK PATTERSON: I will Madam Speaker but I guess how I was tying that in—SPEAKER: I know but you weren't.MARK PATTERSON: Yes OK. I will take your guidance. We are doing something to help those schools we're doing something to help learners and we're certainly doing something to help those schools from lower decile communities. This is a $265 million injection into those schools over four years and it is targeted. Of course the other line the Opposition runs at times is that we are a tax and spend Government. Not true. We are a fiscally responsible Government. We are set to achieve our target of a debt to GDP ratio of under 20 percent by 2021. So we are not throwing cash around willy-nilly. We are targeting those communities most in need. The other point that keeps getting raised is that this is a broken promise somehow because Chris Hipkins who was the Labour Party spokesman for education in the election campaign outlined the Labour Party's policy. This is not the Labour Party's policy. This is a coalition Government's policy. That's the fundamental thing that the Opposition the National Party do not understand and they do not understand the reason they sit there is because the Labour Party work in a coalition and were prepared to work in a coalition in terms of those negotiations. What I do recall from those negotiations—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Well again negotiations aren't in the bill. You can talk about the select committee. You can talk about the broken promises—that's fine because that's relating but actually the coalition documents are not in the bill. MARK PATTERSON: OK Madam Speaker. Our priorities are aligned and one of those priorities of course is to make sure that we get equitable outcomes for our children. We actually heard in the select committee process on a petition that was presented this week about how—it was on postgraduate education. One of the things that came through from one of the submitters was that almost a vast majority of the people in postgraduate education—students—come from decile 8 schools and above. So that ability to access funding has a flow-on effect right through even into postgraduate tertiary education. I'd like to thank the officials that worked so hard on this bill. It was a simple bill. The select committee process itself—and it's had some criticism that we have actually expanded this out or are going to expand this out through the committee of the whole House. Now we'll have a provision coming in there for school camps. Well that's exactly what the select committee process is about. It's about hearing submitters and when they do make relevant points that are good and perhaps weren't as clearly articulated in the bill as they should have been that is now something that we can effect and change for the better in the committee of the whole House stage. So to say that the process was flawed is wrong. It's showing exactly the opposite. It's showing the process working as it should. I'd commend the Minister as well on bringing this bill forward. He has been a reforming Minister and this is yet another one of the wave of reforms that we have coming through the Education and Workforce Committee.In conclusion this is a good bill. It does for our most disadvantaged people and communities—and actually 70 percent of our communities are going to be advantaged by this bill and the $150 per student. I go back again to the announcement of the Government and the Rt Hon Winston Peters talking about putting back the human face of capitalism. This is just another example of how this Government is going about addressing the inequalities that have been created in our society. So within this bill is just yet another component of the direction of travel with this Government and New Zealand First. I'm very pleased to commend it to the House.