Moroney Sue: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Moroney Sue: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 12 September 2012. Volume:683;Page:5132. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
6. 
SUE MORONEY (Labour) 
 to the  
Minister of Education 
: What plans does she have to improve the provision of early childhood education? 
Hon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education) 
: 
Tena koe Mr Speaker. First early childhood education is provided by organisations licensed by the Government to do so. Second this Government has invested $1.3 billion in early childhood education in Budget 2012-13. Third we have set a Better Public Services target that 98 percent of all new entrants will have participated in quality early childhood education by 2016. Fourth we are building an early learning information system so that we can better understand who and where our earliest learners are so that we can better target to their needs. Fifth I have established an Early Childhood Education Task Force in the Ministry of Education that is right now working with communities to raise participation in early childhood education. Sixth I have made it clear to existing providers by increasing the targeted equity funding to $47.9 million that they must gear up their efforts to engage and retain those who have lower participation rates. Seventh we have set aside $19.1 million to support Maori-medium early childhood education provision. Eighth I have prioritised developing models that work for Pasifika communities— 
Hon David Parker 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My point of order is that I think that by the time the list gets to eight if it was a question the member asking the question would have been already stood down. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I am not unsympathetic to the member’s point that the answer was taking a long time. As I sought to stop the Minister in my mind I relooked at the question and it asked what plans the Minister has. It says: “What plans does she have to improve the provision of early childhood education?”. It is a fairly open question. The discipline on the Minister is that everything she has raised is now open to questioning. 
Hon David Parker 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. For that to be symmetrical we would have to be able to ask questions that long putting that many issues to a Minister. Given that Ministers are required only to answer one part of the question that would be wasting the House’s time just as that answer did. 
Hon HEKIA PARATA 
: The question is actually framed as a plural. I was not asked “what plan”; I was asked “what plans”. I was doing my very best to answer all of those and I had only one more point. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! I just ask the House and Ministers also to be a little bit reasonable. The question did ask “what plans” and who is the Speaker to stop a Minister from outlining the plans? That is the dilemma with that kind of question. Had the Minister moved—[ 
Interruption 
] Order! The House will come to order. The mood today is just unacceptable. It will look so bad on the television—so bad. It will look so bad. Believe me I watch it all the time and it will look so bad. I just recommend to the House to please be a little more reasonable. 
Sue Moroney 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The question I asked and it was on notice specifically asked about plans to improve the provision and I would point out that most of the list did not in fact improve provision. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! The member just lost a supplementary question because that was not a point of order. 
Sue Moroney 
: Is she aware that when Ministry of Education official Richard Walley met with the early childhood advisory committee to report on the work of her funding advisory group he referred to consideration of the funding model used in the tertiary sector where funding depends on the students’ successful completion of courses and qualifications for use in early childhood education? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I call the Hon Hekia Parata. Did the Minister not hear the question clearly? To save time I invite the member to repeat her question. 
Sue Moroney 
: She is trying to think of an answer now. Is she aware that when Ministry of Education official Richard Walley met with the early childhood advisory committee to report on the work of her funding advisory group he referred to consideration of the funding model used in the tertiary sector where funding depends on the students’ successful completion of courses and qualifications for use in early childhood education? 
Hon HEKIA PARATA 
: No I was not aware of that. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Can I invite you to reflect on your ruling in respect of Sue Moroney. Another member in this Chamber Mr Banks trifled with you. I am not sure whether he is allocated a supplementary question each day. I tried to get that information. You did not embark on any sanctioning on him at all yet you embarked on sanctioning my colleague and docking a supplementary question. Where is the consistency— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! I call Sue Moroney if she has a further supplementary question. 
Chris Hipkins 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I just want to raise an issue with you with regard to a point of order that was raised earlier by David Parker in regard to when Ministers give very very long answers. We are limited in the number of supplementary questions that we can ask. I appreciate that you have ruled that Sue Moroney’s point of order was unnecessary but she has only a very limited number of supplementary questions with which she could respond to all of the content that the Minister raised. I just ask you to reconsider the reasonableness of that. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! And I invite the member to reflect on the fact that when the Minister did not hear the member’s question clearly I invited the member to repeat her question so it could be heard clearly. The member chose after I had already deducted a supplementary question to make an unhelpful comment when repeating her question. I did nothing about that because I had already taken action against the member. All members seem to think that I am being unfair on their side. The only conclusion that I can arrive at is that I am probably about—[ 
Interruption 
] Well let me be blunt. If the Labour Party feels I have been tough on it today some of the interjections I have had to tolerate today coming across from the second bench of the Labour Party have been totally unacceptable. If I hear any more of them today members will be leaving because they have been totally outside the Standing Orders. I have chosen to ignore them because I do not want to be seen to be picking on one side of the House but you know that what is good for the goose has got to be good for the gander. I am not going to tolerate any more nonsense on this. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I think you are reflecting on me and I just ask you what options there are for Labour members when Government Ministers make up Labour policy— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! This is not a point of order and I—even though it is not a point of order at this stage in the proceedings I do hear what the member is saying. I will try to make sure that I deal with that. There was one instance today I do accept where I did not deal with it and I should have. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am sorry to frustrate you but we are entitled in this place to take points of order. Could I invite you to reflect on your previous ruling. You said that there had been two transgressions by my colleague Sue Moroney but your ruling in respect of a supplementary question deduction happened before the second transgression. So my question to you simply is this: in the case of Mr Banks you did nothing and in the case of Sue Moroney—and I would argue that Mr Banks trifled with you— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! Look I have dealt with this matter. I will not tolerate any more such nonsense. The Speaker has absolute control over supplementary questions. We will get on with question time. 
Sue Moroney 
: Why when asked if national standards were being considered for early childhood education did her ministry official reply “Not yet.”? 
Hon HEKIA PARATA 
: First of all I do not know whether my ministry official did reply to that in that way—[ 
Interruption 
] I do not know that to be the case. I was not present. I do not know which official—I did not hear it. I cannot answer for that official. 
Sue Moroney 
: Is—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! I want to hear this—[ 
Interruption 
] Order! Now Government members are not helping. I want to hear this supplementary question. 
Sue Moroney 
: Is her assurance that exams for 3 and 4-year-old children are not on her agenda just as reassuring as the previous Minister Anne Tolley’s assurances before the election that league tables were not on her agenda? 
Hon HEKIA PARATA 
: What is on my agenda in early childhood education is that 98 percent of all new entrants will have participated in quality early childhood education by 2016. They will be able to go to school having completed the Te Whariki curriculum where they are competent confident socially engaged and ready to learn. This is in a context where this Government has increased investment in early childhood education by 34 percent since 2008 where it has become 32 percent more affordable than in 2007 and where enrolments have increased between 2 percent and 4 percent a year—nearly 10 percent in total—since 2008. 
Sue Moroney 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! A point of order has been raised. 
Sue Moroney 
: I seek leave to table the newsletter of the New Zealand Childcare Association Te TariPuna Ora o Aotearoa dated 5 September to its membership informing its membership of those comments from the ministry officials. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is no objection. 









Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Question No. 7 David Bennett. 
Melissa Lee 
: Supplementary. Supplementary. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Supplementary question—I have already called question No. 7. The member should have got to her feet sooner. David Bennett question No. 7. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The member was trying. I mean it might have been that you were not looking for her but she was on her feet even if she was not as loud as some of us are. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I appreciate the member’s care. He may have noticed that the supplementary questions have now been balanced up. Question No. 7 David Bennett.