Grigg NicolaNICOLA GRIGG (National—Selwyn): Thank you Madam Speaker. I am just going to make a short contribution this evening in opposition to the Education and Training Amendment Bill (No 2).As has been previously canvassed this bill does give effect to a number of new Government policy decisions. They might like to term them initiatives but we would say they are retrograde and backward steps. But I would actually like to talk a lot about what Penny Simmonds I think very eloquently referred to as nuisance value. One has really to question the timing of something like this and I know a member opposite tried to tell the National Party side of the House that we needed to get real and get with the programme. Well actually we do. We go out and speak to these providers and they frequently talk to us about the vast and deep impact that the last two years have had on them and their operations and a change like this is just yet another thing that they are going to have to deal with. I think someone mentioned this just before. I've got an email here from a provider who lives in my region and has been in this industry for 21 years. She spent 14 years managing five centres and she says Thankfully I currently only operate one."—given the vast amount of regulation and authority that is raining down on them at the moment. The key areas that she has been concerned with this particular bill have been in the ratios that have been mentioned in the teacher training the teacher supply and the police vetting. She thinks that around 33000 applications are going unqualified and unattended but actually she does a bit of a deep dive into the ramifications and the impacts on these private providers. These are people trying to run a business. She said "Here is a cross-sector of clients that have approached us or engaged with us in the past 12 months. One spent time in a mental health facility—owned two centres one of which was shut down. One has thrown in the towel and sold after a mere seven months. Many are working on the floor with children do extra hours completing compliance after hours and are not keeping up with the requirements of licensing. Four are seeking help for licensing breaches and facing closure all of which just because they are overwhelmed. Many operators managers and teachers are speaking up about their recent mental health issues including anxiety attacks panic attacks depression borderline suicidal. Our sector is drained and no doubt so is the health sector." The reason I raise this is again because of the point of the Government's ill-timed amendments to this sector but I would also like to focus some contribution on this Supplementary Order Paper 118 which is exercising many in the sector. For many private providers this is the very thin end of the wedge. They are very nervous—and I think rightly so—that this is just the beginning of a move towards centralisation and carving them out of the market so that we end up with a nationwide kindergarten system. The vast majority of opposition to this network building is that it removes choice from providers choice from parents and choice from families. In Selwyn the electorate that I am very lucky to represent there is a centre in Rolleston turning away 50 to 20 new kids a week and I do know another that's had 20 enrolments in the past three weeks but just simply can't cater to them. Selwyn is the fastest-growing territorial authority in New Zealand and this bill does not cater for districts like that which I represent. This network system is only going to reduce competition in fast-growing areas and will not be there to provide essential services for families and—more importantly—for kids. It disincentivises competition and disappointingly it encourages the expectation of the meeting of minimum requirements only and I think that's been summed up really well. In its submission to the select committee the Early Childhood Council said that the changes require a "significant 'leap of faith' to have confidence that any new process would be workable."So this is yet another example of the long arm of Government reaching into private enterprise dictating how the private sector should operate telling the public "we know best" and it is therefore going to do nothing but reduce choice and quality for the children of New Zealand. National opposes this bill."