Davis Kelvin: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Davis Kelvin: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:660;Page:8759] 
KELVIN DAVIS (Labour) 
: 
 Tourism was at least until the recession hit New Zealand’s biggest export earner. One in 10 New Zealanders was employed in a tourism-related job. Tourism makes a huge contribution to our economy. The Prime Minister who is also the Minister of Tourism must have been aware when he announced yesterday a likely increase in GST and also mining in conservation areas that there would be repercussions for New Zealand’s tourism industry. This is an industry that he is meant to be listening to and advocating for. 
Raising GST and mining in conservation areas in national parks are two of the issues that most of the people I speak to in the tourism sector have grave concerns about. One of the features of the tourism industry especially for inbound tourist operators is that they have to set itineraries and pricing schedules 2 years in advance so that the wholesalers overseas are able to publish travel brochures and magazines advertising tourism products experiences and costs. Because of this advance pricing tourism operators here in New Zealand will be especially hard hit by an increase in GST. Over the year that GST is increased they will have to absorb the increases and possibly wave goodbye to very slim profits. 
The Prime Minister must be aware that the timing of any increase in GST is crucial to minimise the impact on the tourism sector. Already slim margins will disappear and many in the tourism industry will struggle. In order to survive the quality of the tourist experience may be jeopardised as operators will cut corners to save costs. Some may not be able to provide the experiences that they promised in the brochures and our reputation as a leading tourist destination may be tarnished. If we add to that the fact that we will be seen to be more expensive than a destination like Australia where GST is only 10 percent it is highly likely that we will see a drop in tourism numbers as tourists especially long-haul tourists do the maths and opt for less expensive holidays across the Tasman. New Zealand’s competitive edge will be blunted. 
Instead of a plan to increase wages and create jobs this proposal to increase GST may jeopardise wages and jobs especially in the tourism industry. Some in the tourism industry are calling for the Government to consider introducing a GST refund scheme for international visitors to help protect their contribution to the economy. International visitors currently contribute about $633 million a year in GST payments and increasing GST to 15 percent will increase their contribution by about $14 million annually. Regardless tax cuts for the rich paid for by increasing GST for all is not an economic plan. 
The second issue the Prime Minister spoke about that will impact on tourism is opening up parts of the conservation estate to mining. Although the Prime Minister told us that new mines would be subject to strict environmental tests the very fact that we are even considering this proposal damages our international reputation and again tarnishes our “100% Pure New Zealand” brand. 
None of what was announced yesterday is the death knell of the tourism industry in New Zealand but there has been a steady accumulation of policies from this Government that are eroding our desirability as an iconic and unspoiled holiday playground. Aside from raising GST and undertaking mining in conservation areas the Government’s position on climate change the number of recent assaults on tourists the deaths of tourists on our roads and also in the adventure tourism industry amongst other things means we need to be careful not to start down a slippery slope. 
Although I support the speedy and comprehensive settlement of Treaty settlements Maori got very little out of the Prime Minister’s speech. The Maori Party campaigned hard before the last election on a platform of removing GST from food. It is ironic that the Maori Party is now part of a Government that is making food more expensive not less expensive for our people. It is our people who will really feel the effects of an increase in GST. It is our people who will have the greater percentage of their income spent just on putting food in front of their kids clothes on their backs and a roof over their heads. Economic commentator Bernard Hickey said that it is the young and the less well-off who will be hardest hit. Well that describes Maori. We are younger and we are less well-off. If life was hard before it will get harder. Many of us have family living on the other side of the Tasman and even more will be there this time next year. 
Education will become more expensive with GST added to the cost of bread for school lunches school shoes uniforms and books and school trips will be more expensive because the cost of petrol will rise. Fewer hard-working Maori will be able to afford the extra educational activities that many others take for granted and by not being able to afford to participate in these extracurricular activities the curriculum will become much narrower for our people. 
Then there is the national standards debate. Let me be clear from the start. There is not a principal or teacher in the country who is opposed to either high standards or giving parents the information they desire about their children’s achievement. If there is that principal or teacher needs to leave the teaching profession. Educators’ main opposition to the national standards is that there is just no evidence to show they make a difference. Maybe if the Minister just fronted with the evidence the debate would be over. 
The achievement expectations and the national standards are almost identical to those that we set at Kaitaia Intermediate School. But we did not raise achievement simply by setting a standard. We raised achievement by investing in teachers’ professional development and learning so that they had the skills and the research-based best-practice teaching strategies to help students to achieve those standards. As an example in the year 2000 the year before I became principal of that school the professional development budget was less than $1000. In 2001 we raised it to $26000. We need to invest in teachers and give them the skills the attitudes and the knowledge that will help them to raise achievement. 
There will be teachers out there who are great at teaching many things but will be weaker at other things. The Best Evidence Synthesis says that professional development in specific areas raises achievement a lot faster and a lot further than just generic professional development. If the Minister is serious about raising achievement she needs to implement a system where the specific teaching needs of teachers are identified and specific professional development is given to those teachers to meet those particular needs. For example we can talk about raising literacy but in literacy there is oral literacy reading and writing. In writing alone there are four or five different styles of writing. If we want to raise achievement in any one of those writing styles teachers need to have specific professional development in that particular style. Raising achievement is a complex technical practitioner-specific art that simply cannot be encapsulated into the five words “national standards plain English reports”. 
To pretend that lifting achievement is as simple as repeating a political mantra is an insult to teachers and principals nationwide and probably is much of the cause of the resistance to the standards. Throughout my educational career and now as I visit schools as a politician I see principals and teachers who throw their hearts and souls into making kids learn but the disdain that has been shown to them by denying them an opportunity to contribute to the formation of these standards before imposing them on schools flies in the face of all best-practice change-management strategies. With respect if the Minister tried to work with those in the education sector she may not be experiencing quite the resistance she is now. Just as Russell Bishop’s highly praised Te Kotahitanga project looks to improve educational outcomes through improving relationships so too the Minister may be better able to achieve educational outcomes by improving her relationships with the education sector. 
As I have said before in this House research shows that there are few things a teacher can do that will make students dumber. Almost every strategy works to one degree or another. So when the Government says in 12 months’ time that achievement has risen it will be difficult to tell whether it was because of national standards or in spite of national standards. A question I have for the Minister is will she invest $60 million on even the top 10 percent of strategies that are known to be most effective at raising achievement just as she has invested $60 million on national standards that have no research evidence to show they raise achievement. It is one thing for the Prime Minister and the Minister of Education to tell the country what they hope national standards will do and another thing again to produce the evidence that proves they will make a difference.