Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumePeters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 04 December 2013. Volume:695;Page:15210. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]11.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) to theMinister of Education: Is she satisfied with her own performance as Minister of Education; if not why not?Hon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education): Yes. Having said that I will not be satisfied until we raise achievement for five out of five of our children.Rt Hon Winston Peters: How can she be satisfied with her performance when Learning Media has gone under and after the Government changed the contract rules left millions of dollars of unpaid debt owing?Hon HEKIA PARATA: That is not so. We have worked significantly with that company over a long period of time and regrettably it was unable to be successful. My focus as the Minister of Education has to be to ensure that theNew Zealand School Journal and the Māori-medium resources that which Learning Media has developed over time are transferred to equally capable—in fact more capable—providers than it had become.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Does the Minister not understand that this is a matter of integrity and honesty when dealing with elderly people in particular; and why did the Government buy four lots of shares in Learning Media after she had announced on 4 September at the wind-down that four lots of shares were issued to the Government to enable Learning Media to pay off a debt of over $4 million to Westpac a foreign owned bank and yet it left all the other creditors high and dry? Where is the integrity in that?Hon HEKIA PARATA: That is not correct and we have worked legally appropriately and prudently through this process.Alfred Ngaro: Does the Minister have a plan to raise student achievement across the board?Hon HEKIA PARATA: Yes. Since I became the Minister of Education I have been relentlessly focused on how we fix every part of education from early childhood to primary to secondary to senior secondary and to the secondary-tertiary interface because we want every young New Zealander to get a better education. This Government has been investing in and delivering on a plan to better engage with parents to report on achievement data to value and strengthen the teaching profession and to support 21st century learning environments. We must continue to build on our successes investing in quality teaching and education leadership to raise achievement for five out of five of our children.Rt Hon Winston Peters: What is not correct: that after 4 September—the announcement made then of course was by that Minister and Mr English as the shareholding Ministers—the Government then arranged four separate loan issues byway of shares to a defunct declining company to pay Westpac over $4 million in debt and left the other creditors likeAnaro Investments with a number of old people with their life savings high and dry? What is not correct about that?Hon HEKIA PARATA: We have not paid off all of Westpac’s debt.Rt Hon Winston Peters: What action will she now take to make sure that those elderly investors who were after all the landlord in this case are paid not a lousy $300000 but the $1.3 million they are owed by way of money on the outstanding lease; and when will she ensure that the financial arrangements entered into by a company she owned are honoured?Hon HEKIA PARATA: That is a commercial matter that is being worked through.