Halbert ShananSHANAN HALBERT (Labour): [Authorised reo Māori text to be inserted by the Hansard Office.][Authorised translation to be inserted by the Hansard Office.]Thank you Madam Speaker. It's my pleasure to speak to this particular piece of legislation before us today the Regulatory Systems (Education) Amendment Bill. I'm very passionate about our young people achieving and ensuring that our tamariki mokopuna have the best opportunities in front of them both in our compulsory education sector and also right through to secondary school education and through to higher learning whether that be in polytechs universities or trades training. I'm an absolute believer that every person should have the same opportunity to learn the same opportunity to carve a path to a good life to a good job and to raise their family.I've been confused by this Government's position on mātauranga on education. At the one end we have charter schools—an ideological experiment that enables certain schools in this country to be funded more than others—and at the other end is a Government that wants to micro-manage compulsory education in our State school system. The introduction of compulsory reading writing and arithmetic for one hour a day really takes away any confidence that we have in our practitioners our teachers and the people that we trust to teach and learn our tamariki.I've been confused by the cancellation of a number of building projects up and down the country and particularly in Auckland in my own community. But what I do see today is some sense and a kaupapa in education that I personally find very important. I've travelled to Te Tairāwhiti and acknowledge the member Dana Kirkpatrick MP in the East Coast in the wonderful place of Turanga Gisborne where they house the museum for the 28th (Māori) Battalion. Eight weeks ago I visited there for the first time. It's a special place. It's a special place to this country which honours people who went to fight for this country for who we are but also it's where my grandfather's picture sits as somebody who served this country for in effect what we have now.When I was lucky enough to travel to Tāmaki-makau-rau Auckland after growing up in the wonderful place of Hawke's Bay I had the opportunity to go on to further education to university and as a first in family study at undergraduate level. I wanted to go to university because I knew that at that place whatever it was—and I'm not sure that at that time I knew exactly what university was but I knew it was a ticket to opportunity and I knew it was a ticket to influence the lives of others to make New Zealand a better place and that I in my lifetime can make a contribution to some of that.But then as a part of Ngā Tauira Māori the Māori Students' Association at the University of Auckland this particular contribution and investment in rangatahi Māori was in fact a pathway to that success. It enabled people to study at undergraduate level. It took away particular barriers that were there unnecessarily in some senses and the injustices that we face in this country where not everyone has the same opportunity as the guy or girl next to them. That funded their opportunities their hopes and aspirations to lead a better life and be educated. So this particular legislation I have followed through the first second and third readings from the last Government to this one and I'm pleased that in the House today we are able to come together and that Labour will continue to support this original piece of legislation that we established in the last Government.I acknowledge this Government for continuing it through to completion because the Ngarimu VC and 28th (Maori) Battalion Memorial Scholarship Fund Act is an important one. It enables some of the technicalities to be taken away to make it easier to fund rangatahi young people and particularly Māori to access the learning opportunities that they desire. But also it looks back to the people who have served this country just like my grandfather who sit in that place in Te Tairāwhiti in honour of the fight of the justice but most of all the opportunities that they provided to all of us. Tēnā koe.