Seymour DavidDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker and what a debate—what a debate. I have to say that the contribution from Tracey Martin was a disgrace and to say to the parents of children in partnership schools—and she did say it—that they are treating their children worse than dogs is a disgrace. Not quite so disgraceful but amusing was Chlöe Swarbrick who talked about lived" experience. I don't know what other sort of experience there is but that's the most we can say for her contribution. Jamie Strange by name and nature got up and said "I oppose this"—or support it I don't know—with every fibre in his body. Well I guess you just have to take the support you can get sometimes—not a lot. I want to commend the speech from Erica Stanford. I thought that that was outstanding and it shows the passion that partnership schools have engendered in just about everybody that they have touched.I'm proud to stand here for the ACT Party that initiated this policy. I'm proud that as a much younger more optimistic and smiley version of myself I was John Banks' adviser when we put together the legislation this Government is trying to erase tonight and I'm proud that over three years as the under-secretary for education in the previous Government I presided over the partnership school policy.I put a question to the members on the Labour Party benches especially the newer ones. They're here because they want to make a difference in the world—they want to make the world a better place. Some of their maiden statements were quite moving. They showed that they had seen the human waste of people underserved by Government services underserved by the world who found themselves unable to access the skills that would allow them to succeed in the 21st century. They came here because they'd seen that human waste and they wanted to make a difference in the world. I'd ask them what difference they believe they are making by supporting a bill that gets rid of partnership schools. What problem are they trying to solve? The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern—their leader—said that if partnership schools taught the New Zealand Curriculum had registered teachers and were funded at the same rate as State schools then they would be able to stay open. Well every single partnership school teaches the New Zealand Curriculum so there's no problem there. Every single partnership school is funded at the same rate as a State school with an equivalent student population and of the same size. I know this because I designed the funding formula and I had just as much trouble with the sponsors saying that they were not getting enough money as I did from the opponents saying that they were getting too much. So ask yourself: what could be the remaining problem? Well teacher registration. We heard from Tracey Martin that there were unregistered and unqualified teachers. Well I had a little bit to do with the Cabinet paper that said that teachers in partnership schools can have an exemption from registration with the Education Council (EDUCANZ) if they have the "skills qualifications and experience" to raise student achievement. They were not unqualified; they were people who were able to raise student achievement by engaging with them even if they didn't have a certificate from EDUCANZ. So given that they meet all of the criteria the Prime Minister has set out why oh why do we have this bill tonight? Is this really the difference that Labour members came to this House to make to make the world a better place? No. The sad truth of it is that the real difference between a partnership school and a special character school is the use of union contracts. They weren't afraid that 12 small schools would fail and shut down. They were afraid that these schools offered a glimmer of hope—a crack in the Berlin Wall of the education monopoly—that would allow children to succeed. That is why they are trying to close partnership schools tonight. It is nothing to do with children. It is nothing to do with girls like Hope at Vanguard Military School who said to me "I never knew I was smart until I came here." It's everything to do with preserving the monopoly of the elites in the teacher unions. I think that's a terrible reason to come to this House and I'm not surprised the Labour members all have their heads down as I speak. What a shame—what a shame."