Swarbrick ChlöeCHLÖE SWARBRICK (Green): E Te Māngai tēnā koe. Tēnā koutou e Te Whare. It is an absolute privilege as almost always after a piece of education legislation is before the House to rise after one Tim Macindoe and that very eloquent contribution which I of course will oppose in its entire substance in my support for this fantastic piece of legislation. What we are debating today of course is the Education (National Education and Learning Priorities) Amendment Bill a member's bill in the name of one Jan Tinetti who I would like to acknowledge as other members have as a fantastic deputy chair of our Education and Workforce Committee and obviously a former principal and teacher prior to coming into this House with many decades of experience which I think that she's really channelled into this piece of legislation by obviously taking into account the importance of—again to borrow a term from the vernacular of the National Party—the very consumers of education. So to get back to basics in this third and final reading of this piece of legislation I think it's worthwhile for viewers in the gallery and at home but also perhaps for members throughout the Chamber who may not be so familiar with the NELPs to explain exactly what the NELPs are. The NELPs are of course the National Education and Learning Priorities which were instituted as a part of the Education (Update) Amendment Act 2017 which was obviously passed under the former National Government. Its purpose is to guide strategic direction in the early childhood education and compulsory sectors. We heard Tim Macindoe speaking before me asking what the point of this amendment here is—as was indeed heckled by a number of members from the National Opposition. Tim Macindoe also asked Do we need this legislation?" saying that it was pointless and useless which I think is somewhat contrary to the arguments raised by his colleague Simeon Brown with regard to some people who he thought may be missing from those who must be consulted with. So let's flip those arguments and that rationale on its head because the fact is that this legislation is before the House. If we were to not pass this legislation if we were to reject it we would be saying that we don't want to hear the voices of young people and children or from national bodies representing the interests of teachers principals governing bodies of schools early childhood services parents—which Simeon Brown noted for some reason were actually missing from this piece of legislation—from the disability community from support staff in schools and early childhood services from Māori education organisations from Pacific education organisations from State integrated schools and indeed from designated character schools. All of these demographics all of these bodies and all of these organisations are critical voices in the education system because so many of them are directly at the coalface. So to directly challenge the notion put forward by Simeon Brown stating—and I quote—that "One group of people is missing and that's parents." parents are directly in here. They're listed. They are as he noted listed within national bodies but literally the only demographic that is not listed within its national bodies is the voice of children and young people. I think that's an important point to make because there currently really doesn't exist a peak body or organisation or NGO that is run or governed by young people—that's the point of this legislation. It is to ensure that we are making an active effort as a Government and that the Minister of Education is actively going out of their way and consulting with those children and those young people because those children and those young people do not have a vote. They are one of the only groups—they are actually the only group that is listed among the other demographics that must be consulted with who it would make common sense to presume are not able to exercise their right to vote and therefore their ability to have an impact on the political system. I also want to speak to the point raised by my colleague in New Zealand First Mark Patterson who is of course a fantastic contributor as well to our Education and Workforce Committee. He quoted Pink Floyd. I'm not sure if he did so intentionally but he so did none the less about not being "Another Brick in the Wall" and I think that my dad would be quite happy that I've managed to get that on to the Hansard and to say that that's exactly the point of this legislation as well. It really cuts to the heart of it. What we are doing is recognising that young people and kids are not homogenous by any means and therefore their voices are critical in helping to formulate and inform the system that they are the major consumer the only sole consumer of—the primary consumer. I also want to speak to the point raised about how this was a useless piece of legislation—as I alluded to earlier—and again to flip it on its head and to ask members of the Opposition if they wanted to see more demographics listed who must be consulted with why they didn't put that forward at the committee of the whole House stage. But if they want to see more demographics listed as necessary to consult with why don't they move ahead and vote for this piece of legislation and later add more demographics who must be consulted with? I'm simply not following the line of logic. The whole purpose of the National Education and Learning Priorities as I spoke to at the beginning of this contribution is to create the high-level direction for the education sector and that is something where I hope that we can have cross-party and cross-parliamentary buy-in as we have as a Government attempted to facilitate throughout the education conversation. We would hope that members of the Opposition would like to participate in the creation of the National Education and Learning Priorities and therefore recognise the importance of them as enduring and as the foundation for a sustainable vision moving forward in our education system. It is a privilege to be standing on behalf of the Green Party as our education spokesperson this evening and acknowledging Jan Tinetti as the sponsoring member of this fantastic piece of legislation—one of the only ones I believe that puts children's voices at its heart—and to state that we are incredibly proud to tautoko and support this bill. Kia ora."