Hughes Gareth: General Debate 
Hughes Gareth: General Debate 
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GARETH HUGHES (Green) 
: 
 Kia ora Mr Speaker. Nga mihi nui ki a koutou. Kia ora. This afternoon Parliament looks set to sign the ACT Party’s ideological solution in search of a problem—the Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill a member’s bill. The Green Party is proud to be opposing this bill and we call on the Government benches to reconsider their support. The Minister for Tertiary Education Steven Joyce has one last chance to reconsider allowing this bill to pass in order to save quality tertiary education. Mr Joyce at a minimum must delay implementation— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It might be that there has been a massive change in the Standing Orders but my understanding is that this bill is members’ order of the day No. 1 today. According to the Standing Orders for a long time the debate on that occurs when the bill is called and cannot be anticipated. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The Hon Trevor Mallard is quite correct. I did not interpret it as being a particular contribution to the debate on that bill. If it was the member should be aware of that and not continue. 
GARETH HUGHES 
: Speaking to the point of order Mr Speaker— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No we have dealt with that. The Standing Orders are clear: members should not refer to items further down on the Order Paper. 
GARETH HUGHES 
: I would like to talk about tertiary education issues and why this Government under Steven Joyce as the Minister for Tertiary Education deserves an F. I will talk about why we saw hundreds of students at Auckland University barricade themselves within the Owen G Glenn Building to take action against this Government and what it is doing to tertiary education. It is not just about the bill that will be passed later on today under this Parliament; there is a whole host of changes that mean that we as a Government in this country are not delivering quality education. 
In the last week we have seen five of our six New Zealand universities drop down the international rankings. We have seen literally thousands of students turned away from accessing education because the Government has retrospectively applied the rules to students who failed papers more than 2 years ago. That is not fair that is not right and that is not how we build a smart economy. 
A smart economy is one that invests in its people. It invests in education. But under a National Government we have seen a capping of tertiary education funding at a time when we have inflation at a 21-year high so of course we are seeing a reduction in tertiary education rates and it is no surprise that our universities are dropping down the world rankings. This is why when we hear about delivering a brighter future we know that we are hearing simple spin—simple spin—from National members who are not putting their money where their mouths are when it comes to tertiary education. 
We have seen changes to the student loan scheme that have meant that over-55-year-olds cannot access a student loan for living costs. Apart from being discriminatory and absolutely unfair this does not recognise the fact that many Kiwis are working longer and that they are changing careers many times in their lifetimes. The fact is that we want our elderly workers upskilling so that they can deliver to our economy. On every front when it comes to this most important issue we are seeing the National Government failing us. 
Going into the election we have to focus on the things that really matter. I am proud to be standing here as a Green member and going into the election with the priority of delivering 100000 jobs. Obviously that will come from investing in our natural assets which are our natural environment—our “100% Pure New Zealand” and our “clean green” brand—and also our people. That is why education will continue to be a priority for the Green Party. 
Secondly when we look at our natural environment we see that it is a tragedy that our kids and our grandkids cannot swim in our waterways rivers streams and lakes in New Zealand simply because of the pollution from the intensive agriculture we are seeing. The Greens have a plan—which we attempted to table in Parliament today—the Green Party plan to clean up our rivers. 
Lastly we are a rich country yet we have 270000 kids in poverty. Many of them are growing up going to school without food in their bellies and many of them are without shoes. Non-governmental organisations are literally required to deliver shoes and rain jackets. The Greens have a plan fully costed that means we can within 3 years lift 100000 Kiwi kids out of poverty. 
What I have heard in this general debate is a matter of political spin. Again there is the tribal battle that we hear between the blue team and the red team. But when it comes to the issues that really matter to our future which is what a rich life means—being able to swim in a waterway river or lake in New Zealand having a rich country that does not have kids in poverty and having those good jobs—the Green Party will continue to deliver an economy that works for everyone.