Kaye NikkiHon NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central): Look I'm very pleased to speak in this review debate. Firstly though can I just acknowledge what is very clearly articulated in the report. No better statement in my view sums up the state of where this Government is at in terms of education and it was really the Prime Minister's statement to thousands of teachers in New Zealand that there is no more money. Well Prime Minister when you look at the report to this House around where there has been some more money there's been an increase for more education officials. What we know is that we've gone from 2600 staff—that's right—to 2900 staff. There are several hundred more education officials under the watch of this Government a Government that is focused more on bureaucracy and administration than on core front-line services. If we think about the areas that are covered in the annual review of Estimates core areas that the Government has failed to deliver on and where they have really shown themselves as incompetent—take the issue of teacher supply. Yes it is true that it is cyclic and if you look at it under our watch when we came in in 2009 we saw a huge acute teacher shortage. It happened again but what we've seen from this Government is complacency and you saw this in the annual review of Estimates. We saw $9.5 million—$9.5 million—in the scheme of the Ministry of Education's own modelling which is covered in this annual review. The annual review clearly indicates just the annual figure of the number of teachers that need to be funded on the Ministry of Education's own modelling which they trumpeted throughout this hearing. We need 8000 secondary teachers in the next five years. Whether it's through the annual review of Estimates or the announcement the Minister made the other day National will be very firm. The facts are that when it comes to front-line education services and getting teachers in classrooms the numbers don't add up and the Government is not doing enough to ensure that that occurs. The second core area is school property. Again the Labour Party campaigned on modernising every single school building in New Zealand. Well that wasn't costed—about $10 billion—so what was actually delivered then? What was delivered was actually a similar amount to some previous years. There were a couple of hundred million dollars more but if you look compared to what's needed in areas of growth National had an Auckland growth plan for instance that looked at futureproofing a place like Auckland for the next 30 years and the Government turn up with not only not enough money for growth but also the Government—I know because I've got the schools that are talking to me about individual projects that have been delayed. Some of that is absolutely going to be talked about over the coming months: projects that we started and funded and they're not delivered by this Government and it's very relevant to the review of Estimates that we've got. The other area which we just heard from Kelvin Davis was around Māori and Pasifika students. Well the facts are that when it comes to attendance we do have a huge difference in attendance by Māori and Pasifika students. You're looking at about 50 percent. We have tried to be constructive in Opposition. We put up a bill for instance. I put up a bill which was around those education officers in Youth Courts. Radio silence—yes that is you Minister Su'a William Sio. Radio silence about how we might actually support some of our most vulnerable youth to have access to the education that they need so that they're not in our criminal justice system. In a number of other areas we see incompetence and I want to give you another example. National funded the Ministry of Education via the education payroll to look at what is the underpaid issue around the Holidays Act. Not only did they get the cash to go and work out who was owed what but we're a year and a half later and nothing has occurred. This from my perspective sums up this Government. They talk a good game. They always deliver whatever they tell you—you pretty much cut it in half you add a group of bureaucrats and then there's incompetency and failure right across the portfolio particularly in those core areas. The reality is they are not providing or funding enough teachers for the workforce needs. They are not funding the infrastructure that is required in terms of the front line. They are investing in—as Shane Reti is about to talk about—free fees for students to buy votes rather than dealing with front-line education services. They are stuffing up teachers' pay when it comes to the Holidays Act and actually I'm getting a lot more situations through my email around Novopay. This is an incompetent Government that can't deliver the basics in education.