Lee DeniseDENISE LEE (National—Maungakiekie): Thank you very much Madam Chair for a chance to speak in this committee of the whole House stage on the Education Amendment Bill (No 2). I'm going to be referring to the enabling part of the bill where the Minister can issue a direction relating to the Teaching Council and requiring the council to consult the Minister prior to making changes to teacher qualification requirements or registration criteria otherwise known as on one hand or the other the ironic part of the bill; we debated a bill prior to this which enabled so-called greater independence and on this hand we're taking it away.What happened in the impact statement for this bill was a defining of the Teaching Council role. It said that the council has significant influence over the quality of teaching and the safety of children and young people in schools and early childhood centres and the supply and diversity of the teaching workforce. So that's quite a gamut of responsibility—very strong territory indeed for a body to have oversight in the education system. But the impact statement went on to state that there is no evidence about the extent of any issues that this bill seeks to fix—namely giving some of that ministerial direction and power.If you think that that's something that we here on this side of the House are using for our own purposes let's have a look at what two prominent unions said about this part of the bill. NZEI in their submission said In our view the new powers given to the Minister in new section 382A undermine the independence of the Council."—can't get any more clear than that. How about the Post Primary Teachers' Association? The bill "actually undermines the Teaching Council's independent status." So under that auspice we went on to debate the bill in committee and look at the context for which the Minister was doing what he clearly wanted to do.Here's where we've landed: the bill doesn't protect the Teaching Council; it patronises it. That's how we feel on this side of the House. So Mr Minister where's the trust in the Teaching Council to do what they need to do especially given that so many of your colleagues spoke vigorously in the prior education bill around needing to protect that independence of the Teaching Council? Mr Minister why didn't you include this flagrant use of your powers in the original Education (Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand) Amendment Bill? I think that's a very valid question to ask. Why did you have to throw it in a hodgepodge bill such as this covering so many different topics in a very dismantled and disjointed way?I want to speak to an amendment in my name which inserts a new clause 13A amending section 385 of the principal Act and after section 385(2) inserts the words "(3) In the event the Minister has issued a statement of Government policy"—and this is what I was referring to earlier—"relating to 1 or more of the Teaching Council's functions the annual report as outlined in the above subsection (2) must include"—and here's where the rubber hits the road—"a summary of how this statement has impacted on the independence of the Teaching Council its operations and its ability to fulfil its core functions."Now the reason why I think that this is a very valid amendment and something that—if you look at the core of what both sides of the House have been arguing in terms of protecting the Teaching Council and independence and the like—ensures that the Teaching Council will have the ability to report on any Government policy statement (GPS) issued by the Minister and how it's impacted on the organisation's independence and ability to fulfil its core functions. Why? Because it's important that the council be transparent about how these GPS statements impact on them as the Teaching Council especially given that the proposal conflicts with the previous Government legislation that sought to strengthen the organisation's independence. As I said before giving independence on the one hand and in this bill taking it away—a real dichotomy.So if the House is able to accept this amendment what it will essentially be doing is improving the Teaching Council's ability—and this is backed up by two prominent unions—to demonstrate their ongoing independence. That's what they want; that's what's been argued for in this House. So give them the capacity to produce a report where they can prove that despite the capacity for a ministerial statement they still have that independence. Whenever a Minister issues a GPS this would be triggered. This amendment would trigger a report and that independence can be plain and clear and simple for all to see.When we look at who would be most interested in the Teaching Council's work and body of issues you're looking at MPs at the Government as a whole teachers and families. They need to understand what the impact of a GPS is on the Teaching Council. This is what this particular amendment would trigger. In regard to MPs and their interest in the Teaching Council through the annual review process we could examine this report on the independence of the Teaching Council.I'm just going to finish on one note which I have alluded to before but I want to put it just a different way. It is really interesting for us as legislators to look at one bill and then this—one which increases independence on one hand and one which takes it away on the other.It is ironic and a dichotomy and I'd like to argue that this particular amendment would go a small way towards demonstrating and proving that the Teaching Council can have and demonstrate and report its ongoing independence.So with that I commend to the House the amendment in my name inserting a new clause 13A and I do hope that that will be met with support. It's the least we can do after having to handle an ironic situation. Thank you."