Parmar ParmjeetDr PARMJEET PARMAR (National): Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker for this opportunity to take this call in the second reading of the Education (Teaching Council of Aotearoa) Amendment Bill. We heard from the Minister of Education that this is a very important bill and that there were an overwhelming number of submissions on this bill but when we look at the number of submissions there were just 36 submissions on this bill.If there is something that is of huge significance to the education sector as far as my experience goes the number of submitters we see are a lot more than the number of submitters we saw for this bill. There were 36 submissions and one supplementary submission received on the bill so we can see the kind of interest that the education sector has in this bill because the education sector widely knows that this bill is not going to do much for lifting the status which the Minister has been talking about of the education sector.As we heard from the Minister the bill amends the Education Act 1989 and yes there are two main components in this bill. The first one is to change the name of the Education Council to Teaching Council. Yes we had submitters speak to that. In our view as the Minister focused the first half of his speech on the minority report that came in the report-back to the House—he felt that was so important for him to justify his position looking at what the minority report says. So it's important to note that we believe that this bill is actually going to revert back to the situation that was there before we implemented the current structure of the Education Council.We on this side oppose this bill. We do not support this bill because we believe that this is just a rebranding exercise changing the Education Council name to Teaching Council. We also heard about the cost about who is paying. Yes someone at the end of the day is paying and if it's taxpayers this rebranding is going to cost—Chlöe Swarbrick: Are teachers not taxpayers?Dr PARMJEET PARMAR: —around $220000. Teachers are taxpayers too so they are part of the taxpayers group. So $220000 is going to be the cost of a rebranding and how is that going to help teachers how is that going to help parents and how is that going to help students? We didn't get any justification from anyone during the select committee process or from the Minister in his speech here.This is not the only cost because what the Minister wants to do is have an election every three years to elect some members on to the council. Yes we had a response from submitters. There were 13 submitters that supported the bill others supported the intent of the bill but as I said there were only 36 submissions on this bill.The second part of this bill is to change how the members are appointed or elected on to the Education Council or the new-named Teaching Council of Aotearoa. Currently the system is that the Minister appoints nine members on the council. This bill is to increase that membership from nine to 13 and that is to bring a mixed kind of membership that is appointed and elected members. So the current system actually is based on extensive work that was done by a review committee which was set to look at how we make a teaching profession that is fit for the 21st century. That was as I said an extensive work—very good work done by the review committee—and this is the document that shows the kind of work that went into this from 2010 to 2012.It was in 2012 when this report was presented to the Minister and yes I would like to address what the Minister has said—to respond to that to pick a lot of points from this report but I want to pick just the vision statement of this report which is in chapter six. It talks about next steps and the lead-in statement to the vision statement is After giving careful consideration to each feasible option the Review Committee concluded that the best solution would be to establish a new professional teaching body possibly called the Education Council of New Zealand or some such." The vision statement is "An independent professional body with strong leadership vision and energy that is the voice and face of the teaching profession.I completely refute what the Minister said that the current composition of the Education Council does not represent the teaching profession—and he gave several examples in his speech of other professions—because in the current structure six members should have some teaching experience. They could be current teachers or past teachers. So when the Minister is making those appointments the Minister has to take into account their teaching experience for six members on the council. And yes the three remaining members can come from other sectors but that is to provide that high level of leadership and governance. That is important in my view because when people come from other sectors they bring a fresh perspective and that is always needed in the education sector as well because the education sector is evolving. We need to keep that in mind: how do we support this evolving sector that keeps supporting our children so that they are ready for the future? Saying that that this is not representing the teaching profession is not substantiated from what we know happens currently because six members clearly should have teaching experience.We heard from the Minister that yes there will be 13 members and out of this six are going to be appointed and seven elected. The way the Minister delivered his speech it appeared that he thinks that elected members are better than appointed members. That is the wrong impression to be giving to people—those who are appointed on various such entities because appointed members bring their capability to these positions and they have their code of ethics and responsibility and they are given their tasks to do. Also when members are appointed by the Minister they know what they have to deliver whether it's policy development or providing stable governance to the sector.Having seven elected members—and as we heard they should be registered teachers—does not mean that the performance of that council is going to improve. There is nothing that is provided by anyone that substantiates that the performance of the Education Council—or the new-named Teaching Council of New Zealand—will improve just because we will have mixed members appointed and elected members. What we want is a system that works that actually in a real sense strengthens the education system and enhances the status of the education system.So this is just about providing an appeal factor. This is just to keep unions happy. This is another tick to the wish list of unions. As we know this Government is just big on unions big on spending. They don't care about the taxpayers' money that goes into it. So every three years there will be an election and there will be this additional expense of $150000—every three years—and then there will be around $105000 per annum for the cost that will come with the increased membership from nine to 13. That is their travel their accommodation costs and other costs.So we are looking at from the start around $700000 going into this bill—Nicola Willis: How much?Dr PARMJEET PARMAR: —$700000—and teachers are striking. Yesterday yes we saw primary school teachers striking. We know that there could be another strike affecting our students and there are other needs that need to be addressed but the Minister is not focused on the needs that the teachers want this Government to address because this Government is so busy pleasing union members. Exactly—that is what it is. I understand that rebranding exercise is going to be a one-off cost but then there is going to be this expense which is going to happen every three years and someone has to pay for that expense. Who is going to pay for that expense? Teachers are taxpayers too. Taxpayers will pay for that expense and what kind of value do they get for that money? What kind of value do they get for that money? We didn't hear a line from the Minister on the kind of value they get for that kind of money. So we are talking about around $260000 every three years for this process which is just about big spending and looking big making all the structures big and all the associated costs go up as we know—[Interruption] ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Order! Order! I don't want members interjecting to each other across the Chamber please. Thank you. Let's settle down. It's the last day of the sitting session. Thank you. Dr PARMJEET PARMAR: Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. As we know under the past Labour Government the spending also went up. Actually their spending actually went up by more than 50 percent even when we knew the global financial crisis was coming our way. We have seen that business confidence is low. Teachers don't have confidence in this Government. They are going on strike day after day and now they have said that again they are going to go on strike affecting our students. So no this Government doesn't understand what needs to be done and what needs to be addressed and this is an example. This is an example which is just a rebranding exercise again. They are just coming out and trying to prove that what they think is going to work is better without going out and consulting with the wider sector—that is not just teachers but the public parents and students. We need to make sure that the education sector is not just about union members not just about teachers not just about parents and not just about students but about everybody—especially teachers parents and students. There is huge public interest in our education sector and that needs to be taken care of. So we oppose this bill. Thank you."