Rurawhe AdrianADRIAN RURAWHE (Labour—Te Tai Hauāuru): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare otirā tēnā tātou katoa. I stand in opposition to this bill the Education (Update) Amendment Bill. The Minister has said that children and young people should be at the heart of education and I agree with that. I totally agree with that. It is in fact the manner in which you give effect to that that really counts. I quote the Children's Commissioner who told the Education and Science Committee that we had got the process wrong; that the voice of young people was not being considered. I will give you an example. I went through all of the submissions. I found two from Māori—one from a year 9 student who had been diagnosed on the autism spectrum who told the select committee that he had seen no success in education in New Zealand and yet he was fluent in Te Reo Māori which I think is probably at least some success for him.We heard from Te Mata Rangatira a young group of Hauraki rangatahi and I want to mention them because I thought they had a very valuable contribution to make. They were heard but not listened to. That is a shame for this piece of legislation because to make the claim that children and young people are at the heart of education requires that the voices of rangatahi of tamariki need to be heard in that context. So I stand in support of my colleague Chris Hipkins and his contribution to this discussion.I want to take that a little bit further because there are particular elements within this legislation that impact on Māori. We also heard a submission from Dr Mere Skerett who made a suggestion around a new part in this bill which basically says that when talking about the objectives of the system of education that we instil in each child and young person an appreciation of the importance of the following:" and the fourth thing is "the Treaty of Waitangi and te reo Māori." I think that that just does not go far enough—anywhere near far enough—to instil an appreciation of the Treaty of Waitangi and Te Reo Māori. I ask members opposite who seem to be consumed with wanting to meet certain standards: is that a high enough standard? That is not a high enough standard for New Zealand in 2017.I also quote from the Auditor-General a report called Summary of our Education for Māori reports. In here are statistics that say that by 2030 Māori will make up 30 percent of students at school. We need to be far more future-focused around this particular bill and the impact on the next generation because that is only 13 years away. I would expect that a bill like this if it were transformational would go a lot further than just instilling an appreciation. That is not good enough.What is more Professor Skerrett recommended a rephrasing of that to "to promote the learning of and through Te Reo …". Now that does not make Te Reo Māori compulsory but it does lift it up a level. I cannot understand why Parliament could not agree to at least make that small step for the next generation. This Education (Update) Amendment Bill is going to impact on those students in the next generation—in the next 13 to 20 years—who are going to need a better level than just to instil an appreciation of Te Reo. I commend and if I can briefly recognise my colleague Catherine Delahunty for her proposals on this issue as well. They were not accepted—and I know the rules; I should not really be talking too much about that but in the context of what we do have in front of us I just want to acknowledge that attempts were made to address that.I also want to go on to talk about the communities of online learning. I mentioned the Auditor-General's report. I thought that it made some really good conclusions. Of course one of the things it concluded was that it urged the education sector to continue to support the growth of better relationships between schools and whānau. I actually absolutely agree with that. I do not believe that what is in this bill is actually going to help too much in improving and continuing to improve those relationships. But I do send out my acknowledgment to all of those schools no matter what kinds of schools they are that actually are making a difference in those relationships. I believe it is not because of this new structure and this new approach; I believe it is actually because of the people involved. It is really important that those people—and perhaps that is where the focus should have been a little bit more around raising the capacity of those schools to be able to engage with whānau.I mentioned Te Mata Rangatira earlier. One of its major concerns was around communities of online learning. I thought it made some really good points. These were young people—well versed in using the technology of today. They were all Māori and they actually recognised the real importance of the way in which Māori see the world and the way in which Māori best learn. They could not see the benefit of being stuck in front of a computer screen pretty much in isolation from the social interaction that good learning requires from a Māori world view. I really take my hat off to those young people—who by the way expressed it in a way that was very relevant to who they are; they actually sang us a song. At the time I thought that we need more of this kind of interaction to get better legislation.So my final mihi in summing up my contribution is to acknowledge those young people who did take the time and had the ability to make a contribution. Nō reira taku kupu whakamutunga: e kī ana te kōrero kia mau ki tō Reo e Te Iwi ka nui te ngaro haere o tēnei āhuatanga. Nā tō Reo hoki ka mōhiotia ai koe he Māori; ka kūware koe ki tō Reo ka meinga koe nō ngā whenua noa atu. Kia ora.[So my final statement: the talk says retain your language people the gradual loss of this attribute has become huge. Through your language as well you will be recognised as a Māori; should you become ignorant of your language you will be deemed to have come from lands elsewhere. Thank you.]"