Hipkins ChrisCHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka): There is not a single person in the country who would be reassured to know that the previous speaker Jian Yang is the chairperson of the Education and Science Committee who demonstrates very clearly for the House the perils of reading the research team's notes without making any effort to understand what they actually say or the issue that is being debated. Perhaps if he had he would understand the contradiction that is inherent in saying that the code of ethics was rubbish that it was inadequate and then saying that the new code of conduct is based on that code of ethics—contradicting himself all the way through. He might then also know that the students and other education workers whom he has spoken about are not regulated by this professional body. Why should it be named after them when it is designed exclusively to regulate the teaching profession? Why would it not have a name that reflects the fact that it regulates the teaching profession?I think the member should perhaps have taken a little bit of time to read the bill that he is commenting on and to do a little bit of background research and then perhaps he would not sound like he has such a lack of knowledge. [Interruption] But I am pleased to see that the two amigos over there have stopped their plotting long enough to pay a little bit of attention to the debate. They can get back to plotting about how they get rid of Bill English a little bit later on but for now I am pleased that they are engaged in this particular debate in the House.The Labour Party believes in a high-status high-trust teaching profession something the National Party has a great deal of difficulty coming to terms with. The teaching profession told us through the course of the hearings on that particular legislation the Education Amendment Act 2015 that the code of conduct was seen as punitive. It was seen as taking away teachers' voice teachers' control over their own profession and the code of ethics was seen as aspirational and something that they would like to sign up to and be part of. I want to say that the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand has done a pretty good job of sidestepping the legislative mandate that it was provided by the Government and actually taking a broader view. Note that it does not use the phrase code of conduct" in the discussion document it has released because it is obviously just as uncomfortable about the change from a code of ethics to a code of conduct as the teaching profession is as well it should be because the education council—it should be called the "Teaching Council"—is supposed to be the regulatory professional body for the teaching profession and the teaching profession should have ownership over it.This bill by my colleague Ruth Dyson is an excellent bill. I could not have written it better if I had written it myself. This excellent piece of legislation will give the teaching profession some certainty that a future council appointed by the Minister of Education—note that under the current arrangements the Minister appoints all of the members of the council so at any moment she or whoever the new Minister is could sack the council and appoint a different council that could impose a much more punitive code of conduct on the teaching profession which would not support it. This bill will ensure that that does not happen. It would give back to the teaching profession and the teaching community some ownership over the teaching profession and the way it is regulated.We heard a lot from the profession itself during the hearings. As I said the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) which represents primary and intermediate teachers throughout the country was concerned that the introduction of the code of conduct could gag the freedom of teachers and principals to critique poor policy. We know that that is something that the current Government would dearly love to do because it hates it when teachers and principals stand up and point out all of the flaws in the policy that it is implementing. When they stand up and they point out that the changes that are being implemented by this Government are not good for kids' education the Government hates it. It does not want to have teachers being able to do that so it would love to gag the teaching profession. I think that is a legitimate concern by the NZEI that would be overcome by this bill by my colleague Ruth Dyson.The Post Primary Teachers' Association pointed out that teachers have a strong sense of ownership over the code of ethics something that would be taken away from them if the code of conduct was implemented in the way the Government wants it to be implemented. I want to say again that I congratulate the council for effectively sidestepping the directive that was given to it by the current Government and adopting a code—note not a code of conduct but a code—that is much more aspirational and wider than that. Teachers want to have high professional standards they want to have high ethical standards and this code of conduct as envisaged by the National Government is unnecessarily restrictive and demeaning. I think that this bill which takes a much more aspirational approach a much more empowering approach an approach that puts much more trust and confidence in the professionalism of teachers would be an enormous step in the right direction."