8. Question No. 8—EducationHon NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) to the Minister of EducationQuestion No. 8—Education8. Hon NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) to the Minister of Education: How many schools have closed today due to the teacher strikes?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister of Education): I've been advised that as of 11.45 a.m. this morning 1479 schools including intermediates and contributing schools had notified the Ministry of Education that they'd be closed today. The ministry's continuing to monitor school closures and will have updated data by this evening but the decision on whether or not to close rests with individual school boards of trustees and they do not have to notify the ministry in advance of that decision.Hon Nikki Kaye: Can he confirm that after more than 12 months of negotiation with primary teachers eight months with secondary teachers—SPEAKER: Order! A question please.Hon Nikki Kaye: —billions in surplus the Government has been unable to reach agreement and does he take any responsibility for the largest ever education industrial action in our nation's history?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I proudly take responsibility for the $1.2 billion pay offer that teachers have been given—the largest in a decade and one that's worth more than all of the settlements reached under the last Government put together.Hon Nikki Kaye: Does he take any responsibility for the lost teaching and learning with the several days of strikes so far and the multiple days of strikes that are planned that will affect parents and students and teachers?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I am the Minister of Education—by definition yes.Hon Nikki Kaye: Why does he think he was booed by thousands of teachers on the forecourt of Parliament today?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I think their chants of not enough" made that quite clear.Hon Nikki Kaye: Will he guarantee the Parliament that tomorrow when the Budget is read given that he has said there is no more money for teachers they will not see that spending on planes racehorses and trees has been prioritised over keeping teachers in classrooms?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I'd note for the member's advantage that actually the largest protest—[Interruption] I'd note for the member's advantage that actually—SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! Order! It's the Minister's team who are now shouting him down and that's pretty rude.Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The largest protest that we've seen at Parliament in recent weeks was actually young people arguing that the Government should get serious about climate change. They want us to be planting more trees. In fact there were a lot more of them than there were of teachers today. Once upon a time the members opposite believed in adequately equipping our air force so that their planes don't suffer from metal fatigue as their current Orions are but they seem to have backed away from that position.Hon Nikki Kaye: When he said "there were a lot more of them than … teachers" was he criticising the thousands of teachers that turned up to New Zealand Parliament today to criticise him?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: No. [Interruption]SPEAKER: I'm going to tell Ms Bennett I have been dealing with it and I will continue to deal with it and I don't need her help. Now what I would like is the question to be asked in a straight manner and the Government to keep their mouths shut.Hon Nikki Kaye: When he said in reference to the young people striking for climate change "there were a lot more of them" was he criticising the thousands of people that turned up to Parliament today to send his Government a message that they aren't doing enough?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: No.Hon Simon Bridges: Was he making the point that trees are indeed more of a priority than teachers' pay?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: No I'm not. The Government has put $1.2 billion into the largest pay offer that teachers have received in over a decade but we're also committed to planting trees to creating jobs to tackling climate change to dealing with the housing crisis to reducing child poverty to fixing mental health and to a whole host of other priorities that New Zealanders share."