Peachey Allan: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Peachey Allan: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:637;Page:7916] 
ALLAN PEACHEY (National—Tamaki) 
: 
 The 20 hours debacle is just one more example of how the Minister of Education shows that he does not have the ability to get on top of the mess that was left for him by his predecessor Mr Mallard. 
Darren Hughes 
: Oh what rubbish! 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
: The Prime Minister should have realised that; she has only— 
Hon Member 
: Listen and you may learn something. 
Darren Hughes 
: Not from this guy. 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
: It might be a good idea if members opposite remember that from Northcote to Invercargill Labour MPs were thrown out of their seats at the election. I suggest that the member for Otaki listens to me a little more closely. The Prime Minister should have known— 
Darren Hughes 
: I’m still in mine. 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
: Oh the member will be gone—at the next election he will be gone. I tell him not to drop Helen’s handbag—he will be gone. The Prime Minister should have known that if she was prepared to put the education portfolio in the hands of a failed schoolteacher—and that is what Mr Mallard was; he knows it and I know it—the end result would be a lowering of standards a lowering of expectations rehashed excuses for failure and botched policy. 
There is no greater botch than the 20 hours of early childhood education. That is what it is— 
Darren Hughes 
: Is the member for it or against it? 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
: Do I have to remind the member again how tenuous his hold on his seat is? I tell the member not to drop Helen’s handbag. This policy was made on the run in a desperate panic reaction to the prospect of losing the 2005 election. That is all it is. And do New Zealanders not regret now that they let slip the opportunity to throw out the Labour Government? 
Darren Hughes 
: Is the member for or against the policy? 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
: And the member for Otaki would have gone along with Labour. The Government had no idea at the time—and it is clear that it still has no idea—just how the 20 hours policy was going to work. Members opposite the members of the Government screamed from the rooftops that 92000 children would definitely—yes definitely—get 20 free hours. Then the Minister stepped in and it became “up to” 92000. Then it became “I hope it will be 92000.” 
The situation reminds me a little of the report we received from the Education Review Office that stated that “up to” 20 percent of children were not experiencing success at school. Ah but then Government members paused and realised what their own officials were telling them. So the spin came on again: there were “up to” 20 percent of children not doing as well at school as they should be doing. 
Darren Hughes 
: Is the member for or against the policy? 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
: Well there he goes again—the callow member for Otaki. He should listen because his seat will be gone. I tell him not to drop Helen’s handbag because it is his only hope of coming back here. We have discovered through the Education and Science Committee inquiry led so well by my colleague Mr Donnelly that up to a third of New Zealand children are not learning to read to write and to calculate—yet all the members opposite can do is to shout across the floor of the House. I hope they are enjoying doing that because very very soon they will be gone. 
The Minister had the opportunity in the House this afternoon to confirm that 92000 children would get free early childhood education. He declined to take that opportunity. I invite him when he rises to his feet after my speech to address that issue. So what do we have here? It was a $140 million promise—an effort to influence the electorate with no thought at all given to how it would work. The Minister of Education may well sit there looking bored but you know that Minister must be sitting there thinking that with political friends like the previous Minister he certainly does not need enemies.