7. Question No. 7—EducationNICOLA WILLIS (National) to the Minister of EducationQuestion No. 7—EducationNICOLA WILLIS (National): My question is to—[Interruption] SPEAKER: Order! Order! Once again I don't know—Hon Gerry Brownlee: I'm a victim. Hon Members: Ha ha!SPEAKER: Well the member might see a conspiracy but I don't.7. NICOLA WILLIS (National) to the Minister of Education: Was he or the Ministry of Education consulted about any aspect of the application by Green School New Zealand for funding prior to its announcement; if so did he raise concerns about providing Government funding for this project?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister of Education): I had a conversation about the application with James Shaw towards the end of July and I gave him feedback that from an educational portfolio perspective the school would not be a priority for investment.Nicola Willis: Well then why did the project get funding?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I'm not ministerially responsible for that.SPEAKER: Yeah I should have cut off the—well the member's used a supplementary so it's all right. Nicola Willis: Was he aware of Treasury advice that it would be inappropriate to announce or provide government funding for a project that does not yet have the necessary education approvals" and has the Green School met the legal requirements for registration?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: No I wouldn't have seen that advice because I was not one of the Ministers involved in approving the project.Hon Gerry Brownlee: The second part of the question is his though: is it registered or not?SPEAKER: Well if the member wants to find out if it's registered or not she should ask that.Hon Gerry Brownlee: She did ask.SPEAKER: As part of a two-legged question and we all know and the member knows very well there's only a requirement when people ask an extra leg in a supplementary—which is I understand strictly not within order—there's no obligation to respond to it. There are two members standing—Ginny Andersen.Ginny Andersen: What investment in property for other schools around the country is being funded through Vote Education?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: State schools around the country—SPEAKER: No no. That again—I mean it might be within the responsibility of the Minister of Education but it's certainly not within the realms of the primary or the supplementary question.Nicola Willis: Has the Green School qualified for legal registration as a private school including meeting all requirements around suitable tuition standards and staffing standards?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I'm not aware of that. Of course private schools have an application process that they have to go through. As Minister I don't make that decision. That decision's made by the Ministry of Education.Ginny Andersen: What investment in property for other schools in Taranaki is being funded through Vote Education?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I'm very happy to say that over the past three calendar years schools in the Taranaki region have received $68 million of Government property funding. In addition to this they're getting $11.75 million from the schools investment package that we announced late last year.Nicola Willis: Why did he not speak up for New Zealand State schools and oppose this decision when it came to Cabinet for approval?SPEAKER: Order! The member knows that that's not correct.Nicola Willis: Why did the Minister not take any steps to stop the Government providing $11.7 million to the Green School which isn't even registered yet?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: As I've said before I was not one of the Ministers involved in approving that project. I do want to make it clear though that the Government is not opposed to private schooling. It's interesting the Opposition now appears to be.Nicola Willis: Has he taken any steps to address the concerns of school leaders across New Zealand disgusted by this decision and do those steps include replying to the letter from Kealy Warren?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Yes absolutely. The Government's taking heaps of action to address the concerns raised by school leaders up and down the country who are worried that after a decade of being neglected their school properties are in a state of disrepair. That's why this Government in our first Budget put several hundred million dollars into building new schools put the largest single investment into school capital in Budget 2019—$1.2 billion of additional funding in there—and it's why we put $400 million into shovel-ready school projects for their upgrade works that's currently being spent as we speak."