10. Question No. 10—EducationHon NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) to the Minister of EducationQuestion No. 10—Education10. Hon NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) to the Minister of Education: Does he stand by his statement regarding the offer to primary school teachers: The latest offer that the Government has made is it. There is not going to be any more money"; if so how does he expect to resolve the largest ever industrial action by primary and secondary teachers planned for 29 May?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister of Education): I stand by my full statement which was that "The latest offer that the government has made is it. There's not going to be any more money so they can choose to accept the offer they can ask for the offer to be reconfigured but striking in the hope that more money will eventuate is going to lead to disappointment." I've also said that I respect the right of workers to take industrial action but I do not think that striking is justified. That's why I'm urging the unions to continue working with the Ministry of Education to find a way through and that includes their potential to agree on other concrete ways to advance teachers' concerns outside of the bargaining process.Hon Nikki Kaye: Has he had a conversation since his statement in November with the finance Minister or the Prime Minister where he has specifically requested an increase in the financial envelope for primary and secondary teachers?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I discussed the matter extensively with the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister at the time the envelope was increased to accommodate the current offer which is worth $1.2 billion—just to put that again: $1.2 billion is the cost of the current offer. We have continued to discuss the matter on an ongoing basis but we have not discussed increasing the size of the envelope for the offer because we believe that the envelope that's on the table at the moment is a good-sized envelope.Hon Nikki Kaye: Did he ask the Minister of Finance or the Prime Minister whether the education underspend around fees-free could be used for teachers instead of vocational reform given his previous comments and if not why not?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: No because I'm not willing to see more of our regional polytechs collapse and those young people lose their opportunities at vocational education. Hon Nikki Kaye: With more than 12 months of negotiation with primary teachers and eight months with secondary teachers is he categorically ruling out increasing the financial envelope or will he just keep blaming National?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: No I've said very clearly that $1.2 billion is the extent of money that we would be willing to put into the salary packets of teachers in this bargaining round.David Seymour: Is the Minister confident that teacher pay provides less than or equal public benefit with all other expenditure by the Government he's part of?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I'm confident that the money that we are putting into teacher pay $1.2 billion extra does recognise the significant value that teachers provide to New Zealand—to our future generations in particular. Am I ever going to be completely satisfied that that's enough? No I'm not. I'll continue to push for more money.David Seymour: Can the Minister give some examples of expenditure by his Government that he might wish to be sacrificed in order to pay teachers more?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: No.Hon Nikki Kaye: What does he say to parents of secondary students who are facing three days of strikes—on 29 May a regional strike and a strike for their child's year group—all in five weeks?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I would say to those parents that the Government is committed to addressing a whole host of issues that those parents want action on including lifting children out of poverty including dealing with the mental health crisis and including ensuring that all young children in New Zealand have a roof over their heads and a stable home so that they're not moving from school to school to school because their parents can't find stable housing."