Stanford EricaERICA STANFORD (National—East Coast Bays): Thank you Madam Speaker. I'm happy to take a call on the Education and Training (Teaching Council Fees Levies and Costs) Amendment Bill. Can I just start by saying that boy we certainly do have different memories about what went on at the Education and Workforce Committee because while those teachers may have passion and love for what they do passion and love was not what they brought to the select committee. More anger and frustration in a process that was less than ideal that was truncated that gave them hardly any time to submit—during lockdown where they were trying to manage students online students in class and only had a very short time to get their thoughts together. They were very angry at the way that they had been treated by the Teaching Council. They were very angry at the way that they'd been treated by this Minister of Education through this process.And there was really no need and I'll touch on that in my speech but I just want to make the point back to the chair of our committee that there didn't need to be a truncated process. We put this to the Minister at the committee of the whole House stage where we said What was holding you back? What date was there that something awful was going to happen that we needed to get this through so quickly? What was it that meant that you couldn't keep the transitional funding in place for just an extra two weeks to give these poor teachers who were bearing the brunt of COVID-19 having to teach online"—and I feel sorry for them because I hear them every day trying to teach my kid at the kitchen table; half of them with their microphones on half the kids singing away with the fairies. These poor teachers had a week and a half around about to get their thoughts together and there was no reason for that. The Minister could have if he had wanted to put that transitional funding in place for at least a couple more weeks to give them time. So what the chair of the committee is saying just doesn't stack up.This bill will pass into law today not because it's a well-thought-out and carefully considered piece of legislation; not because the Minister is on top of his portfolio with his finger on the pulse and knows what's going on with the Teaching Council and is in tune with the Post Primary Teachers' Association (PPTA); and certainly not because we took you know a great deal of time to consider this bill—certainly not; not because we gave stakeholders all the time in the world to gather their thoughts in order to write down their written submissions and prepare oral submissions. Labour will use their majority tonight to pass this piece of legislation into law to fix up what is a very embarrassing problem for them which happened under their watch. It did not happen under our watch. It did not happen under a National Government; it happened under this Minister's watch because he does not have his finger on the pulse. Under this—Hon Member: 2015.ERICA STANFORD: Yeah here we go. Here's the interjection—and this is the whole reason that the Minister has tried to back out of how this is not his problem. Oh it was something that the National Party did back in 2015; they didn't quite get the law right! Let me make it clear: this happened under his watch. Any good Minister with his finger on the pulse would have known what the Teaching Council were up to: building their empire; hiring more staff increasing their staff costs from what was it $5 million in 2016 to over $8 million in 2020; not consulting properly with the sector; taking what was a triannual registration to a yearly registration increasing teachers' costs. Any Minister with his finger on the pulse if he knew what was going on would have headed this off at the pass. And I say to whoever that member was that said "Oh it was a 2015 problem.": this happened under this Minister's watch because he didn't have his finger on the pulse.This did not need to go to court. The PPTA did not have to take this to court because you can't tell me that the Minister hadn't been told by the PPTA early on "Hey the Teaching Council are out of control. They're empire-building their costs are increasing they're going beyond their mandate they're doing things that teachers don't want they're not properly consulting with the sector." They can't tell me that the Minister didn't know that. And he did nothing. It clearly indicates that there is a Minister quite busy with another portfolio that he has and ignoring what is going on right under his nose. These things happened under his watch. Those staff costs increased $3 million under his watch.Let's just talk about consultation for a moment because in the court's decision they came down quite hard on the Teaching Council about their lack of consultation with the sector. They talked in detail about this unlawful tax and the fact that the teaching profession and the sector were not adequately consulted. And then to add insult to injury or rub salt in the wound this Minister thinks it's OK to acknowledge their concerns about the lack of consultation by having a truncated process in which there's no proper consultation. I mean it's absolutely ridiculous.The poor teachers no wonder they feel the way they did in the select committee where they were angry and upset and furious at the Minister and this Government something that's unheard of usually with the PPTA and the teaching profession. They were furious. They were not filled with love and passion at select committee; they were furious. They'd just been through a process where they felt like they weren't listened to. They weren't adequately consulted with. The PPTA said the same the judge said the same and here's the Minister rubbing salt into that fresh wound saying "Hey by the way teachers you've got to have two weeks to get your thoughts together during term time during lockdown."How is that building any trust and confidence in a sector that already feels let down by the Teaching Council under this Minister's watch? I challenge anyone on the other side of the House in our select committee to tell me why it is how this ever even got to court. Why did the Minister not have his finger on the pulse? Why did he not know what was going on? Any Minister would have said to that Teaching Council "Pull up your socks tighten your belt stop hiring more staff get back to your core duties and remember"—sorry Madam Speaker—"remember that teachers don't have deep pockets." They are facing the same quite rapidly rising cost of living that everyone else is. Their petrol their groceries their electricity—everything's going up. They do not have deep pockets to pay for whatever the Teaching Council decides is OK for them to charge.And what has the Teaching Council learnt from all of this? Have they learnt that they need to consult properly? Oh certainly not after the Minister's behaviour and truncating the process. Have they learnt that they need to tighten their belts? Let's see if you look at the legislation that he brought to the House we had to amend it to put in there that they had to consult properly because the Minister didn't even put that in the legislation. We had to do that. Furthermore he had to bring a Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) to the House when he should have well known that that's what the sector was so upset about. They didn't want the leadership functions in that. OK he fixed it up at SOP stage but that's something that he should have brought forward in primary legislation further showing that he doesn't have his finger on the pulse.I suppose the one thing that was the most disappointing which has been pointed out by speakers in previous stages of this bill and the one thing that was missing from this Minister was a mea culpa was an "I'm really sorry" to the sector: "I'm really sorry that the Teaching Council have done this to you. I'm really sorry that you weren't consulted with properly. I'm really sorry that there was an unlawful tax that was put upon you. I'm really sorry in the manner that you feel like you aren't properly represented by the Teaching Council." None of that.In fact what we get is a Minister that's trying to sweep this under the rug like this dirty little problem didn't happen under his watch via this bill in a truncated process during lockdown and hoping that people wouldn't notice. Well the fact that so many submitters submitted to our select committee was despite the fact that there was a truncated process; we can only imagine how many more we would have had how many more angry frustrated teachers we would have had had we had a proper process. This bill is fixing up a dirty little problem that happened under this Minister's watch because he's not on top of his job and this Government is here tonight passing this into law despite all those things that I've said and we will not be supporting this bill. Thank you Madam Speaker."