Lee MelissaMELISSA LEE (National): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker for the opportunity to take a call on the Hon Nanaia Mahuta's member's bill today the Charter Schools (Application of Official Information and Ombudsmen Acts) Bill. Tracey Martin is always very passionate when it comes to education bills. I do know that she is passionate because I sit on the Education and Science Committee with her. However I would like to perhaps make a note to the member that nobody on this side of the House as she characterises us would like to see children being abused or being bullied or that we actually stand for that in any system whether it is actually in a partnership school or in a public school. I think we actually oppose that and we are aghast at the idea that children are being abused in any system and we want to protect them.I think there are a lot of times when Tracey and I agree because both of us are parents and we have raised children and we want to make sure that our children are in the best possible care when they are at school and that they are receiving the best possible outcome. We might differ in the way that it might actually be delivered but I think the fact that we care that they get the best possible outcome is something we agree on. As the Parliamentary Under-Secretary has actually pointed out in my memory I think this is the third time that the Labour Party has brought a bill like this to the House. I think the first one was in fact the Hon Phil Goff's and the second one was Chris Hipkins' and today it is the member for Hauraki-Waikato's bill. I oppose this bill obviously.The Opposition today speaking on the way that the schools operate claims that by making them liable directly to the Official Information Act (OIA) it will make them more accountable for their use of public funds. What this shows is that the Opposition really does not understand that partnership schools are more accountable. I know that some people on the other side have actually said that they are less accountable; I believe that they are more accountable. There is a contract in place and if they do not perform the contract is actually ended and they cannot operate as a partnership school any more.Partnership schools already report as my learned colleague to my right the chair of the Education and Science Committee Dr Jian Yang has actually said. They report quarterly 6-monthly and yearly to the Minister as well as the Partnership Schools Authorisation Board. If anything crops up I would think that the Minister or this board would actually not sit there and accept the fact that there are things going wrong like the abuse of children or bullying of children—that it would not actually go unnoticed. In terms of requiring a private entity like partnership schools to be accountable to the OIA—subject to the duties of the Crown—it would be wrong to require a private organisation to respond to an OIA request. There are over 5000 education groups that receive Government funding but do not have OIA requirements such as industry training groups early childhood education providers and the like. It would be vexatious and an absolute waste of school administration time to make all of these organisations accountable to the OIA.Some of these organisations do not have enough funding to hire lots of administration staff who can actually do this. In addition to the Crown they are reporting to the ministry. Frankly it would actually hinder the fantastic work that they are already doing. I think it was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary who mentioned the Vanguard Military School and the engineering department. It was always very fascinating to hear them report in their annual report on the successes that they are actually achieving for these children who are underprivileged and who actually come from lower-income families. As someone who comes from an ethnic community that speaks a different language sometimes I wish we had a partnership school that would teach languages because we do lack language teachers in our schools. The only way that they can actually teach—perhaps it may be the only way—is in a partnership school. I oppose this bill and I am with my colleagues on this side. I think it is a bad idea.