Goldsmith PaulHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National): This legislation—I suppose there are a couple of points I wanted to make and a couple of questions for the Minister. So what we have here is a sort of a mop-up bill. Every now and again the Government brings in a piece of legislation to fix a few little problems in the legislation and when we run through them—and most of them are reasonably uncontroversial so I'm sure the people of New Zealand will be relieved to know that we are going to clarify that former teachers are not automatically enabled to use physical restraint in schools but they first must be approved to use physical restraint at school by the school that employs them. And that I'm sure is a relief to a lot of people. And these are the sorts of tidy-ups that are brought through in legislation in this way.The fundamental question I have is given that he's gone to all the trouble to bring in legislation why couldn't he have done something a little more useful with the opportunity that he had to deal with say for example the truancy crisis that we have in this country right here right now where on an average day across the country only three out of five kids are attending school regularly? There are many schools and schools that I've been to schools that I've visited where the regular attendance is only 15 percent—15 percent not 50 not 90 but 15 percent. So you know we've got real real issues in our education system the most dramatic element of which is the fact that the kids just aren't turning up on a regular basis. There are legislative elements to that and I could go on at great length about a lot of them. I'm mindful of the fact that this is a very busy Minister who's got a lot of problems on his plate and he needs to get on with it. But we're left here with legislation that is being brought through fixing a few things tweaking the odd thing and a real missed opportunity by this Government to actually do some useful stuff that would have made a bit of difference and helped give the kids that we have in this country the opportunity that education provides. And you're never going to—CHAIRPERSON (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! Order! Can I just invite the member to speak to issues that are contained within this bill.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: Yes.CHAIRPERSON (Hon Jacqui Dean): Thank you.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: I'm very happy to do that Madam Chair but I suppose I was talking about the opportunity cost and the sense of yes they've done this but why didn't they do that. CHAIRPERSON (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! Order! Can I invite the member to speak to matters that are contained in the bill.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: Quite right. Hon Willie Jackson: Sit down Goldie.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: I'm not going to take the invitation from the Hon Willie Jackson to sit down because I have more to say. The question that I had for the Minister is: in clause 4 an amendment has been made saying that The Minister and the Minister for Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti may for the purpose of providing equitable outcomes for … students jointly issue a statement". And I suppose the question I have is that I would like the Minister to explain exactly what he means by "equitable outcomes for students".Hon Willie Jackson: What do you think? What do you reckon?Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: Well it will be interesting to hear because I think most people can understand the concept of equitable opportunities for all New Zealanders to get a good education and to learn and we recognise the immense diversity within humanity: different people's priorities different people's enthusiasm things that they value things that they don't different attitudes and different abilities and they do lead to different outcomes. I'm just curious to hear from the Minister exactly what he means by "equitable outcomes for students". And then maybe we can ask a bit more about how he plans to achieve that."