6. Budget 2018—Education CommitmentsHon NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) to the Minister of EducationBudget 2018—Education Commitments6. Hon NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) to the Minister of Education: Does he stand by all his promises in education; and if so does he agree with Labour's Education spokesperson Chris Hipkins who said on the morning of 26 October 2017 that the end of school donations will be in his first Budget?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister of Education): In answer to the first part of the question yes. In answer to the second part of the question as Minister of Education I've been clear that the commitments in the Speech from the Throne the coalition agreement and the confidence and supply agreement would all be considered as part of the first and subsequent Budget processes. Budget 2018 marks the biggest increase in education spending in over a decade. However it will take some time to deal with the nine years of neglect we inherited.Hon Nikki Kaye: Is he telling this House that on the morning that he was sworn in as a Minister where he committed to end school donations it's not valid because he hadn't signed his ministerial warrant; if so are all promises that he made prior to signing this warrant invalid?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Budget 2018 had to accommodate the largest cost pressures due to population growth in several decades. We are not happy to leave kids in corridors libraries and gymnasiums because their schools don't have classrooms to put them in and because we cannot recruit teachers to put in their classrooms because of the neglect that we inherited from the previous Government. That does not mean that we are not going to deliver on those commitments. To quote Rachel Hunter It won't happen overnight but it will happen."SPEAKER: Not for me it won't.Hon Nikki Kaye: Does he stand by his statement on 12 February 2018 as a Minister when he refused to talk about the cost of his Government's donation policy because it was "Budget sensitive"; and does he think that he misled parents who had an expectation that school donation funding would be in this Budget?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Budget matters are considered over several Budget cycles as the former Minister should be well aware. It was considered as part of this year's Budget. It didn't make it up in this year's Budget. It will be considered as part of subsequent Budgets.Hon Nikki Kaye: Does he stand by promises he made to increase teacher pay after Budget 2018 slashed $47 million in potential salary payments for teachers and principals making him one of the only education Ministers—SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! That's an unnecessary part of a question. I'm not going to rule it out but I'm going to ask the Minister to answer the first part.Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I'm unclear where the member gets her fiction that we've cut funding for teacher salaries from. It certainly wasn't in this year's Budget. I don't know where she possibly could have made that up from.SPEAKER: Order! The Minister will now stand withdraw and apologise.Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I withdraw and apologise. I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. SPEAKER: I hope the Minister's not going to litigate my ruling. He should know very well that members cannot indicate that other members have made something up because if they've made it up they would know it's not true and they would be breaching the Standing Orders in a number of ways.Hon Nikki Kaye: Why should parents and teachers be able to rely on promises that he makes when he's broken more than 18 education promises including providing funding to end school donations to provide devices for all students increasing postgraduate allowances—SPEAKER: Order! The member's not going to go through the list.Hon Nikki Kaye: —providing vocational excellence awards $20000 grants for young entrepreneurs?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: There's a clear difference between a broken promise and one that is yet to be delivered upon. For example if we'd promised to lower teacher-child ratios in early childhood services and nine years later failed to deliver on that that would be a broken promise. If we'd promised to lift the daily cap on the number of hours for children in early childhood services and nine years later failed to deliver it that would be a broken promise. Those are just two examples of the countless broken promises of the previous Government. Unlike them this Government will deliver on the promises we made."