Parata HekiaHon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education): I really do have to get up and do the Committee a service by correcting the previous two speakers.The most recent speaker Adrian Rurawhe was wrong in almost every regard. In this Budget in Vote Education just over $11 billion has been put into schools kura early childhood providers and kōhanga reo across the country. Now let me just deal with partnership schools and kura hourua. The member asserted that very few Māori went there. In fact all of the kura hourua are contracted to ensure that a minimum of 75 percent of their rolls are Māori and/or Pasifika and many of them are much higher than that—much higher than that.The member commented in his assertion that this Government had not supported Māori boarding schools. Again the member is completely wrong. Of the six Māori boarding schools—Turakina Māori Girls College Hato Pētera College Hato Pāora College St Joseph's Māori Girls' College Te Aute College and Hukarere Girls' College—there are about 650 students in total at those boarding schools. All of the boarding schools have greater capacity than that. Turakina in fact had capacity for 150 students; it had 49 students. The Government invested $9 million paying for all of the staffing and learning costs at the school and over half of the boarding allowances and scholarships. However the Government cannot make parents or grandparents send their daughters or granddaughters to Turakina. The Government cannot magic up students. That is a choice that parents make.I will tell the member why there is a challenge—and it is a challenge for all boarding schools not just Māori ones. It is because there are more choices available to whānau closer to them. There are now 282 kura reo rūmaki and bilingual classrooms and schools across the country that parents are choosing to send their young people to because they are closer to home and they have more options. Māori boarding schools and boarding schools in general have played a very fine part in New Zealand's education his- and her-story. But they are very difficult now and many parents are choosing—not just in Māori boarding schools but in boarding schools in general—closer to home options. So the member is quite wrong.In terms of disengagement since records were kept in 2000—this is the 16th year that we have had records around engagement by kids—this is the lowest rate we have ever had of suspensions stand downs exclusions and the fourth one which I cannot remember. It is now down at just 4.1 percent—at 4.1 percent. I am sorry that the Opposition is not happy that we are seeing greater engagement by our young people and more of Māori.Yes we do still have challenges. What are we doing about that? We have introduced Year 9 Plus which has identified about a hundred young year 8 students going into year 9 and asked using the Whānau Ora model how we wrap round them to help them and their brothers and sisters be successful. We have also introduced Count Me In. I invite the members of the Opposition to use 0800 Count Me In for any 16- to 18-year-old who is on the street and not involved in education employment or training and who does not have a qualification. Call 0800 Count Me In and we will get an education provider to that young person and re-engage them with education.We are providing new infrastructure for kura across the country. So again the member is quite wrong. We do that using the condition assessments to prioritise. It is apparent to me that the members are not interested in facts but I am very happy to host a meeting in my office and run through those. Today I released our available Public Achievement Information. What that shows to the Opposition is that in all facets of education Māori education has gone up. At early learning we have higher participation. In national standards we have seen incremental growth. The previous Opposition member criticised that and said there was not enough. I agree with him but we now know where they are and we are getting incremental growth and we will continue to build on that.Ngā whanaketanga—we are seeing growth there. Clearly the member is not interested in hearing those facts but I am happy to provide this chart with the facts of actual kids in actual schools doing better under this Government. The member says there is nothing in this Budget for them. We have targeted $43 million to those kids who come from long-term benefit-dependent households. That is on top of this Government increasing—for the first time in 43 years—the benefit to those living in hardship. We are serious about lifting educational achievement for all kids.