Fox Marama; Mallard TrevorMARAMA FOX (Co-Leader—Māori Party): I rise to take a call on this bill tonight because I find it absolutely remarkable that we are even discussing the claim that our young people Māori people specifically cannot get an improved educational outcome by going to a charter school—of course they do. If public schools could have done what charter schools are doing or what Māori-medium schools are doing then shucks they would all still be there. But they are not and unless we put the screws on to improve Māori education—we ignore Ka Hikitia because it is gathering dust on the shelves of all sorts of people. We ignore cultural standards—Tātaiako—which are again gathering dust on the shelves with many things. In fact there was a study that came out just this week that compared the success—or the institutional racism—within our schooling system with that of the United States. I am not going to say whether that is correct or not but hello let us have a look at the results shall we? Let us have a look at the results. We have charter schools in this country in Whangarei and this is why we have called out the Māori members of the Opposition—because actually their families attend those schools. Their family members teach in those schools and they make those choices because they see that that is beneficial to the educational values of their children. That is the choice they made. Iwi have come to us and said: Marama we would like you to support charter schools because we want to have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of our tamariki." That is why we do it. I have been to Whangarei to the kura there—the kura hourua—and I have seen the work that it is doing with its tamariki. They are so proud and they are so strong. They are members of their community. The school has become an integral part of their community. Shall we scrap that—shall we scrap that? I was a child in a school where I felt like an alien because nothing in that classroom reflected anything of my culture. I have taught in schools where that continues to be the case today. I can tell you a million examples where actually students in schools who are not benefiting from Ka Hikitia cultural standards and cultural practices want to have options. Tracey Martin: What are you doing for the 95 percent then? What about the 95 percent?MARAMA FOX: They want to have options Tracey Martin because the schooling system that they are currently in is not providing for their needs. So we have options and I absolutely oppose the bill to take away those options. I would think that the Māori members and the Pasifika members who know that these schools are working for their students should be standing up to support them—they should be standing up to support them.Hon Member: Who's voting for the RMA changes? You guys.MARAMA FOX: That is a bit rich from the party that wants to take away the rights of Māori out of all pieces of legislation. Hon Member: Who supported the RMA changes? You two.MARAMA FOX: That is a bit rich from the group that will not even let its members vote the way they want to. Ask your own members—they want to vote against this bill but they are not being allowed to. [Interruption] Well you know what? Stand up for your people stand up for your families and cross the floor. That is what you do. Stand up for your people—that is what we call a mana whakahono arrangement where you must by law now have an agreement with your iwi. What we do is we support iwi—iwi who have come to us and said: "Marama we want you to support charter schools." We do the bidding of our people who ask us to stand up for them. That is why we are here. That is a value added to this nation that we have choice. You know what the difference is? If there is a poorly performing charter school it gets closed. How many poorly performing mainstream schools have been closed because they are not meeting the needs of their students? Over and over again I can go to schools where the pass rate for Māori is 40 to 50 percent. Do they stand up in front of those children at the beginning of the year and say: "Half of you are going to fail."? Tracey Martin: What are you doing about it? What are you doing about the 95 percent? Nothing.MARAMA FOX: What we are doing about it are many things Ms Martin—the member Tracey Martin; I am just trying to get the rules right. We have supported schools through cultural standards and all we need them to do is wipe the dust off it teach real Māori history New Zealand history and acknowledge the place of choice in this country. Thank you.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): I call Chris Bishop.Chris Bishop: Mr Assistant Speaker?The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): I did call you."