Tinetti JanJAN TINETTI (Labour): Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. I am absolutely delighted to be the last speaker in this third reading of the Education Amendment Bill (No 2). I'm delighted in this bill because as we have heard here this afternoon particularly from this side of the House it doesn't undo everything that was passed in the original education amendment bill—just the stupid things as my colleague Tracey Martin said.Today this bill is coming through and will pass and it makes seven changes to the Education Act—seven critical changes. While we've heard—and we've just heard—that they may not be the biggest changes I think they actually are. I think if you ask the parents and the children—those young people that are starting school—you will find that they think that those changes are actually big. I think if you talked to the principals and the teachers you would find that they think those changes are big. Now out of those seven elements I actually only want to talk about two and I want to only take a short call here this afternoon because actually a lot of my colleagues on this side of the House have said most of it for me. But the two areas that I want to talk about are the communities of online learning and the cohort entry. So I'll start with the communities of online learning. It came in in the education amendment bill that was passed in 2017. But actually it hasn't come in because it wasn't supposed to enact until the end of this year. So it's interesting that we've heard a lot of argument on the other side here about how this is going to impact on Virtual Learning Network—who are absolutely fantastic and wonderful and amazing providers—and Te Kura. But it doesn't come in until the end of this year and they're operating now so how does it impact? It doesn't. This means that they will be able to be part of the discussions that we have in the future.In fact what the original amendment bill did do is that it had the potential to set up an environment that was actually quite damaging and dangerous for young people. In fact at the time there were a wide number of concerns that were raised. In fact we heard from the Hon Tracey Martin that there were 1852 submitters to the original amendment bill back in 2017. I think it was 79 percent—I know it was in the high 70s—were anti - these changes. Now the fact that we only had 18 submitters I think in this last bill tells me that those people that were anti in the first place are very happy that we're actually repealing that piece of legislation now. So I just want to read this bit here about the original communities of online learning (COOLs)—there was no requirement for a COOL to use the New Zealand curriculum teachers did not need to be registered and children of any school age were allowed to attend a COOL instead of a school. Any age—that means any child from five years old could go to a COOL an online learning environment. Now while that might not sound that bad for the children that are coming from isolated areas—those children can attend kura now that are in isolated areas—where it becomes particularly disturbing is the number of children that are unable to be sustained in the physical schooling system from the age of five because supports had not been put in place year after year after year. So this Government has had to pick up a system without the appropriate learning supports to be able to sustain children with severe behavioural or learning needs. We've had to pick up a system that has been completely underfunded. The answer from the previous Government was to put those children in front of a virtual network—to put those children in front of a COOL. That is why we are actually getting rid of this piece of legislation now and looking at the future—bringing in all of the educators and the parents of children who need that provision and listening to them in a proper way and consulting in a proper way rather than just using it as a political distraction to say that we are dealing with those children who can't sustain schooling. I know children as young as five who have been excluded from school and who still haven't been back to school four years later because the supports have not been available. I now want to talk about the cohort legislation. This is the bit that I am really excited about. I am excited that we are finally listening to the advice from the Advisory Group on Early Learning from 2015—the advice of the then National Government's Advisory Group on Early Learning. I've spoken about that in my previous speeches here. I was a member of that particular group but I take my hat off to those other people who were on that group: amazing academics in early childhood education and wonderful practitioners in early childhood education who understand child development better than anybody else I've ever had the privilege to have a conversation with in this space. Those people said very clearly that we cannot let young people start school before the age of five. Even five can be considered very early on a global standard. Now when we've heard it can be just as long as eight weeks actually eight weeks in the life of a five-year-old is quite a length of time and actually can make a big huge difference in the development of a child. Now as a former school principal I know that when children start school there is a triangular relationship between the school the parent and the early childhood provider. It is really important that we listen to all of those providers but it is also really important that we bring our professional expertise to that conversation as well because I'd say that out of any parent that I've had with children starting school at the age of five probably about 95 percent of them would have told me that their children were ready at four because we all know that all of our children are brilliant. I'm not being facetious; we all know that all of our children are brilliant because every child is. But my professional side to me—the knowledge the skills the expertise that I bring along with the knowledge the skills and the expertise that the early childhood teacher brings—I must put that first and foremost. The evidence-based research that I am privy to I must put that first and foremost because that is in the best interests of the child. That is what this bill is about here today. As I've said before we are putting some great wrongs absolutely right here today and that is why I am absolutely delighted to commend this bill to the House.