Bidois DanDAN BIDOIS (National—Northcote): I can see the Labour Party brought out the big guns today in Kiri Allan Ron Mark and Rino Tirikatene.This Government overpromised in education and it has failed to deliver. They talked a big game about caring for teachers and for the betterment of our children but their actions do not reflect their aspirations or their rhetoric. They talked about improving teachers' pay reducing class sizes and addressing teacher skill shortages and workload management but the feedback from the people in Northcote and the schools that I've heard from is that they've done nothing zilch diddly-squat—next to diddly-squat. The results are that I fear for our future. I fear that our kids will not reach their potential that our education system will fall behind and that we will not ultimately have an economy fit for purpose and increasing the standards of living that we all want for our country.The National Party backs these communities and our teachers and our students. We're an aspirational party who believes in the power of education to transform lives. If your kid can't succeed in the mainstream education system we back community approaches where your child can and will succeed and that is what partnership schools are all about.Let me tell you about partnership schools. We've got 10 or 11 and they have a unique approach where they're bulk funded and there's flexibility in the curriculum and the way it's delivered. We've got one just outside my electorate called Vanguard Military School but most recently on Monday I was privileged to attend the South Auckland Middle School with my leader and hopefully Prime Minister in 2020 Simon Bridges and the Hon Nikki Kaye. Alwyn and the team out in this middle school are doing fantastic things and getting great outcomes for over 150 students in areas like math education and science and technology and these kids were not achieving well in mainstream education.There is demand for schools like these where the roll of this particular school in particular is well oversubscribed. Parents want to send their kids to these schools.These are the kinds of schools that we want to roll out to improve the engagement of our Māori and Pasifika and those who have not succeeded in education. One of those is me. I left school at 15 years of age with no qualifications—nothing but a sense of my own destiny and a belief that my own life would be a hell of a lot better than in mainstream education. Had one of these schools been around maybe I would have stayed in longer. Maybe I would have been able to go on further in my life than what I have done.So why is this Government continuing to bash partnership schools and not continuing with these? It can't be because they're not achieving great things for our kids because we've proven that they are. It can't be for cost reasons because they're actually a hell of a lot cheaper than for kids in the mainstream. There can be only one reason: ideology. Labour don't like it when the State isn't providing education. They don't believe in communities and private enterprise who know their area and their kids a hell of a lot better than this Government bureaucracy can ever do. In fact Labour thinks it knows the best pathway to success and that is why they're getting rid of charter schools.I just want to say that if re-elected in 2020 our leader Simon Bridges is committed to reinstating the partnership model. Unlike this Government we back communities and these kids and we're not prepared to let these kids and their potential be squandered.National is committed to ensuring that every Kiwi kid has the opportunity to succeed and to do their very best in life. That is why I am very much a proud member of the National Party and why we're working hard to bring partnership models back. Thank you.The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.