Tinetti JanJAN TINETTI (Labour): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. It's very magnanimous of the Opposition here tonight to feel sorry for Jenny Marcroft taking up this bill. To Jenny I say congratulations on getting such a fine bill drawn out of the ballot because this bill is actually raising the status of the teaching profession. It's another cog in the wheel to raise the status of the teaching profession in this country and that is something that needs to happen in this country. So well done to Jenny Marcroft on that but I'd also like to acknowledge the Hon Tracey Martin who wrote this bill in the first instance. Tracey has been an amazing advocate for education in this country and I have long appreciated the work that she has done to make education stronger here in New Zealand.I would absolutely support this bill because the intent that has gone in behind this is saying that teachers matter and as a former teacher I think that is fantastic. As a former teacher a lot of people think that they could do what I did. As the previous member Tim Macindoe was also a former teacher I would absolutely 100 percent guarantee that he would agree with me that the majority of people who think that can't. Teaching is an incredibly difficult hard profession. We heard the previous speaker also ask about why we would do this when we're wanting to get more people into the profession. That is the point. If we raise the status of the profession more people want to come into the profession. Why do you think we have the numbers of people that want to study law medicine—those professions? You raise the status and more people come in—sorry Mr Assistant Speaker—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): The member—JAN TINETTI: When the status is raised more people come into the profession. It is really important. The Government wants teaching to be one of the most highly valued sought-after careers that there is and this bill is another bill that will help achieve that goal.We have already as my colleague here Jo Luxton has said passed the first reading of the Education (Teaching Council of Aotearoa) Amendment Bill. It is now before the Education and Workforce Committee and it will rename the Education Council as the Teaching Council. Interestingly enough at the time that that bill went through its first reading the Opposition had a little debate around that changing of the Education Council term to Teaching Council. But the feedback that I have had on that from teachers is that that's really important. The language really matters to people. They've said This is a Government who does care about us." and I was really surprised when the Hon Paul Goldsmith did say he doesn't see that as a big deal. Actually should I be surprised? Probably not so surprised because again it points to the Opposition trivialising teachers and trivialising the teaching profession.The teaching profession needs to have its status raised. We talked in that Education (Teaching Council of Aotearoa) Amendment Bill first reading about how people have trivialised teaching and trivialised teachers. I told the story of how when I spoke to a former electorate MP who was a National MP at the time he said to me that he didn't want his sons to be teachers because teaching wasn't a highly sought-after and highly thought of enough profession. That is an appalling attitude. We need to change that in this country. We need more people in teaching and I really commend this bill because that is one way that we can do this.Now the Opposition has brought up inconsistencies with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. That's for the select committee process which can make those refinements and look at that. That's why it is important that we send a message to our teaching profession here this evening that we are going to help raise that status of that profession by protecting their title taking it to select committee and looking at those refinements. So I commend this bill. Thank you."