Moroney Sue: General Debate 
Moroney Sue: General Debate 
[Volume:663;Page:10983] 
SUE MORONEY (Labour) 
: 
 Tomorrow we get to learn the exact nature of the betrayal. Tomorrow we get to know the exact nature of the betrayal of preschool and early education children. Before the election it was a high priority and even into last year John Key still said that early childhood education was a high priority. But suddenly the sentence slipped out of his speeches. Suddenly that went and what has it been replaced by? It has been replaced by the Minister of Finance telling us that it now constitutes low-value spending and must be cut. It must be cut in tomorrow’s Budget because suddenly our 3 and 4-year-olds constitute low-value spending when once they were a high priority under this Government. The families and the parents of those children believed the Government but they are about to be betrayed. 
Let us listen to what the National members said prior to the election about early childhood education. I quote Paula Bennett who said before the election “we want to assure parents that our policy is not going to mean an increase in fees for them”. That was Paula Bennett National spokesperson on early childhood education before the 2008 election. But what has changed? This week the Prime Minister John Key confirmed that some parents will pay more for early childhood education. “All I can tell you” he said “is that some parents may be affected in the Budget but certainly not the majority … some may pay more.” 
Well let us have a look at what that majority might look like. One of the things the media has been speculating on is that the funding cut for early childhood education will come for those centres that employ 80 to 100 percent of qualified staff. What would that mean? Currently 2211 early childhood education services access that funding band. So what does that mean for families? It means 108000 children—I say that again 108000 children—and their families will be affected if that funding cut is made to early childhood education tomorrow. I notice that all of the National Government members across the way have gone quiet with the exception of Paul Quinn. He may think that it is OK for 108000 children and their families to face the prospect of increasing cost to their families because that is what will happen if that funding cut goes ahead tomorrow. Sixty percent of all the children in early childhood education services in 2009 were in services that would be affected by that funding cut. 
If National goes ahead with that funding cut could it still claim that it has not touched 20 hours’ free early childhood education? It could not. Parents with their children accessing 20 hours’ free early childhood education if they are in one of those 2211 centres will face the prospect of higher fees even for those 20 hours. That is the nature of the betrayal that we could well be seeing tomorrow. What will we see in return? We will see the wealthy getting wealthier. That is a thing that I think is disgraceful about the prospect of cutting funding to early childhood education. Suddenly all we hear from National is that that is too costly. It used to be a high priority but suddenly it is too costly. What is it too costly for? It is too costly because the Government wants to give whopping-big tax cuts to the wealthiest people in this country. That is where the money will be going from early childhood education. Make no mistake about it: it will be money out of middle and low income families for their children’s education into the pockets of the wealthiest people in this country. That is what we will be facing. 
I was interested to hear National members talk about how they will judge their own Budget on fairness and equity—well so will I. The fairness and equity I will be looking for is where the money goes from early childhood education—how many millions. The prospect I am laying out is that possibly 108000 children and their families will be affected by this. That is on top of and as well as the 11000 families we already know that the Government has made a decision to disadvantage by cutting the childcare allowance. That is a totally different entitlement but it affects the same group of families as well. Tomorrow we will learn just the extent of the betrayal.