Macindoe Tim; Rurawhe AdrianHon TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West): Kia ora e Te Mana Whakawā. Tēnā koutou e Te Whare. This is a very sad day for our country. Today is a day when members opposite should be hanging their heads in shame because today is the day when they're turning their backs on some of the most vulnerable young people and communities in our country. It's a day when members opposite in this coalition Government are confirming their refusal to listen to impassioned appeals from community leaders iwi leaders the staff and families connected with our country's partnership schools and many many concerned New Zealanders. It's a day when they proclaim that dogma trumps evidence and that their We know best." arrogance matters more than the experience passion commitment and achievements of those who teach mentor and learn in our partnership schools. It may well be the day when the Ardern-Peters Government triggers its foreshore and seabed moment.Māoridom will not forgive them or forget this breach of trust. And it was very well articulated earlier by the Hon Nikki Kaye as she spoke at length about the iwi leaders and the claim that is currently before the Waitangi Tribunal. The Hon Willie Jackson interjected several times while the Hon Nikki Kaye was speaking of Sir Toby Curtis Dame Tariana Turia and those other very experienced very well respected iwi leaders that they don't know what they're talking about and just in case it wasn't picked up by the Hansard reporters I want to put that on the record now: that the Hon Willie Jackson several times interjected that Dame Tariana Sir Toby Pem Bird and all the others who we've been talking about don't know what they're talking about. And I'll come back to the Hon Willie Jackson a little bit later because it got even worse in one of the most incoherent and unconvincing speeches I've ever heard in this House.The Minister of Education Hon Chris Hipkins justified his decision to close all partnership schools on the grounds that one partnership school failed early on and had to close. There's no doubt one did close down soon after its establishment but what a fatuous argument that is. On that basis every State and integrated school in the country should now be closing down because a small number of them have problems with bullying truancy and underachievement. Yet most State independent and integrated schools in our country are doing incredibly well and so are most partnership schools. So why punish all for the problems of a few? It makes no sense it's cruel and worse than that it flies in the face of all the evidence that those partnership schools were making a difference to young people in a way that no previous education system no previous school had ever made.I have been so impressed by those who have advocated for partnership schools in recent years but even more so I have been impressed by the huge impact that they have made. I mentioned in a previous debate on this bill that when I visited a partnership school the thing that really struck me was the tremendous atmosphere of respect the sense of purpose of the young people there because there I saw young people for whom finally the lights had come on and an understanding of the value of an education had become apparent to them. Yet as I mentioned we then had to listen to an appalling and disjointed rant from the Hon Willie Jackson who let's remember is a serial party-hopper who now finds it convenient for his own political comfort and perks at this moment to turn his back on all he claimed to believe just a few years ago including about choice and opportunities in education.It was Willie Jackson who said not so long ago "I truly believe in the partnership school model." When Labour was in Opposition and he was a leading figure in the Māori Party he said "The opposition's stance on partnership schools won't get a pass mark from me. And as far as Māori are concerned" said Mr Jackson "Labour's Education spokesperson Chris Hipkins' Private Members Bill to scrap partnership schools [ranks] an E." and so it went on. He was supported by the man who is now an Associate Minister of Education the Hon Peeni Henare who said "The bottom line is why would you stop something that is working." and he was talking of course about partnership schools. This is the man—the Hon Willie Jackson—who told the nation the day after Labour's humiliating defeat in the 2014 election that Pākehā New Zealanders have rejected the Labour Party and yet for some reason Māori have embraced them. Willie Jackson shrugged his shoulders concluding "It's hard to work out." There's a real irony there.Willie Jackson said "Why on earth would Māori support Labour MPs committed to such policies as abolishing partnership schools?" Well he was right when he pointed out how incomprehensible that was although he won't thank me of course for reminding the nation today of those comments or of the contempt he felt for New Zealanders who voted Labour just four years ago. Yet today he has done a total about-face and proudly embraces his current party's cruel indifference to vulnerable tamariki and communities the length and breadth of our country and he insults respected Māori leaders he once worked hard to support. We can only hope that with his record of serial party-hopping he will once again come to support partnership schools when he emerges as an ACT Party candidate in 2020.In 2008 the National Party campaigned on a clear promise to introduce national standards in our primary schools. Yet again today the Minister of Education repeated his trite irrelevant and disingenuous claim that they were neither national nor standard. Yet he consistently ignores the reasons why they were introduced and the support that they secured at the polls from New Zealanders.The evidence that underpinned their introduction was that a decade or more ago too many parents found out too late that their children were not developing the literacy and numeracy skills that are the foundations of a successful education. Without literacy and numeracy young people are not going to be able to succeed in education and their life choices will be severely restricted as a result and yet we have a Government today that says "We don't need to give parents that information." even though a decade ago parents were saying "If only I had known in time I would have sought the remedial assistance that my children required." But no this education Minister says "We're not interested in the parents getting that information. We're much more interested in dogma overtaking our decision making in education." So that's why I say this is a very sad day for our country.Let me turn just very briefly to the tertiary education fees-free policy enforcement provisions in this bill because what we have there is a Government spraying the cash around—it is a hugely expensive policy which didn't have any real evidence behind it—and yet now we know that it's making no significant difference at all in driving up enrolments in our tertiary education centres. Well in the committee stage the Minister admitted that he hadn't looked into the question of whether this was a policy open to fraud. Then he came back the next morning and said "Oops! I have looked into it and yes you're right—there is some. But I'll still have to go and do a little bit of work on it." In the little bit of time left to me I would say get on with that work quickly Minister. That is a huge oversight in your administration and you will be judged for it.Let me just conclude on a positive note. I was very proud to serve briefly as the Associate Minister of Education—Simeon Brown: A very good Associate Minister. Hon TIM MACINDOE: —in the Government of Sir Bill English—thank you Mr Brown. In that time we were able to point to clear evidence of improving results particularly in NCEA and particularly for our Māori and Pasifika students. It was up from 51.6 percent for Māori in 2008. NCEA-level achievement in 2016 for those young Māori was 74.9 percent or virtually 75 percent and it was even better the improvement that we saw for Pasifika students: up from 50.5 percent in 2008 to nearly 80 percent in 2016. We as a Government were prepared to put out measurements by which we could be judged. We delivered and this Government is sweeping it all away to the great detriment—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): Order! The member's time has expired. I call Jan Tinetti—five minutes."