Benson-Pope David: General Debate 
Benson-Pope David: General Debate 
[Volume:624;Page:19655] 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE (Associate Minister of Education) 
: 
 I want to begin today by talking about one of the many reasons that the young people in our school sector succeed as well as they do. A key element of that success is the fact that once again in this country behind New Zealand schools we have a strong professional and competent public service. 
We have that because we need it to support the 765000 students whom we are educating and educating successfully every day. Those students are diverse in their backgrounds and in their needs: they range in age from 5 to 18 years; 60 percent of them are Pakeha; 20 percent are Maori; 4 percent are Samoan; 2.5 percent are Chinese; and there are similar proportions of those of Indian descent—to name just some of the larger groups. In addition the education professionals within the ministry safeguard the interests of some 2700 students attending State special schools and 28500 students studying at a distance through the Correspondence School. It is this group of educationalists who provide ongoing professional development to the 44000 teachers who are committed to the learning needs of our young people. Of course all of this does not take place in a vacuum and I do not mean the vacuum that Dr Brash uses on his garage floor. Those people in 2650 schools from Te Hapua in the north to Half Moon Bay on Stewart Island are doing a fantastic job for the future of our young people. 
Now is the time for the members on the National benches and John Key in particular to front up and tell us which of those schools National is planning to close. How many of those teachers will John Key cut adrift? Which students in this country will miss out on the world-class opportunities our schools deliver because National wants to take the great leap back to the bad old days when the only answer was to slash and burn the State sector? It has taken 5½ years under a Labour-Progressive Government to build up the schooling sector and the strong public services this country needs after a decade of neglect. It was a decade in which National’s free-market “cut the bureaucracy” mantra ruled. The ultimate price was of course the price paid by the generation of Kiwis who were told under the National Party’s voodoo economics that the State and that party’s philosophy and looking after its mates were more important than the learning outcomes of our students. Well I think that was shameful. It is more shameful that National wants to repeat that folly all over again. We knew that it was a party without an emperor but even the new suit of clothes is turning out to be just well-worn flannel pyjamas. The policy is not just threadbare; it is full of holes. 
In the school sector there is a strong and competent public service that now delivers professional development to teachers and principals after National left that to the free market. The result of that lo and behold is that schools are reprioritising funding meant for that purpose towards educational purposes. We now know how little professional development ever took place under National. Contributing to the professional development of staff across the education sector is a key focus for this Government. We will spend over $67 million this year alone on helping teachers and principals further improve their skills and knowledge. That is a 125 percent increase in funding since 1999. We are not so near-sighted as to disregard the need to invest in the teaching professionals who are the key people in our classrooms. 
But I am delighted and New Zealanders should be delighted that National members have finally let the cat out of the bag. They have finally let their dirty little secret out for the public to see. The National Party wants to take New Zealand back to those dark divisive days in which it chose to run our schools our hospitals and our other important public services into the ground. I am glad to know that average New Zealanders will not have a bar of that. We saw that in the  
New Zealand Herald  
poll yesterday. New Zealanders do not want to go back there. They came through that nonsense last time and they know there is a better way. That way is about valuing people. It is about building strong and competent public services that benefit all New Zealanders not just the National Party and its elite mates. 
We have addressed the teacher supply crisis in our schools left by National from the last time it thought it had a good idea. Since 2000 more than 2700 extra full-time teaching positions have been created over and above those needed for roll growth.