Logie Jan; Mallard TrevorJAN LOGIE (Green): I rise to support this member's bill  which is about restoring a code of ethics for the teaching profession. There are several reasons why the Greens are supporting the Education (Teachers' Code of Ethics) Amendment Bill. One of them is that it is a chance for this House to start rebuilding some trust with the teaching profession in this country trust that has been so comprehensively undermined by the actions of this Government  first in overriding the core principle of education—that learning should be to the needs of the child—by introducing the concept of national standards which basically eliminated the individual needs of every student from the focus of the classroom; also in terms of the introduction of the charter schools and now the further privatisation and almost eradication of decent education in the communities of learning venture.We heard from a previous speaker Jo Goodhew who said that they moved to a code of conduct because teachers have let themselves down so jolly badly. She is suggesting that we have only been listening to unions. It is true that I have not been listening to Hekia Parata when it comes to good educational guidance and I have not been listening to people in the Koru lounge. However we in the Green Party have been listening to the hundreds of teachers from schools all around this country who came to the Education and Science Committee when the bill that got rid of the code of ethics came before Parliament who said they did not want that change. That is where this bill came from: it came from listening to teachers. It is completely disingenuous to say that unions are pushing that line in opposition to teachers. That is simply just not true.We have also heard from members on that side who said that we want to go backwards to old thinking around ethics and that the new modern thinking is the code of conduct. Well actually that is just rubbish. The new modern thinking is saying that good decision-making happens within safe frameworks. The more an institution is bound by strict rules—and this is regardless of what the institution is—then the more room there is for error and the less judgment is developed. We need our teachers to be working in environments where they develop judgment because there are no rights and wrongs in good teaching. There is relationship and there is development and moving to a code of conduct moves us away from the framework that will support safe practice.I do support the previous comments made by Tracey Martin  noting the fact that it is a profession that is mostly women and that this Government—which has been characterised I think fairly as paternalistic—is moving towards telling women how to behave rather than trusting them to have their own ethics. I do think that there is a significant point in that. She gave the example that in the code of conduct there is very specific provision about practice around Te Tiriti obligations whereas the code of ethics has in it a set of principles that include a commitment to learners whānau society and the profession and confirms obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi and a commitment to Māori as tangata whenua.Anyone I would suggest as Pākehā who is engaged with Te Tiriti knows that you cannot lock that down in your learning into a sense of right or wrong. It absolutely is something that has to be developed in relationship and partnership with mana whenua. When you move away from ethics and from creating a framework for developing that understanding you lose that relationship and you lose the opportunity for growing understanding and you end up more likely with resentment and poor practice. We are pleased to support this bill.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Peseta—no sorry the Hon Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga.