Belich CamillaCAMILLA BELICH (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. It is a pleasure to take a call on the Regulatory Systems (Education) Amendment Bill which I have supported since it was first introduced to the House under the previous Government and how could anyone not support this bill in terms of the stuff that it implements? It is a relatively simple bill and an omnibus bill. It includes changes to the Ngarimu VC and 28th (Māori) Battalion Memorial Scholarship Fund—some scholarships for some Māori students there. It establishes a new regime and a new board there. It establishes and continues the Pacific Education Foundation trust and redefines Aotearoa Pacific person" to make that clearer. It also re-emphasises the unique relationship that New Zealand has with some other Pacific Island countries—which is I think something that we'd all welcome in this House—and further scholarships. Then finally it also provides for police vetting for those creches that many of us parents probably think that we'll use more than we actually do. But at gyms and malls and those types of short-term childcare centres of course we need to have a police vet for those people who are taking care of our children. So it was with dismay that when this bill was first introduced those opposite who now have swapped benches with us were opposed to it. In fact the Minister who introduced the bill to the House was very concerned she said at the time about regulatory creep and she was talking about how there are other more important issues in the education sector. Now I don't want to take away from the mana of these organisations which are involved in this piece of legislation. I think that there was some objection to that in the first reading of this and I want to acknowledge as my colleague Kahurangi Carter has the words of Kelvin Davis who was very strong at maintaining the mana of especially the Ngarimu VC and 28th (Māori) Battalion Memorial Scholarship Fund at the time of the first reading—which I think is really important—and the Pacific Education Foundation trust is also important. I don't think we need a hierarchy of things that are important but maybe this is a prescient lesson for those who sit around this House to not undermine the importance of some of these smaller pieces of legislation just because they happened to be introduced by a party of which you are not a part. I think that's an important lesson. I mean there are things that I could talk about in education which I would like this Government to address—for example the terrible charter school legislation that it's brought in while at the same time creating a whole entire other bureaucracy of new charter schools. I could talk about the fact that the school builds have all stalled except perhaps I won't be the same as those colleagues on the other side and not support what is I think universally seen around the House as a good piece of legislation that takes forward a few small but very significant changes. Also—I think I noted it in the first reading and I'll note it here again—it is very unusual to have a part of a bill which actually has a schedule including a picture of a flag or an emblem which is a very beautiful emblem of the 28th (Māori) Battalion. So I want to acknowledge the organisations which have participated in this. I want to acknowledge the select committee which worked hard on this. I want to acknowledge my colleagues from the other side of the House who have changed their minds and now are supporting this great piece of legislation introduced by a Labour Government that makes important changes to people within our society. So I commend this bill to the House."