Martin Tracey: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMartin Tracey: General Debate[Sitting date: 29 April 2015. Volume:704;Page:3010. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]TRACEY MARTIN (Deputy Leader—NZ First):Kia ora Mr Speaker. I would like to spend my time talking about education. It was interesting to have the Minister of Education speak quite fervently about the wonderful things that this Government is doing in those members’ view for education here in New Zealand and I want to take my time to stand up particularly for Hato Pētera College because somebody has to—because somebody has to.I want to point out in the House today that this Government has gone on and on and on—particularly when it was working in consultation with the ACT Party around the opening of charter schools—saying that it was passionate about achievement for Māori students and passionate about making sure that Māori students have the best possible academic start in this country. That was why for example it gave $1.68 million to Te Kura Hourua ki Whangaruru up in the far north—because it was passionate about Māori students. It handed over a farm with taxpayers’ money and it gave it away because of how passionate it was about Māori students. Yet the other thing that the general public may not be aware of is that since 2009—in today’s current Budget in this education year—close to $4 million has also been handed over by this Government to private schools in Aspire Scholarships. So this again was from working way back with the ACT Party in 2005 I think it was.The Government has now budgeted close to $4 million—$3.9 million—in Aspire Scholarships to give to private schools to try to lift academic achievement. Wanganui Collegiate School was one of those schools and Destiny School was one of those schools and yet only $576000 has ever been put aside by this Government for boarding schools directly catering for Māori students. So that is close to $4 million from this Government and its partner the ACT Party to subsidise private schools and take children out of fine public schools and fund them to go into private schools but there was only $576000 in the 2014 Budget to actually support Māori students going into Māori schools and boarding them there so that those living in isolated rural areas who show promise can go to schools such as Hato Pētera College.Let us also have a talk about how this Minister has lauded the outcomes of some of these charter schools. Let us take the fact that the Minister and the member for the ACT Party stood up and talked about Vanguard Military School for example achieving 100 percent outcomes in the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) and yet there was not a single word from that Minister when in 2013 Hato Pētera College had 100 percent NCEA achievement—100 percent. And how did it get it? Hato Pētera College has introduced a programme with past students who go on to study at the Auckland University of Technology which is just around the road and is well connected to the school in Northcote. Those past students come back and mentor current students. That is future thinking about education. That is futureproofing the education of these Māori students.Hato Pētera College has also opened a military services academy on the grounds of the college but is there a word from the Minister to acknowledge Hato Pētera College’s future forward planning? Not a single word. She will stand and she will talk about a private profit-making institution funded by taxpayers’ money laud it in this House and pat the ACT Party on the head but not give a single word of support for Hato Pētera College. All this school requires is for the Minister to support it in conversation with the Catholic Diocese of Auckland. The diocese was gifted that land for Māori education.There are other problems with land gifted for Māori education that this Government should be addressing directly and it should be releasing that information. If the Minister says that the Government is so transparent in education then why is it so difficult for my colleague to gain any information around the sale of Māori land in the Wairarapa that was given for educational trusts?Before I finish my time I want to raise two other issues. First of all I want to congratulate the Northern Action Group on its success in its court ruling after it was summarily dismissed by the Local Government Commission in its attempts to have the northern part of Rodney removed from the super-city of Auckland.I also want to put a shout out to Salisbury School which is being strangled by this Government. Salisbury School is down to 9 students. They are the highest-need students and this Government has decided to kill that school through silence—kill it through non-recommendation. This school is required for these students and yet this Government will kill off this school within a year.