Macindoe Tim; Tolley AnneHon TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West): Kia ora e Te Mana Whakawā. Tēnā koutou e Te Whare. Tonight is a great night for some people. It's a great night for the education unions but it's a very sad one for parents caregivers and those of our young people who are most at risk. It is a great night for the We Know Best Brigade" in the Labour Party caucus—and there are plenty of them and they have felt that way for a very long time. They have asserted that opinion sometimes in quite a pious fashion while they've been in Opposition and yet even they couldn't quite believe when they cobbled together a Government that suddenly they had the numbers to do something that actually the public of New Zealand has not requested. [Interruption] So it's a great night for those people but at the same time it is a very sad night for those who live—and I hope the members opposite instead of chirping away to each other will instead sit back and reflect on this because they claim to represent these people in the Parliament and they lecture us frequently about the needs of these people. But this tonight is a very sad night for those in our small less advantaged communities where the benefits of educational choice and opportunity are so vitally needed—most vitally needed. A successful education is the greatest gift that our society can offer those children and those communities. And it is a great night for those who believe that all children should be educated in a one-size-fits-all model of State education but it's an incredibly sad night for those whose children and tamariki have always struggled in that environment and who have the evidence to back their belief that a range of options work better and provide hope and real opportunity to communities whānau and children where and when alternative models and systems can be life-changing and successful. I ask all members who are present in the House tonight: which deprived community of New Zealand will be improved by the demise of the kura hourua model partnership schools? Silence—no one opposite can tell me a single community in New Zealand that will be improved by the demise of the partnership school model and yet tonight they are determined to put one more nail in their coffin. I ask members: which young person who previously fell through the cracks and was destined to become another juvenile delinquent statistic will be better off by the demise of the partnership school that for the first time in his or her young life inspired motivated and encouraged them to achieve; to discover their talents and potential; to gain hope self-esteem and purpose in the process because that's what they offer? And what is the answer opposite again?Dan Bidois: None.Hon TIM MACINDOE: None as Mr Bidois has said; a deafening silence from the members opposite.And yet for ideological reasons to appease a certain faction in the education union movement they carry on in this way determined to ignore the evidence determined not to listen to the submissions of those who came to the select committee—not just at the time that this bill was being considered but at the time that the partnership school model was first introduced. I acknowledge the ACT Party; it's good to see David Seymour here tonight. And his predecessors—I want to acknowledge Catherine Isaac who was such an impressive submitter when I was on the select committee several years ago who brought the evidence to show that this was a model that could work where no others have. So this is a tragic night for those young people for those who work with them for those who care for them and by extension for all of our communities who will be the poorer and who will pay the price for their demise.Earlier at the start of this second reading the Minister focused on three issues. He commenced by talking about the removal of national standards and he used his cliché that I've heard him utter so many times—that they were neither national nor standard. Well how trite and how completely that misses the point. Now this Government ignores the fact that national standards may not have been a panacea may not have been a cure-all for problems but they provided vital evidence in a timely fashion for families and caregivers who needed that and for schools who could use that to inform their decisions and to enable them to target resources to best effect—to enable young children in particular to gain remedial attention if they were falling behind in those building blocks of a solid education: literacy and numeracy. Without that achievement at an early age a young person is almost certain to fail as he or she progresses through to intermediate and secondary education.Chlöe Swarbrick: So where was the investment?Hon TIM MACINDOE: As a former secondary educator—I say this to Ms Swarbrick—I have seen over and over again how vital it is for young people to have those building blocks cemented at an early age. And I don't claim for one moment that national standards guaranteed them but it certainly gave the information that was required to inform necessary intervention when it became apparent that those young people were missing out.The Hon Nikki Kaye in her excellent speech quoted from the poll that showed a huge number—tens of thousands of New Zealanders—had been asked for their opinion and overwhelmingly they said "Retain national standards. Don't get rid of them." The evidence is there that they are a useful tool in the tool kit for our schools.The Minister went on to talk about the disestablishment of partnership schools that he seems to be so delighted about. I've already mentioned my thoughts about that and I simply reiterate what a travesty of a policy and a tragedy it is for the vulnerable children who are being cast aside to appease the unions in a failed one-size-fits-all model.I think all MPs have received the open letter from Sir Toby Curtis the Hon Dame Tariana Turia Dame Iritana Tāwhiwhirangi and Pem Bird—a very highly respected educator from close to your region Madam Deputy Speaker. These are people who would not normally be expected to endorse a National Party position or an ACT Party position on education but they do so—not because it's National or ACT policy but because it is successful policy. It is sound pedagogy. It is evidence of something that works. In their letter—and they write in an impassioned way to the Prime Minister—they say "We know and we believe you would share our view if you looked carefully at the evidence that these schools are delivering results that are significantly better than they could ever have achieved in the State-run system. Your Government"—they say to the Prime Minister—"is now compelling them to return to that system the one that has been failing our tamariki for 178 years. The 'designated character' model sounds attractive but has none of the key drivers that have made our schools so successful."The authors of this letter plead with the Prime Minister and with her Ministers to visit those schools and see and understand for themselves what has enabled them to achieve so much. I have been to one. I know many of my colleagues on this side of the House have been in some cases to several. I was so impressed by the character by the ethos by the respect by the sense of purpose by what was being achieved. Why on earth would any compassionate realistic person want to get rid of such an effective model?The authors of the letter concluded by saying "Prime Minister we ask you to intervene unequivocally this week to stop the destruction of the kura hourua model and ensure that justice and fairness prevail." I think every fair-minded New Zealander would echo that plea. Here we have a Government that is more interested in the governance of tertiary institutions bowing again to union pressure than they are to listening to parents and those who work so closely with vulnerable children.The Minister asserted that there's no question that the current governance model of our tertiary institutions has failed spectacularly and yet not one person in my region the Waikato has indicated that view. I look at the governance structure of the University of Waikato and Wintec—they are working incredibly well. This bill is a travesty.DEPUTY SPEAKER: This is a split call. I call Jo Luxton."