Paraone Pita: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Paraone Pita: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:615;Page:10904] 
PITA PARAONE (NZ First) 
: 
 A tena koe Madam Speaker a tena ano koe ara tatou katoa mo te tau hou nei. Tenei te tau e ki nei wa tatou whanaunga hou mai i Haina te tau mo nga makimaki. 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
Thank you Madam Speaker. Greetings again to you and indeed to all of us in this new year which our new friends from China refer to as the year of the monkey 
.] 
Yesterday we heard the Prime Minister outline a blueprint of the Government’s plan for this country over the next 12 months. She also alluded to the Government’s achievement to date particularly when she said: “We built the foundations for change and improvement and now we can see the results emerging from the seeds sown much earlier in our first term.” Can I say that the seeds that have been sown are the seeds of discontent. If that is not enough they have been added to by comments made by the National Party and may I say with some passion. 
I want to refer to an example of these seeds of discontent. In today’s  
New Zealand Herald 
 coverage is given to the review of schools in an area of the mid-north that I am quite familiar with. It is an area occupied by a sub-tribe that I belong to—Ngati Hine. We have been led to believe by the Minister of Education that all of this is being done to improve the quality of education for our children. I point out to the Government that the education that has been provided through these schools—from the past to the present—has seen many of their former pupils gain academic success to a level that has far exceeded that of their parents. Today we see many occupying senior positions of responsibility in our society and even overseas. Politicians dare I say it are also included. One school even produced a knight of the realm.  
As an aside members of this House might recognise some of the names that appear in the photograph of the honours board of one of the schools affected by the Government’s review.If those former pupils are able to achieve in the way they have on the basis of the education they received then I have to ask how are we going to improve on that education. I am therefore suggesting that the quality-of-education argument for these school closures is rather weak. I suggest that the underlying reason is pure economics but with no assurance whatsoever that the so-called fiscal savings from these closures will be utilised to provide the quality education spoken about.  
I also want to pose this question to the Government: how will this quality education that the Minister talks about help those students who will now have to spend an extra hour getting to school and another extra hour returning home? In no way will they be able to learn due to fatigue. With regard to that matter I want to quote the Prime Minister’s answer to a question during question time. She said the Government would get on in terms of meeting the needs of the needy. It is true that my fellow tribesmen of Ngati Hine are in need but the closure of the three schools in their area is not one of those needs.  
I want to comment briefly on Waitangi Day. First I want to take the opportunity on behalf of my elders to apologise to those members of this House who were treated in a way that was outside the protocols of our tribe in the north. I want to apologise for that treatment because it is not typical of the way we treat our visitors. But can I also say that the difficulties that we have at Waitangi have their genesis in this House and I remind members that I made that very point in my maiden speech. If we want to do something about it then we have to look at ourselves.