Martin Tracey; Brown Simeon; Rurawhe AdrianHon TRACEY MARTIN (NZ First): Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker. I thought I would rise and enter a logical reasonable responsible practical debate and then I came down and listened to the National Opposition talk.First of all what's really unfortunate is the ignorance that has been shown about how the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand is actually funded. It was one of the over 1000 submissions that was put in when the National Government—having commissioned a review that said there are supports that need to be put in place for the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand. The National Government decided to throw it all out completely and take that opportunity to know better than the sector and 100 percent appoint—so to remove all democracy whatsoever from the teaching fraternity. When they asked for support they were removed 100 percent by that National Government because that National Government wanted to shoulder-tap and hand-pick individuals by which to start and continue the privatisation of the education system of New Zealand. That's what this was about. It was one piece of legislation in a suite of pieces of legislation that not only decided that they were going to privatise the education system—so first of all let's be clear: teachers fund this organisation. Teachers pay—through their levies through their registration fees—for this organisation. We mentioned—it was drawn again and again and again to our attention—no taxation without representation and that's exactly what this Government is doing.This is not an indictment on the people who are currently on the Education Council. They have done the best job they could working under the previous administration that actually didn't believe in public education. They did the best job they could inside the parameters they had. What this Minister of Education is doing is returning democracy so we return some of the status that was taken away by that organisation by the National Party over the last nine years. That is why there were crowds of teachers out on the streets in the last few days. That is why yesterday they left the classroom: nine years of being abused and disabused by that party; nine years of trying to get some recognition.I sat on the Education and Science Committee. I listened to Mr Macindoe have a go about how everybody can teach. I listened to Mr Colin King who was a member of the National Party at that time saying that actually It's not the education you have; it's the school tie that will make a difference to your future." That is what I listened to when we were talking about education bills in this House. So that's the first thing. First of all this is not taxpayers' money; this is actually the teachers' money. The teachers—900-and-something of them—asked for this to happen.I noticed that Mr Macindoe brought up the fact that we decided to listen to the children of New Zealand as well and remove the word "vulnerable". That is what the children asked for and that is what we have given the children. The fact that he made some statement about spending—again it was incorrect because the signs hadn't gone up because the CEO of Oranga Tamariki knew that it was better to spend that money on children in the first instance until we got the name that the children asked for.What we have got here is finally recognition of the teaching profession—a profession that should be trusted to be able to elect their own representatives on to the board that they fund. That is what this is about.I'm actually going to now put out a challenge to anybody on Facebook. Count up the number of times Mr Simeon Brown mentioned the word "union" and I will post you a chocolate fish. The first person to Facebook message me with the number of times that Mr Simeon Brown mentioned the word "union" as the greatest evil on the planet and I will send you a chocolate fish. I thank you Mr Brown. I thank you Mr Brown for clearly articulating the roots of the National Opposition how they dislike it when workers come together collectively and when workers actually stand up for each other and ask for democratic representation. Thank you Mr Brown for your speech. Thank you for putting it on the record. I put that challenge out: there's a chocolate fish on the way to the first person who can tell me how many times Mr Brown mentioned the word "union".SIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga): I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I just want to take a little bit of concern at the fact that she might put a chocolate fish in the mail.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): That's not a point of order."