Jones Dail: General Debate 
Jones Dail: General Debate 
[Volume:646;Page:15054] 
DAIL JONES (NZ First) 
: 
 I move  
That the House take note of miscellaneous business 
. One of the issues that have been of great interest to the House in today’s question time has been tax cuts. What is extremely important to remember—and this is New Zealand First policy—is that first people have to have jobs before they can pay tax. New Zealand First supports a policy of high employment and good wages. If the economy ever does get into any trouble tax cuts usually take second place. First of all as earners we want to make sure we have a job and it is only if we have a job that we then have to worry about paying tax. Some members who go on about tax cuts should remember that high employment and a well-paid job are the things that are of most importance to all concerned. 
In keeping with the issue of high employment the question arises about the proposed New Zealand - China Free Trade Agreement. The leader of New Zealand First said today at a meeting in Stratford: “Let me be clear—our policy position has not changed we do not favour FTAs with low wage economies. We have not seen the full details of the proposed China FTA—so we cannot respond in detail. But we would make this point—both Labour and National have already nailed their colours to the China FTA mast. When we look at the China FTA we will ensure that retirees are not caught in the cross-fire.” and I would add that we will ensure that New Zealanders’ jobs are not placed in peril as a result of the crossfire. If people do not have a job there is no point talking about tax cuts because they are not paying any tax at all. 
The issue that I really want to speak about today is the problem that arose with the first major analysis of our schools’ National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) marking system which indicates there are grave deficiencies in the way in which many of our children are being treated by the NCEA system. Some students have been given over-exaggerated marks and others have been given lower marks that have potentially prevented them from obtaining university entrance. The wider community including employers must have confidence in the NCEA system. The deputy chief executive qualifications division of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority Bali Haque is frank about the situation and has identified a number of reasons why schools may have had better than expected or worse than expected results. Included in these reasons are that teachers did not mark to the national standard for the internals. 
He was also frank in indicating that the New Zealand Qualifications Authority will contact schools through the school relationship manager to discuss assessment practices in the subjects for which there were outliers and provide advice guidance and monitoring if appropriate. 
Of course the situation is very much in keeping with New Zealand First’s policy at the last election when we made it clear that we need to conduct an immediate inquiry into and maintain an ongoing review of NCEA its assessment systems and in particular the setting of standards and management of the assessment processes by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority. Our policy has been very clear and it has proved to be correct on this issue as our policies are on many occasions bearing in mind of course that our policies are often copied by other political parties. 
New Zealand First believes that education is a critical social and economic investment in our country. In the formative educational years of New Zealanders from early childhood education through to compulsory schooling NCEA is the zenith of our schooling system. It should be a system that is totally beyond reproach. It should be a system that works fairly for all New Zealanders so that no one is disadvantaged or advantaged by the manner of its operation. The New Zealand Qualifications Authority of course is to be congratulated on undertaking the assessment so early in the life of the NCEA exams and in keeping with New Zealand First policy; and it is to be equally congratulated on supplying the information upon which the criticism is based. We hope that we can also congratulate the New Zealand Qualifications Authority on the assessment process that takes place to make sure these difficulties do not arise in the future. I see in the latest  
Education Gazette 
 that it is appointing additional moderators—I think about 33 moderators—to help with reducing the problem in the future. 
New Zealand has a high standing in the educational world and those people who are interested in sending their children to study here will appreciate that there is a rigorous overview of NCEA and the New Zealand education system generally. That overview ensures that we are transparent and will take all necessary steps to ensure our education system and the education industry are scrutinised and adjusted to prevent any question of favouritism or other more severe criticism. As I say we want to make sure that in New Zealand we have high employment and that people actually have jobs. It is only then that people will be paying tax and worrying about tax cuts.