Mallard Trevor: Education (Board of Trustee Freedom) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Mallard Trevor: Education (Board of Trustee Freedom) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:665;Page:13018] 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Labour—Hutt South) 
: 
 I say that if national standards is the plan if measuring is the plan then it is pretty sad. There were some classic lines in that speech by Jo Goodhew which we will share at some stage but I unlike that member will focus on the bill that is before the House. The Education (Board of Trustee Freedom) Amendment Bill is a member’s bill. 
The first question I ask is what happened to the leading education expert on the far side of the House Allan Peachey. I have been sitting here waiting and listening for Allan Peachey’s speech. Allan Peachey I think it is fair to say is a person of incredible integrity with a wonderful understanding of how bulk funding works and he is probably the person who rorted it more than anyone else in the country. He got the biggest amount of bulk funding because he was the principal of the biggest school in the country. He made enough on it to purchase a corporate box at North Harbour Stadium for his school—he is someone who knows how it works. Instead we had someone who gave a speech of which at least 80 percent was about standards which are not part of this bill at all. 
This bill is about bulk funding something that the National Party believes in. It is about competition between schools something that the National Party says it believes in. It is about performance pay something that we know all of the National Party agrees with as far as teachers are concerned. It is about giving power to boards of trustees that they do not currently have to negotiate salaries—something that the National Party believes in. With all these things that are part of the core raison d’être of the National Party part of its core beliefs why is it that not one of the National members is prepared to stand up for their principles? Why is it that not one National member is prepared to stand up and support the bill? 
I will be interested in the speech from the co-leader of the Maori Party because this bill fits very nicely with a number of things I have heard her say in the past. It fits well with Whanau Ora for example. It would allow the money to follow the students in a way that she prefers and has supported for quite a long period of time so I am interested in her point of view and the direction she will take on this bill. 
In fact I think I am just about prepared to suspend my judgment on our vote on this legislation until we have heard from the Maori Party. I ask my colleagues not to be too firm as to the way we vote because it may be that there could be even more embarrassment for National members if they were the only members to vote against this bill. Maybe we could get it to the Education and Science Committee. Then we could have discussions about National’s principles and plans for months and months and months on the basis of the bill. We could have submissions from all around the country. We could have Mr Peachey chairing the select committee on bulk funding and then we would have the view of National. So it is fair to say that it could well depend on the Maori Party. We look to see whether Ms Turia’s vote will follow her views as they have been expressed. 
Of course Labour does not think this bill is a fair approach we do not think it is a good approach but I do not want to totally rule out yet the possibility of letting the community have this discussion. It could be a good discussion for the community to have: to go over the issues around bulk funding and to look at some of the longer-term plans of National. 
At the select committee we have a couple of bits of legislation in front of us now but I think this would be a good debate to have so that we could get the clear views of the community. We could get an understanding around New Zealand about the issues of performance pay bulk funding and the role of boards of trustees. We could have that debate as I say which would be very well led by Allan Peachey.