Tolley Anne: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Tolley Anne: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 18 August 2010. Volume:665;Page:13232. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister of Education) 
: 
 Well I am absolutely astounded. I am absolutely amazed to hear in this House that after 9 years of Labour in the best years—in fact they were described as the best years of a generation— 
Dr Cam Calder 
: The golden years. 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY 
:—the golden years—of Government surpluses that we could only dream of everything going for it that under a Labour Government the real after-tax increase in wages was 3 percent. It was 3 percent after 9 years and that happened in the first 4 years— 
Hon Members 
: Rubbish! 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY 
: Members opposite say that that is rubbish. Well we know that they did not listen to advice. We know that they never listened to any of the advice. They did not help New Zealand. They did not help ordinary New Zealanders with all that. They did not help ordinary New Zealanders by reducing taxes until right up to the last when they thought they would lose an election. In fact they drove up Government spending. They did what Labour Governments have done every time they get into Government and they get a bit of money: they spray it round like confetti. Anyone who had a little programme who had a little itch it was scratched by Labour dishing out heaps of money. They had programmes plans strategies and initiatives but what did that achieve? It achieved a real increase in wages of 3 percent over 9 years. That is pathetic—absolutely pathetic. Then when the previous Labour Government was kicked out by the public who knew it was pathetic it left the incoming National Government with an economic mess. It left a Government absolutely riddled with promises for expenditure. 
I came into the tertiary education sector as the Minister for Tertiary Education and found half a billion dollars—half a billion dollars—promised but not funded. That was half a billion dollars. It was right throughout the sector. Young people were out of jobs out of school and with no literacy and numeracy skills. That is the most outrageous thing that the previous Labour Government did. It failed the young people of New Zealand. 
Grant Robertson 
: So last century. 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY 
: Labour members knew what they needed to do. In fact Trevor Mallard as Opposition spokesperson on education said in 1998 that a national system of benchmark testing was needed so that principals and teachers could significantly raise standards in schools and help New Zealand to regain its status as a world leader in education. He knew that in 1998. Those members knew from research that was undertaken like the Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis and  
Strengthening Education in Mangere and Otara 
 what needed to be done to lift the numeracy and literacy skills of young children in our schools. But what did those members do? They ignored that and let those kids fail. For 10 years they stood by and watched as the unions stopped them—the unions stopped them—from implementing what Trevor Mallard knew had to be done: setting benchmarks so that we clearly understand what children need to know and by when. 
So what was the first thing that this National Government did? It introduced the national standards that Trevor Mallard talked about. “So last century.” the member said. What about the kids who are suffering in this century because they did not get that help from the so-last-century Labour Government? Well this Government has acted and quite frankly the previous Labour Government should hang its head in shame for failing up to one in five New Zealand children in our schools—up to one in five. That is 150000-odd kids. How many of them have been cast out on to the streets in this recession not only with no skills or qualifications but not able to read write or do maths at anywhere near the level they need to get an apprenticeship or even a semi-skilled job? When we talk to some of the employers they shake their heads. They ask how a compulsory education system could allow kids to go through school for 8 or 9 years and come out unable to write a sentence or fill in a simple employment form. They ask how that could happen. The previous Government knew what to do. There was good research put out on the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study of 2001.