Barclay ToddTODD BARCLAY (National—Clutha-Southland): It is a privilege to be able to speak on the Prime Minister's statement to take a call following my good friend and colleague here Paul Foster-Bell a list MP based in Wellington Central. It is interesting to note that there are actually no Labour Opposition members sitting in the front benches. I suspect that is probably because they are making way for the new fresh-faced Labour Opposition that will be coming through after the 2017 election.This is going to be a fantastic year for National a fantastic year for New Zealand and a superb year for Southland. We have our Prime Minister the Rt Hon Bill English as a man of Southland. Southland could not be prouder than what it is today. National has had a superb start to the year with the Prime Minister's strong statement in Parliament the other day followed by his strong announcements in the first couple of weeks of the year. National has already come through on proving that we have got fresh ideas and fresh talent and we have got a futureproofed initiative for New Zealand around regional development. Already the Prime Minister and communications Minister have announced a $300 million ultra-fast broadband package and I am proud to be the representative of Clutha-Southland an electorate whose area will benefit from 11 towns being included in the next phase of the ultra-fast broadband roll-out.Additionally the Prime Minister and the Minister of Police the Hon Paula Bennett announced a Safer Communities package a couple of weeks ago which will see the police force increase by a 10 percent rate and an additional half billion dollars spent on increasing police resourcing. The important part of that for an area such as Clutha-Southland is that all the parts of New Zealand will benefit. All 12 policing districts will benefit from additional resourcing at the discretion of the commissioner.Today I just wanted to spend a couple of minutes speaking about education. I want to acknowledge the Hon Hekia Parata who is not here at the moment in the House and I am not meant to mention that—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): No.TODD BARCLAY: —but she is not here. I want to mention her because—Hon Member: Here in spirit.TODD BARCLAY: She is here in spirit. I want to acknowledge her because I think that she will be known as the greatest Minister of Education that this country has had. The reason I want to talk about that is that—Hon Member: That's not very tactful Todd.TODD BARCLAY: No disrespect to the Assistant Speaker in his former role but the reason I want to mention that is that she has taken on the ballsy task of reforming the Education Act which in over 30 years has not been reviewed in the comprehensive way it is being reviewed. Additionally she is pushing through a funding review. It is an honour to sit on the Education and Science Committee and today to have been elected as the deputy chair of that committee as well.There are a number of changes that this Government has put forward in education over the last 8 years. We have introduced national standards under the Hon Anne Tolley. We have introduced communities of learning. There has been a funding review in light of the 45 percent increase that this Government has seen into the Vote Education area. We have seen a 45 percent increase in Vote Education. Special education funding has gone up by 35 percent as part of that and early childhood education funding has more than doubled. So if you look at the significant increase in investment that the Government has put into education the number of reforms that we have seen through under the Hon Hekia Parata the number of new programmes that are being funded and the increased funding in current existing programmes there is a real need to be able to review that funding system. She has taken on that task and she has done it in a collaborative comprehensive way with buy-in from the sector around where they think that investment needs to go.This is a child-centred approach that the Minister is putting in place. It is making parents more comfortable in being a participant in their children's learning. It is making the sector feel that they are the profession that they so strongly want to be known for and that is one thing that the Minister is fierce in advocating for on their behalf as she is getting around the region. It is also giving a greater line of sight into the investment of the $11 billion that the Government puts into education.So these two tasks the funding review and the review of the Act are two massive pieces of work that any Minister of Education from any shade of politics would be struggling in wanting to achieve because of the political risk associated with that but also because everybody in this country is either a participant in the education sector or has been a participant in the education sector. So therefore everybody has got a view and therefore she has taken on a task where there are 4.5 million different views. I want to acknowledge her in the work that she has done in this portfolio over the last 6 years and I want to wish her all the best for the future. Thank you.