Whaitiri MekaMEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): Kia ora Mr Chairperson. I am pleased to take a call in this Committee stage. I want to focus in terms of Part 1 on Subpart 2. I want to thank the Minister of Education for giving an explanation particularly around the clause that I am going to address in my contribution and that is clause 9 which inserts new section 75A. She did touch on the appointment of principals and I appreciate her assurances to the Committee that this is around a flexibility that no one needs to take it up and that it is really I guess up to the board of trustees whether it wants to take this option up. Of course I am speaking about the appointment of principals and the particular clause where it talks about how (1) The powers conferred on a board by section 65 include the power to appoint a principal. (2) Two or more boards may appoint 1 person to be the principal of 2 or more schools administered by the boards. (3) A combined board (as defined in section 92) may appoint 1 person to be the principal of 2 or more schools administered by the board."I understand the principle of flexibility. For me representing what is also the Minister's own homeland of the East Coast it makes me think how applicable that particular provision of perhaps one principal over one or two schools would actually be in practice. I think it is important that as legislators in this Committee we take the intention of bills and we apply them in a practical way to see whether they would work or not. Of course I am talking about Ngata Memorial College the Minister's own high school and the principal there Heneriata Milner the mother of Nehe Milner-Skudder. I am talking about Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Waiu o Ngati Porou which is just down the road. I am talking about Campbell Dewes school Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Kawakawa mai Tawhiti in Hicks Bay not to mention the Minister's own sister the principal of Tolaga Bay Area School.I guess in response to the Minister's assurances that this is about flexibility it would be useful to hear from the Minister and I was hoping she would say when she got up to clarify some issues what research her ministry has undertaken to say that having one principal over multiple schools actually equals better educational outcomes for our children. I name those particular schools because the Minister is well aware of the diversity—not just in terms of geographical diversity but in terms of the history behind those iconic Ngati Porou schools on the East Coast—and I wonder whether the Minister can see that this flexibility will address the real issue facing many of our people on the East Coast which is one of a declining population.What enthusiasm I get when I attend those schools with those principals and with those teachers and with those tauira around retaining their hapū identity and their Ngati Poroutanga. I just put that there to the Minister to see whether she can assure us that those particular iconic schools from her own area of Ngati Porou are protected under this. As she said it is a flexible issue but there is nothing stopping someone somewhere down the track with this particular provision from saying: "Well look we don't need your school Campbell. We don't need your school Heneriata. We can just combine them. We'll have one person there." I can assure the Minister as she well knows that there will be a huge reaction to that possibility.I then want to turn to Subpart 7 and clause 20—charter schools. We are not averse to looking at different ways of providing education. The problem though in relation to the partnership schools is the process by which we have engaged with the local community. I want to talk about the partnership school that was announced in my electorate Te Aratika Academy. Te Aratika Academy was announced by the member David Seymour as coming to Napier. In his release he also talked about a special Māori character school. We actually have three existing special Māori character schools in Ikaroa-Rāwhiti/Hawke's Bay: Te Aute College Hukarere Girls' College and St Joseph's School.My point around supporting innovative ways and my point around the process of this particular announcement is that we have three iconic Māori special character schools in the Hawke's Bay. So when this announcement was made of course as with anything that helps Māori males—because this is what this charter school is geared towards—in year 11 to year 13 then my immediate reaction was: where are those year 11 to year 13 young Māori males from Hawke's Bay going to come from? Of course I was going to go and call the principals of the Māori special character schools in my electorate: Hukarere Girls' College Te Aute College and St Joseph's School. Of course only one of them is for Māori males—that is Te Aute College. It was interesting that the principals had not even been consulted about this announcement—so much so that they felt that their I guess experience particularly at Te Aute College to contribute to the success of a charter school in their own area was overlooked. The Minister might want to comment around tidying up her processes around announcing charter schools around this country particularly if she is going to use the issue around Māori special character schools when we already have them in those regions. David Seymour: In that case no one'll go to it.MEKA WHAITIRI: That is my point. Nobody had called those schools. Seriously we want the school to be successful but the reality is that the process is flawed—totally flawed. That is what this announcement showed to that particular member.But back to the Minister in charge of this bill—those are my concerns: clause 9 in Subpart 2 around the principals and clause 20 in Subpart 7 where it talks about charter schools. Minister it would be good to hear from you around—and I do not want to mention another announcement in my area Te Whare Tawhiti o Tākitimu which is apparently going to come out tomorrow. Just like the Minister I am passionate about ensuring that every Kiwi child in this country gets the best education that the State can provide but we cannot just gung-ho change things to something new without proper research. My point is around asking what research the Minister and her ministry has been provided that shows one principal can adequately lead multiple schools. The other issue is: please tidy up your process around announcing charter schools particularly in areas where there are already Māori special character schools. Kia ora tātou."