Rich Katherine: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRich Katherine: General Debate[Sitting date: 10 October 2007. Volume:642;Page:12231. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]KATHERINE RICH (National): The big question for the member who has just resumed his seat the Hon Pete Hodgson is how he will explain to that woman on television last night who had attempted to get an operation to have a cancerous growth removed why she had her surgery cancelled three times. She was even at the point when she was getting ready and was gowned up only to be told for a third time that she could not get her hospital treatment. These are the kinds of examples we are seeing time and time again.It has certainly been a bad couple of weeks for Steve Maharey. For a Minister who is usually a cool calm and somewhat smarmy operator in this House in the last week we have seen him become the “Captain Panic Pants” of the Labour Party as he has reacted to some of National’s ideas that have been talked about in the last couple of weeks. His hysterical reaction to some of National’s ideas demonstrates I think that he is more interested in scaremongering and upsetting the education sector than actually looking at facts and ideas.I am glad that so many have come to the conclusion that the Minister has over-egged his pudding somewhat and overstated things. When he scuttled up and down the press gallery and took interviews and said he would die in a ditch over this issue he forgot that the Government already does not own the buildings of some 3000 early childhood education providers and over 300 State schools and 107 private schools. Even yesterday when Steve Maharey decided to serve himself the ultimate patsy question he forgot that that day he had announced additional funding to establish some new early childhood sector centres that the Government does not own and will not own once they are established. So as for dying in a ditch we are just wondering how he keeps managing to limp along to the House every day given that he has set such a high bar.In terms of what the Minister is actually looking at if he is going to die in a ditch why not use that kind of rhetoric over some of things that are really important in education right now? If he is going to die in a ditch what about the 40 percent of primary schools that were in deficit last year or the 50 percent of secondary schools thatwere in deficit last year? Yes the Government announced an $8.7 billion surplus today but I can tell the Minister that schools have faced increasing costs since 2000: their power prices have gone up by 30 percent their wages and salaries have gone up as well but more important so many of the costs of running schools have gone up and have not been kept in line with the operations grant. So if the Minister is going to die in a ditch why does he not talk about the $2.5 million he has just shaved from operations budgets for secondary schools or the nearly $8 million he has taken from primary schools? He has not given schools any time really to prepare for budget changes before the end of next year.He could die in a ditch about the 41 percent increase in the truancy rate just since 2002. Every given week some 30000 kids do not go to school and do not turn up for their classes. There is one simple thing that we all know—if they are not in class they cannot learn and they cannot get qualifications. That is why the statistics are bad particularly forMāori students who leave school with no qualifications whatsoever. The Minister announced the schools report in glowing terms but I do not think he has actually read it. If he had read it he would have read that some 46 percent of teachers were effective only sometimes when teaching writing. Only a fifth of teachers are effective when teaching social studies. I can tell the Minister that if it were my kids who were in those classrooms I would have extremely high expectations. Every parent in this country expects that the teachers in front of his or her kids will be effective at what they are teaching.How much of the $8.7 billion announced today will go to schools? Certainly there are some gaps to cover and changes that need to be made. I think that the Minister needs to focus on the things that are really important in education. We all know that it is the quality of education and the quality of teaching that are important not who owns the buildings. That is not the issue that a Minister should consider dying in a ditch over when there are so many other more important issues facing schools and teachers.I remember back to my economics class and I wonder how the Minister can stand there and say that tax cuts under National are inflationary but that tax cuts under Labour are not. Labour will probably announce tax cuts but it will be in an election year and people will see the tax cuts for what they are—just a bribe.