Salesa JennyHon JENNY SALESA (Associate Minister of Education): Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. It is wonderful to get a call today of all days and it is a wonderful day to be a member of Parliament in Aotearoa New Zealand. We stand on the shoulders of giants and earlier on we've had many many events where we've actually thanked people like Kate Sheppard and others who 125 years ago made sure that women in this country can vote and that we as MPs can be in this House.The Education (National Education and Learning Priorities) Amendment Bill is a really important one. The reason why we need this legislation is because NELPs which is the short term for National Education and Learning Priorities is not at the moment closely aligned with the New Zealand Curriculum. This particular legislation is going to rectify that. It is going to ensure that our curriculum the New Zealand Curriculum is something that is informed.In response to the Hon Nikki Kaye when she said that we should not do this and that the timing is not right I disagree. The timing is absolutely right. We are looking at the education system in total. One of the things that has come back from the Education and Workforce Committee is the fact that we should ensure that Kōrero Mātauranga | Education Conversations—which was launched by the Minister of Education the Hon Chris Hipkins earlier on in May of this year with a summit in Christchurch and then another one in Auckland—informs this work. We know that to date over 15000 people have filled out the online version from the Ministry of Education so these are a lot of voices and that is one of the main things that this legislation will do.It will ensure that our students our learners are put back in the centre. One of the things that we've done is not only just hold those two summits but when I looked at the numbers there were not enough voices from Pacific communities from the online surveys and from the folks that attended those two summits. What I did was I went out to get those voices because when we look at the current population of schoolchildren today 10 percent are Pacific but we know that in the next 20 to 30 years that number is going to double—so it's going to be 20 percent. So the voices of our students are absolutely important.I'd also like to acknowledge the author of this legislation Jan Tinetti who is sponsoring this bill—a person who has a lot of expertise in education and learning someone who has taught in schools for many many years and for many of those years she was also a principal. We on this side of the House are really fortunate to have her as one of our members.In developing this bill Jan Tinetti has made sure that there are significant contributions to ensuring that our Government's renewal of learning and education in Aotearoa New Zealand is absolutely addressed. If I can just go back to the reason why it is absolutely important to have the voices of our students the learners right in the centre I would like to quote from one of the over 2000 people that I connected with when I hosted conversations right across Aotearoa in the last couple of months. This is from a student—and I quote—You can see in the best school but if your cultural background values and family are not able to be identified then that will impact on your learning. This leads to pressure to be part of a different Pākehā identity in order to be able to feel like you're part of the school community. It's better to be part of the walls because you don't feel safe enough to make mistakes and to be who you are. You just focus on moulding yourself to become part of the norm."I cannot tell you just how many of these kinds of voices we heard as we went around. I began in South Auckland. I went to west Auckland Hamilton Porirua Lower Hutt Ōāmaru and Dunedin where we had students young people who told us things along these lines. If I can reword one of the conversations that a young 15-year-old who came and attended said she said things along these lines: "When I attend school my vision of a better education school system of the future is one where I as a person am valued and my culture and identity is valued not just within the one week where we mark the language of the culture I bring to the school I want to be valued as a student and as a person every single day that I attend school in my culture in my language and in my identity."These kinds of voices from our students are why it's important to have legislation like this—to ensure that our students our learners are at the centre. We know that quality teaching and learning and effective connections with Pacific parents and families and communities have the strongest impact on improving the educational outcomes of our students.I would like now to refer to one of the quotes from our parents when we were connecting asking them what would the education system of the future look like to them and what do they value. This was from a parent—and I quote—"We understand health well-being and safety from a Pacific point of view. However the education system does not. It starts with the family—that is the core of everything. It doesn't just start when the child turns up at school."In response to the Hon Nikki Kaye when she was saying that language culture and identity is important I absolutely agree. It is absolutely important for so many of our students not just Pacific students. In wearing my ministerial hat as the Minister for Ethnic Communities I am now having conversations with ethnic community parents with students with community leaders and with educators and I'm hearing similar feedback from our ethnic communities. They would like their language to be in the schools. They would like their culture to be valued in the school. One of the things that was unfortunate for me as I was convening some of these conversations was that I saw—I couldn't describe it in any way other than racial bias in one of these groups. One of the parents that was there was telling us her experience while at school. This is a person who was born and raised in New Zealand. She doesn't speak her own language—her mother tongue—but she said that aside she still wanted to be valued in that culture. However what I saw in this little group discussion was a person from the mainstream culture trying to shut this parent down and to say "Your opinion your culture and your language is not important enough in Aotearoa New Zealand. Get with the programme. Learn English. That is the most important language." I'm sad to say that that particular contribution was from a teacher.So there is a lot that we need to do to ensure that our students our parents and our teachers when they are in our schools are in a safe place. This is from one of our students—and I quote—"Stop institutional racism and bias. We as Pacific are successful. Value us and our children." Ensuring that this legislation the Education (National Education and Learning Priorities) Amendment Bill goes forward is really important because we must absolutely put our students and our learners right at the centre.One of the things that this bill will do is—right now the Minister of Education could consult with a couple of teachers and a family or two. That would be sufficient under the current law. But we say that that is not good enough. It is not good enough to only consult with a few people; we must consult much wider. So this legislation will ensure that we reach out to teachers to principals to schools to Māori organisations to Pacific organisations—education—to proprietors of State integrated schools. This legislation will ensure as I say—which is my main point—that our students our children our learners are right at the centre. I too would like to acknowledge our Minister of Education the Hon Chris Hipkins and his partner Jade for the new addition to their family Isabel Eva today of all days as we celebrate 125 years of suffrage. Thank you very much for this time."