Kaye Nikki: Estimates Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKaye Nikki: Estimates Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 01 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19094. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon NIKKI KAYE (Associate Minister of Education):I am very pleased to speak in this estimates debate. The reason I am very pleased to speak in this debate is I know that there are many members of this House who care passionately about education. I agree with Mr Hipkins that actually this is one of the most important votes in the country. We all care about young people and want to create the most opportunities possible for every young New Zealander. The question is how you get there. What we will not take a lecture on on this side of the Chamber is around our commitment to that dream the investment that we have made and the commitment to actual life opportunities and results. What we know will happen in the next 3 months is that you will have a party on that side of the Chamber whose basic equation is to tax more and spend more but that will never once require accountability for the dreams the futures and the opportunities of young New Zealanders.What we have said throughout the last 5½ years and throughout this period is that actually we have a responsibility to do more than that. That is about saying every parent has a right to know how their children are doing in numeracy and literacy. We make no apologies for that. That is about saying we are prepared in the most difficult financial situation that our country has seen in a generation to increase the education budget in every single Budget. We are spending $10.1 billion. We are spending one of the highest amounts in the OECD. We have increased that significantly because we understand that we are dealing with the futures of young people and we can be proud of that additional investment.What we have done over this period and what you saw in this Budget is our relentless attempt to try to drive change particularly for our most disadvantaged whether it is the Reading Together programme which is more money to ensure that some of our most disadvantaged families have access to greater opportunities in terms of literary; whether it is $2.5 million for Computers in Homes which means 1500 families will have access to being able to learn online; or whether it is the $211 million that we put in last year on top of another $500 million of investment in actual modern infrastructure to enable that equity of access. Our record is incredibly strong both in terms of the investment and in terms of the ability to drive change to lift opportunity.Look at the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) level 2 results. They are up for all young New Zealanders. Look also at the results for Māori and Pacific students. They are up as well. At the end of the day what New Zealanders can know is that not only have we spent more money but actually we have seen greater results in NCEA for those students who have not traditionally had those opportunities.What we can also see in the area of early childhood education is another $155 million in this Budget. But what is really important is that we have enrolled more of those young children who have traditionally started off behind in our education system into early childhood education than ever before. We have a goal that every child is not going to have to start 100 metres behind the start line. Our Government has invested more than ever before.In the area of modern learning environments I have no doubt that what we will see from the Labour Party in terms of this Budget is a whole lolly scramble. What we will not see is the ability to hold that accountability and to say that we require more for what we are going to give in terms of this funding. In the area of modern learning environments it is under our Government actually that we have seen significant upgrades right across the country. When you have got 60 percent of your school stock at more than 40 years old it has been our Government that has put more classrooms than ever before in areas of growth. In this Budget alone there is $284 million. That is 148 more classrooms for areas of growth. It is more new schools and it is more site acquisitions. We have also committed to areas like the Green Star building programme to ensure that we have more environmentally sustainable schools.To get a lecture from the Opposition around Canterbury is actually appalling. We have stood beside Canterbury in a very very difficult situation. Of course it has been a very hard time for Canterbury but we have put in over $1 billion to make sure that we build those schools and for many of those schools to be much better than ever before. Today I announced on top of the 23 school pools that we are repairing another 15 pools as well. That is just another example where we are prepared to invest in young people in Canterbury. These are more modern schools. I also announced $200000 the other day around digital literacy and connecting a whole lot of young people in Canterbury.This is about a Government that has consistently demonstrated increases over every single Budget that we have been involved in and an overall increase in the education budget which is one of the best in the OECD. This is a Government that has consistently said that we want more. We particularly want more for our most disadvantaged because the future of New Zealand—having a much smarter more connected country—relies on us changing the script. We cannot as a country have a Government filled with people who do not require basic things like standards in education and that is what national standards have done. I tell you what: if we are around as of 20 September we are going to continue to invest in areas like digital literacy and like modern school environments. We are going to continue to invest in Investing in Educational Success which regardless of the fact there is a very healthy debate about it is basically about saying that one of the biggest things that we can do to help change the future of young New Zealanders is to do everything we can to support the teaching profession to strengthen quality teaching and to strengthen governance in schools.This is a Government that has a vision and has a plan and is committed to investment to lift standards to lift achievement and to ultimately lift the futures and the dreams of so many young New Zealanders compared with an alternative party that believes in taxing more and spending more for no results and continuing on a very old model. I believe when it comes to the election in a couple of months’ time National has a very proud record of raising achievement and of helping our most disadvantaged. I am very proud to be an Associate Minister of Education. I want to finish by saying I believe that the Hon Hekia Parata has an outstanding record in terms of ensuring that young children are engaged in early childhood education ensuring that standards are lifted and ensuring that we are investing in quality education. These are the things that a great education system is made of and we are very proud of that.