Lubeck MarjaMARJA LUBECK (Labour): Tēnā koe. I'm rising to take a call on the Education (Teaching Council of Aotearoa) Amendment Bill. As a brand new backbench MP with no first-hand experience in education I didn't have much knowledge to the background or context of this bill but I have to say that reading up on all of the history I've learnt a lot in a very short amount of time. It's a real privilege to speak to this bill as I understand from all the readings and from the previous—some very passionate—speeches how important this bill exactly is.It also makes it clear to me how out of touch the other side of the House is in trying to diminish the importance of this bill because clearly it is very important. So no it may not be a very lengthy document as has been pointed out and at first glance it would seem to be only about three points—the name of the bill the number of reps and how they are elected—but more importantly it gives teachers back the right to choose their own representatives from amongst their own peers thereby restoring trust respect and democracy. To try and trifle with that—to make it sound somehow less important—is just astonishing to me.In New Zealand there are many professions that have their own governing bodies. Lawyers are one of them. The New Zealand Law Society for example was established about 150 years ago in 1869. Teachers had to wait a lot longer to get their profession recognised which is quite ironic because as has been pointed out by Tracey Martin already teachers are arguably a more trusted profession than lawyers are.The year I immigrated to New Zealand—1989—was the year the Teacher Registration Board was established and that became the New Zealand Teachers Council. The council reps were elected by their peers. This showed evidence of independence from Government bodies and provided for a degree of self-management. But then in 2015 that big change happened that Jan Tinetti talked about and the name of the Teachers Council changed to the Education Council. It made it smaller and it made it completely Government appointed. That change to that governing body gave teachers substantially less control over their own profession and undermined the teaching quality. It made it very clear from the speeches we've heard how devastating that change actually was on top of a lot of the other changes they had to deal with.While the teachers contribute 90 percent of the Education Council's funding they actually under the current Act have no say on the election of reps on their governing body. I would imagine that that change at the time signalled that the Government was reluctant to surrender power when it came to standard setting and accountability processes and pretty much that the Government didn't trust the members of the teaching profession to be able to put aside any self-interest and ensure that they would promote the public interest. It must have been really disempowering to those who are part of that profession and seen as a way to control it.In the current Act as has been pointed out there are no elections and all nine positions are being appointed by the Minister of Education. To me it just doesn't make any sense to have the teaching profession represented by a governing body where a large number—up to four out of nine—could be non-teachers. It is also undemocratic that the teaching profession is not able to elect its own representatives and it actually seems completely inconsistent with the democratic processes we champion in New Zealand as a democratic country.It was only in 2009 that nurses were able to elect members of the Nursing Council and the rationale at the time I quote was to give nurses a greater say in decisions affecting scope of practice competence and safety." That should be exactly the same for teachers. This is about the people that we entrust our children to and who are preparing them for the future the people who are making sure that the next generation can be the best they can be. So we should stop treating the teachers like children and trust them by creating the conditions to get the best out of them.This bill does exactly that. This bill gives teachers a direct vote on membership of the council. It restores trust. It restores democracy. And yes perhaps the message of this bill does fit on the back of an envelope but it actually says "We trust you unlike the previous Government." Therefore I support this bill and I commend it to the House."