Hughes GarethGARETH HUGHES (Green): Kia ora Mr Deputy Speaker. Ngā mihi ki a koutou kia ora. Look as a father I take offence to that. My kids are not fit for purpose". Nobody's kids in New Zealand are "fit for purpose". What a horrible way to talk about our kids and our education system. I want to stand here in Parliament and congratulate our teachers congratulate our principals congratulate our schools congratulate the boards of trustees and congratulate the thousands of Kiwis who are putting thousands of hours in for a great education system.The fact is that when the Government was introducing this legislation it described it as the biggest update to education in New Zealand in 30 years. I would call it the biggest risk and experimentation with our education sector in 30 years. Firstly when we look at the changes to careers advice putting the responsibility on to the Tertiary Education Commission you see the ideology where you see slogans such as "fit for purpose" and "flexibility" being used. Everyone in this Parliament and I believe every party agrees that we need to modernise our careers advice but my fear is that this mantra of "flexibility" and "fit for purpose" is going to suit one particular part of New Zealand which is a small section of employers who want to get the skills they want and that is exactly what the New Zealand University Students Association has told the committee. I think we could have actually had a bipartisan process that modernised and improved our careers advice.But let us talk about the substantive part of this legislation which is the so-called COOL slogan—the communities of online learning. As a father to two young kids in the current public education sector I want to point out that I am a great supporter of seeing technology in our classrooms. I think that in the right place at the right time it can be an incredibly powerful tool. I see it at home with homework and I see it when my kids come back with reports from school. I would also point out that the Post Primary Teachers' Association president Angela Roberts says that learning online is already here. Ask any parent with children at school. What this legislation does is essentially take it one step further from charter schools.The Government that brought us charter schools is now bringing us online charter schools with these communities of online learning. Look I cannot put it much better more forcefully or comprehensively than Catherine Delahunty and Tracey Martin who gave incredibly powerful speeches. This is terrible legislation. We saw an absolute flood of submissions in opposition to this in the Education and Science Committee.In my three terms in the House I have never come across the Ombudsmen making a submission to a select committee. The fact that they were joined by the Children's Commissioner as well should be an incredible warning to the Government not to gamble not to take risks and not to experiment with our kids' future learning. Let us support our State sector. Let us support those great teachers already using those great online tools. Let us work together the parties in this House to build cross-party bipartisan support for modernising careers advice. Look I am really proud to oppose this legislation as a Green MP but more importantly as a father."