Hipkins ChrisCHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka): I have got some rapid-fire questions for the Minister of Education and I want to thank her for her engagement in this. The first is around the Official Information Act (OIA) and the Ombudsmen Act and why the Government has made the decision not to extend the provision of those pieces of legislation to communities of online learning (COOLs). I would note that they are receiving their funding from the Government they are dealing with young people and they are operating effectively on behalf of the State in fulfilling its obligations to provide young people with an education. Therefore I am interested to know why the Government does not think they should be covered by the OIA and the Ombudsmen Act. I would just make the quick observation that the Ombudsmen Act and the role of the Ombudsman has provided a vital safeguard in the case of systemic failure of the education agencies in at least one case that I am aware of and that was the case at Hutt Valley High School where every education agency and the school failed some students who were the subjects of sexual abuse. It was the Office of the Ombudsmen that finally got to the bottom of that. Given the risks involved in opening out the provision of education in the way the Government is with communities of online learning I would like to know why they are not being covered by it as well.The Office of the Ombudsmen in particular raised a concern about the Minister having absolute discretion to accredit a community of online learning and whether that was designed to avoid judicial review. I would like the Minister's comment on that to ensure that any decisions made to accredit a particular provider are still subject to judicial review if appropriate process has not been followed. Volcanics eLearning Community suggested an amendment to specifically enable existing communities or networks of schools to seek accreditation collectively. The Government says that it would like to have more cooperation and collaboration amongst schools and I would like to know whether the Government would entertain the ability of schools to collectively apply to become a COOL because it seems to me that actually fits the definition of what it is talking about which is communities of online learning. Why can communities of online learning that genuinely include a number of different schools not apply to be accredited? Why do they have to have for example a lead school applying for the accreditation?NetNZ expressed concern about the ambiguity around the ability of a COOL to charge fees and I share that concern. School education in New Zealand is by law supposed to be free so we would be departing significantly from that fundamental tenet of our education system if we allow those enrolling in a community of online learning to be charged a fee. It means that they will no longer be receiving the free school education that they are guaranteed by law. So my question to the Minister is: why allow them that flexibility? Why not say that if they are receiving Government subsidies for their provision of education as schools do—why should they not be precluded and prevented from charging a fee as schools are prevented from charging a fee? I think that that is certainly something that the Labour Party is absolutely committed to.The Government policy allows for COOLs to teach something other than the curriculum. The argument put forward by the Government is that this allows more flexibility to the COOLs but The New Zealand Curriculum is already incredibly flexible and it sets out our expectations for the types of skills and knowledge that young people will be taught. It is incredibly enabling in terms of what it allows schools to do so why would a COOL not be required to teach to The New Zealand Curriculum? The Minister will be given the discretion through regulation to determine how many if any registered teachers are required to teach.There are two aspects to this that I would like the Minister to comment on the first of which is how the Government will ensure that those who are providing education online through a COOL actually have the teaching skills necessary to impart that knowledge. The second is around safety and student safety in particular. Through the accreditation process and the practising certificate process we ensure that teachers are police-vetted. We ensure that they are the appropriate people to be dealing with young people. I think it is worth noting that one of the big risks of the online environment for young people is that it is used as a grooming ground by people who would do young New Zealanders harm. So if they are not registered teachers how will the Government ensure that those who are working with young people through the online learning environment are fit and appropriate people to be dealing with young New Zealanders? Their safety has to be paramount in these considerations. I personally think it would be much more beneficial for the Government to require that teachers are engaged in this process.Then we come to comments that were raised during the Education and Science Committee process around the risk of an adverse impact on the schooling network. I come back to my question earlier on small rural schools. Let us say there is a small rural school in an area that has seven kids and four of them decide to enrol in a community of online learning leaving only three at the school. What guarantee can the Minister give that that will not then be used as the catalyst to say those other three kids should all then go to an online learning provider as well? How can the Government ensure that there is still a robust network of actual physical schooling provision around the country?Finally I would like just a bit more comment from the Minister. I mentioned one of the online safety requirements and that is around ensuring the fit and proper persons criteria are fulfilled for those working with young people through an online COOL. But the second is the wider issues of online safety and how the Government will regulate to ensure that those who are providing education through a COOL are providing a safe learning environment. Online learning has a huge array of potential pitfalls in terms of student safety and I would like some further clarification from the Minister around how those issues are going to be addressed in the regulations that come forth next.