Grigg NicolaNICOLA GRIGG (National—Selwyn): Thank you Madam Speaker. Like my colleagues I rise to oppose the Education and Training Amendment Bill (No 3) at the second reading. And we do that with some consideration because there certainly are parts of the bill that we do support. I think it goes without saying that child protection should be one of the number one issues in this country and that there are provisions in this bill that that do seek to enhance where possible child protection. Particularly we do support the provision that changes the criteria for school boards regarding convicted offenders. We support any change that will automatically change the eligibility criteria of school boards so that anyone convicted of an offence under Schedule 2 of the Children's Act is automatically ineligible to serve on a board. That's very practical very pragmatic very sensible decision to have made and I think any right-thinking New Zealander would absolutely agree with that. When children go to school the place where they are learning and the place that often steers the course for them for the rest of their lives they need to be safe and equally the parents and caregivers of those children should absolutely expect—they really shouldn't even have to think about it quite frankly—that their children will be safe in such an environment. But unfortunately the majority of the proposed changes in this amendment bill we don't actually agree with. Hence we have decided to oppose the bill in its entirety. Primarily as has been canvassed already by members on our side of the House our fundamental opposition is around the criteria for the appointment of school board members regarding sort of picking and choosing different kinds of people that should be selected to board representation. It is important obviously that boards reflect the communities that they serve and it's really important particularly for schools to have boards that have wide-ranging expertise and wide-ranging community backgrounds because they are effectively running the school and they are listing the outcomes of those kids in that school. And obviously anyone should expect that these people are chosen on their merit. Hence we do oppose the inclusion of starting to look at people for different reasons that don't necessarily mean they bring a particular merit to a school.The current law actually already states that as far as reasonably practicable every school board should reflect the character gender ethnic and social diversity of that school or community. It is interesting—I spoke on a bill earlier and I made the comment that it's just such a waste of Parliament's time to bring bills like this to the House when actually this is already enshrined in law. You have to look back at these things as to how the Education and Workforce Committee considered the legislation that is passing through the House and of course more importantly look to the submissions made by members of the public. This particular select committee I understand considered about 1100 submissions—Simeon Brown: We're listening to the public. We're listening to the people.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Order! I'm trying to listen to this member's speech so I just ask members who are not giving a speech to hold their fire. Thank you.NICOLA GRIGG: Well it's very topical Madam Speaker the debate going on across the House about listening to the people because in fact the select committee did receive 1124 submissions and heard evidence from about 55 of those. But very interestingly like the members on this side of the House most of the submitters also opposed the inclusion about board appointment provisions. So we do feel very strongly that we as elected representatives of the people of New Zealand serving in the House of Representatives should be passing legislation through this House that is representative of those people and their views and their desires.As has been covered by colleagues who have spoken before me it is such a wasted opportunity when we could be bringing in an education and training amendment bill that actually looked to restore the discipline of the student outcomes and student achievement. Indeed the previous National Government certainly had targets in place for the director-general of education and indeed the Minister—targets around achievement and attainment. That is the most important and crucial role of schools and the education sector in New Zealand. We don't think we should be using Parliament's time to pass law like this bill that is about dictating who should be appointed or seconded to school boards. We actually think we should be using Parliament's time to set about achievement and attainment for the students and the children of New Zealand. So on that as I have outlined National will oppose this bill.