4. Education—Māori Achievement and Partnership SchoolsHon NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) to the Associate Minister of Education (Māori Education)Education—Māori Achievement and Partnership Schools4. Hon NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) to the Associate Minister of Education (Māori Education): What progress has he made to strengthen the capability of the education system to raise educational achievement for young Māori?Hon KELVIN DAVIS (Associate Minister of Education): Nā Te Kāwanatanga i whakapaohotia tētahi hōtaka mahi nui ki te whakapakari i te ao mātauranga mō te rautau rua tekau mā tahi. Kei roto i tēnei hōtaka e whakapakari ana i a Ka Hikitia me Te Tau Mai Te Reo. Nā mātau hoki i mea me āta tirohia ngā take mō ngā akonga Māori. Kai te haere tonu ngā hōtaka hou pērā i Te Ahu o Te Reo Te Kawa mā Te Kura me Te Whakapakaritanga o Te Kotahitanga.[The Government announced a programme of huge significance to strengthen the education system for the 21st century. Within this programme is the refinement of Accelerating Success and the Māori Language in Education strategy. We also advocated that matters related to the teaching of Māori students must be examined carefully. Programmes like Te Ahu o Te Reo Te Kawa Mā Te Kura and Te Whakapakaritanga o Te Kotahitanga continue.]SPEAKER: I am now going to ask the Minister to repeat his comments and to speak a little bit more slowly so I can either keep up with it personally or through interpretation. So the Minister can choose either to translate or to repeat.Hon KELVIN DAVIS: Repeat. Nā Te Kāwanatanga i whakapaohotia tētahi hōtaka mahi nui ki te whakapakari i te ao mātauranga mō te rautau rua tekau mā tahi. Kei roto i tēnei hōtaka e whakapakari ana i a Ka Hikitia me Te Tau Mai Te Reo.[The Government announced a programme of huge significance to strengthen the education system for the 21st century. Within this programme is the refinement of Accelerating Success and the Māori Language in Education strategy.]Hon Gerry Brownlee: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. A number of desks on this side of the House don't have earpieces to be able to hear the interpretation.SPEAKER: Well that is the members' responsibility. If they've lost their ear—[Interruption]. Well every—Hon Gerry Brownlee: Mr Speaker it is not a member's responsibility to provide the facilities in here. That's a ridiculous thing to say. SPEAKER: The member will resume his seat. Every member at the beginning of the Parliament was provided with an earpiece which plugs in to the thing between himself and the honourable QC beside him and it is the members' responsibility—Hon Christopher Finlayson: No need to be a smart alec. That's totally offensive in the tone in which you used it.SPEAKER: The honourable member beside him. And it is a matter of plugging it in and using it.Hon Gerry Brownlee: We don't have them. They're not here.SPEAKER: Well I mean is it my responsibility for members losing them out of their desks?Hon Members: Yes.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Stop taking them home!SPEAKER: Right. Right I just want to say to the Deputy Prime Minister that is not helpful and I think he should practise being kind for when he is the Acting Prime Minister. We're now going to go back and I'm going to ask Mr Davis to start again and I'm going to say to members that it is their responsibility either to leave the things plugged in as members always used to do so that they can use them immediately or to keep them—Hon Gerry Brownlee: It was here yesterday it's not today—simple.SPEAKER: Order! It's a matter of turning it on.Hon KELVIN DAVIS: Ā hei tīmatanga mehemea ka ako rātau ki te kōrero i Te Reo Māori horekau tēnei raruraru e pā mai nā reira nā Te Kāwanatanga i whakapaohotia tētahi hōtaka mahi nui ki te whakapakari i te ao mātauranga mō te rautau rua tekau mā tahi. Kei roto i tēnei hōtaka e whakapakari ana i a Ka Hikitia me Te Tau Mai Te Reo nā mātau hoki i mea me āta tirohia ngā take mō ngā akonga Māori. Kai te haere tonu ngā hōtaka hou pērā i Te Ahu o Te Reo Te Kawa mā Te Kura me Te Whakapakaritanga o Te Kotahitanga.[And so as a beginning if they had learnt to speak the Māori language this problem would not have occurred therefore the Government announced a programme of huge significance to strengthen the education system for the 21st century. Within this is the refinement of Accelerating Success and the Māori Language in Education strategy. We also advocated that matters related to the teaching of Māori students must be examined carefully. Programmes like Te Ahu o Te Reo Te Kawa Mā Te Kura and Te Whakapakaritanga o Te Kotahitanga continue.]Hon Nikki Kaye: What is the number of young Māori in the 10 partnership schools whose contracts have been terminated by this Government?Hon KELVIN DAVIS: Horekau he mana nōku mō ngā kura hourua.[I have no mandate in regard to partnership schools.]Hon Nikki Kaye: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. In the member's delegation he is certainly responsible for lifting achievement of young Māori and so he should know what is the number of young Māori that have no certain future in terms of partnership schools whose contracts have been terminated?SPEAKER: The Minister answered the question. He answered it absolutely.Hon Nikki Kaye: No he didn't. He said he has no responsibility. That's what he said.SPEAKER: That's right. That is an answer.Hon Nikki Kaye: He has responsibility for young Māori.SPEAKER: Order! The member's been a Minister. She knows that responsibilities within the education portfolio are divided and in this particular case it's been made very clear in the House this Minister does not have responsibility for decisions around partnership schools. And the idea that any Minister should have the list of ethnicities of children in particular schools is—well some people might know but it's not a reasonable expectation on a Minister. Now does the member have a further supplementary?Hon Nikki Kaye: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The Speaker knows that the reality is there may be specific responsibility around decisions on partnership schools but this Minister has a specific delegation around the achievement of young Māori and what's happening with young Māori in State schools in New Zealand. It's written into the delegation. This is a situation whereby—SPEAKER: Sorry Ms Kaye I have had enough now. I have ruled on this matter. If the member wanted that specific information as it related to Māori children she may have been able to develop a primary question within the Minister's responsibilities. She's not getting it this way. Hon Nikki Kaye: What has he done to ensure the welfare of the more than 800 young Māori that he is responsible for that have had their school closure confirmed and have no clarity as to what school they'll be attending next year?Hon KELVIN DAVIS: I have said in this House that I have a conflict of interest around charter schools and I also have no responsibility for charter schools. She is referring to students of charter schools.Hon Gerry Brownlee: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Quite apart from the extraordinary situation of a Minister with a delegation laid on the Table of the Parliament to have some responsibility for young Māori students' educational achievement stating in the House today that he has no responsibility for that he certainly surely has some idea to be able to indicate to the House what will happen to young Māori students who are unable to attend their schools currently or from the end of this year and what is his plan to assist them given his specific delegation to be responsible for their educational achievement stated in the document laid on the Table of the House.Hon Chris Hipkins: Even in areas where Ministers have ministerial responsibility where they have a conflict it is not unusual—and in fact it's expected—that Ministers will declare that and not comment on the matter because they have declared a conflict. I am the Minister responsible for partnership schools. I'm happy to answer any question on it.Hon Nikki Kaye: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It's not actually been public because I have asked a range of parliamentary questions—written—around whether Ministers have declared conflicts. This is the first time that we've heard this. Am I able—that's the question I have for you as Speaker—to ask the Minister to table the conflict? Because it's not public information at the moment. It's with the Cabinet Office but if he's declared a conflict then I think that should be available to this Parliament if I can't ask questions about it.SPEAKER: If the Minister wants to table the conflict he certainly can. If the member wants to ask the Prime Minister about conflicts that have been declared to the Cabinet Office that can also be the subject of parliamentary questions.Hon Nikki Kaye: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I've actually already asked that question of the Prime Minister in written questions and I haven't been able to get this information. So I seek leave for the Minister to table his conflict.SPEAKER: You can't seek leave for another member.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That member and her colleagues have been repeatedly alleging that my colleague has a conflict of interest. Now she doesn't know about it.Hon Gerry Brownlee: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It was not an allegation made by this side of the House; it was accepting the word of the Associate Minister of Education by this side of the House. You just said there is a conflict of interest and therefore he has the delegation. I know that the Deputy Prime Minister—soon to be Acting Prime Minister—has got a lot on his plate but try and keep up with it.SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! Now can I say to the Deputy Prime Minister that through that point of order he repeatedly interjected. Can I say to the Opposition that twice when I've been on my feet there's been raucous behaviour. My view is that we should move on to see if Nikki Kaye has a further supplementary that she would like to ask. But we also—I make it very clear—have to take the word of Ministers when they indicate that they do have a conflict and I will also say that it is not the first time in this House that I've heard the suggestion that Mr Davis had a conflict. I think it might have come from my left in the past.Hon Nikki Kaye: What is his conflict of interest that means that he does not feel that he can answer whether he has done anything to support the 800 young Māori whose future is uncertain because of contract termination in partnership schools?SPEAKER: Before the Minister answers the question I actually need to ask the Clerk.Hon KELVIN DAVIS: I believe I recall that it was actually the member over there that claimed that I had a conflict of interest earlier in the year but let me just reassure her that if any Māori student in the State system will benefit from Te Ahu o Te Reo.SPEAKER: No. Order! Order! This is very specific question that was asked by the Hon Nikki Kaye and it goes to a very clear answer that the Minister had given previously. I want him to answer it. Hon Chris Hipkins: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I know that this is a matter that you just clarified with the Clerk because I could read your lips while you were doing it. Once a Minister has declared a conflict of interest surely it is then up to the Prime Minister to answer questions on that conflict. Otherwise a Minister declaring a conflict is put in this position where they have to talk about it and explain it which partly defeats the point of declaring the conflict in the first place. SPEAKER: Yeah and I understand the point that's made but—Hon Nikki Kaye: But Mr Speaker speaking to the—SPEAKER: No sorry. I'm going to rule if the member doesn't mind. There are two sets of responsibilities here. There's the responsibility on the part of the Prime Minister to receive and be involved in the management of conflicts. The other part is a responsibility on individual Ministers where there are conflicts within their portfolios or delegations to declare them. I have just ruled by asking the Hon Kelvin Davis to respond that if he has made a declaration that precludes him from doing some of the work that might otherwise be part of his delegation then it is appropriate for that to be—at least in summary—made public. It's something that I myself did on one occasion as Associate Minister of Finance where there was a familial conflict. Hon KELVIN DAVIS: To answer the accusation was made that I had a conflict of interest because I know the leaders of the charter school Te Kāpehu Whetū in Whangarei. As a result I thought it was best just to step back from any decisions any commenting on charter schools in total because of those allegations. Hon Nikki Kaye: I seek leave to table a document. It's by the Auditor-General but it actually has a paragraph in there that confirms that it is the Minister's responsibility to declare conflicts in this area. But supplementary—SPEAKER: Sorry which document is it?Hon Nikki Kaye: It's the Auditor-General's letter to me on these particular issues. SPEAKER: So it's a personal letter to the member?Hon Nikki Kaye: It's a personal letter to me. I'm not sure how publicly available it is but it's a personal letter to me. SPEAKER: Well I—the member seeks leave for that document to be tabled. Is there any objection? No there's not. It may be tabled.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.Hon Nikki Kaye: On what date did he declare the conflict of interest ruling himself out of supporting young Māori in partnership schools?Hon KELVIN DAVIS: When it was discussed. To be honest if she had wanted that information directly she could have asked a written—Hon Amy Adams: We didn't know until now.Hon KELVIN DAVIS: No I can reply in written form Mr Speaker. SPEAKER: Sure. I mean there's—well I don't. No one can be expected to know the exact—carry around the exact date of something like that. Hon Nikki Kaye: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. SPEAKER: Oh—Hon Nikki Kaye: Well no this cuts to the heart of whether the Minister was acting inappropriately on the time line as to when he declared that conflict of interest and the date really matters. So if he doesn't know—SPEAKER: Well if the date matters then—if the date is really important the member I'm sure will put down a question.