Hipkins Chris: Annual Review Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHipkins Chris: Annual Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 28 April 2015. Volume:704;Page:2972. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka):There was a time when the National Government promised New Zealanders that it was ambitious for New Zealand. Not only have Government members not delivered on their ambition for New Zealand; they have made every other New Zealander embarrassed for New Zealand in recent times—embarrassed for New Zealand. There was a time when John Key promised to raise the standards of Government and raise the standards of ministerial behaviour. How can he promise that for other Ministers when he cannot even deliver on that himself? There was of course a time when National promised to get the books back in order. In fact it declared victory at the last election when it said the books were back in surplus and yet here we are the seventh Budget in a row and the seventh deficit in a row—another broken promise for this National Government. Not only has it failed to deliver one single surplus; in fact it has clocked up the largest Government debt in New Zealand’s history. Let me repeat that. This Government has clocked up the largest Government debt in New Zealand’s history.So what does that have to do with social services? It massively constrains what the Government can do in the social service area when it is making such a shambles of its management of the overall economy. Let us look at some of the promises that Government members have made in the social services area. They promised free doctors’ visits for the under-13s. Have they delivered that? No they have not. They promised better teacher-child ratios in early childhood education for the under-twos. Have they delivered that? No they have not delivered on that. They promised New Zealanders higher wages at the last election. Have they delivered on that? No they have not. No they have not delivered on that promise.In fact you do not have to look very closely at the National Party manifesto from the 2008 election the 2011 election or the 2014 election to find a broken promise. They have literally littered the country with them like confetti because this is a party that says that whatever it thinks it needs to say to get elected with no intention whatsoever of delivering on those promises after the election. This Government has become so arrogant that it simply believes that it is born to rule—that it is the natural party of Government and it does not have to earn the trust of New Zealanders. Well actually it does need to earn the trust of New Zealanders and it is certainly not doing a very good job of that at the moment. New Zealanders have had enough of being embarrassed around the world by this Government they have had enough of having broken promises shoved down their throats and they have had enough of a Government that tells them what they want to hear and then fails to deliver on those things. The Steven Joyce school of politics: ask the voters what they want; give them what they want or maybe not; and tell them you have given them what they want even if you have not actually given them what they want. He misses out the middle bit. He basically asks them what they want and then tries to tell them that they have already got it.Actually New Zealanders deserve better from their Government. New Zealanders are willing to work hard to get ahead. They want a Government that is going to back them and they do not have that in the current National Government. New Zealand parents want a better future for their kids they are willing to work for that and they are willing to do their part to make sure their kids get the best start in life. They want a Government that is going to do the same.I listened very carefully to Hekia Parata’s contribution on this debate when she was talking about education and I recalled the fact that Hekia Parata’s one big idea—her first big idea her one big idea the boldest most audacious idea that Hekia Parata had to improve educational outcomes for Kiwi kids—was bigger class sizes. That was her first major promise to New Zealand parents and New Zealand kids: more kids in every class in front of every teacher. That was Hekia Parata’s first major promise and she had to back down because there was such an outcry from parents. Her second major commitment to the educational community was that she was not necessarily going to pay teachers because she implemented the Novopay payroll system which meant that some teachers waited for weeks and months to simply get paid what they had earned. Forget about pay rises and raising wages; the teachers around the country for months and months just wanted to be paid—because of Hekia Parata’s absolute incompetence. And what was Hekia Parata’s promise to the people of Christchurch? That the Government would stand with them during the tough times. Hekia Parata and John Key’s National Government stood with the people of Christchurch by closing down a big chunk of their schools at a time when the people of Christchurch had already been clobbered by the Christchurch earthquakes. That is how this Government views education.Of course when it comes to education we know that the most significant thing a Government can do is back the teaching profession. All of the words of Hekia Parata in this House mean nothing—mean nothing—if she is not out there backing teachers. It is not all Hekia Parata’s own work in lifting student achievement; it all comes down to teachers and parents. And what have we seen from this Government? An absolute war on teachers around the country a Government that tells parents they cannot trust teachers and a Government that tells the public they cannot trust teachers so much so that they take complete control of the body that regulates the teaching profession. It would not do that to lawyers. It would not do that to doctors. It would not do that to any other major profession. In fact the National Party filibustered in Parliament when the Labour Government tried to regulate the real estate profession more heavily saying that the Government should not do that. It is willing to do that for all those other professions but when it comes to teachers—oh no no Hekia Parata knows best. She is going to hand-pick the people who are going to regulate the teaching profession without any democratic input from the profession itself and that says everything about this Government’s attitude when it comes to education.On the one hand although it says it wants to raise the standard of teaching of course we know how hollow that is because when it comes to charter schools they do not even have to have registered teachers at all. So much for raising the standards of teaching in New Zealand as charter schools do not even need to employ registered teachers at all. Of course the Government is willing to pump millions of dollars more into a handful of charter schools than it would put into any public school in New Zealand so desperate is it to make its charter school experiment work when actually any State school in the country could do amazing things with that money if it was given the opportunity to do so. I want to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the many many people who make up our education system: the teachers the support staff the principals the boards of trustees and the parents. They are working hard to achieve great things for kids and they are doing it in spite of a Government that does not back them in doing so.Hekia Parata talked about increases in Māori and Pasifika achievement. So here is a simple question for Hekia Parata: if things are getting so much better for Māori and Pasifika young people why is it that they are still the most likely to be represented in unemployment statistics? Why is it that in record levels they are leaving the education system with whatever level of qualification they have and going on to do nothing? No job no further training—they are leaving and doing nothing. Why is that? If the Government’s education platform has been so successful why have record levels of people been leaving the school system to do absolutely nothing? Because if we are going to judge the success of the Government’s education policy then surely the outcome that matters is what happens to the kids when they leave. Is that not the point of the education system—to prepare people for the world that they will enter? And yet we have got record levels of kids leaving and going on to do absolutely nothing because we have got a Government that has failed to create the right environment for jobs and that has absolutely failed to make sure that there is opportunity for those kids when they leave school.We have had 7 years of National in Government and there is still no light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to those big important issues like what kids are doing when they leave school. Because this Government is simply beset by scandal—beset by scandal. It has completely lost track of the things that matter. On the other hand I tell you what I said that there was no light at the end of the tunnel but there is because there is an election in 2017 and the Labour Party will be ready. It will be a very clear contest. It will be a very clear contest between a leader in Andrew Little—whose work can be trusted; who New Zealanders know if he says he is going to do something about early childhood education like John Key did will actually deliver on it; who if he promises better and better outcomes in education will deliver on it—and a leader over there who tells New Zealanders whatever they want with absolutely no intention of delivering on it who embarrasses New Zealand regularly on the world stage and who has got more publicity for New Zealand by embarrassing us than he ever got in his role as Minister of Tourism. New Zealanders will know in 2017 that when it comes to making the choice between a Government on this side that will deliver and a Government on that side that is full of promises with no real delivery—they know exactly what side they will be better off under.Education is so important to New Zealand’s future. Early childhood education and increasing participation is a great thing. That is very good. But increases in quality participation are important. So why is the Government lowering the standard at the same time as participation is increasing?