Curran ClareHon CLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. I think some leeway needs to be given to the previous speaker Nicola Willis as she hasn't been in the House very long and she perhaps hasn't had a chance to get around all of the schools in the area for which she is not the electorate MP to actually talk to the schools talk to them to understand what the issues are at the coalface.I have 33 schools in my electorate and there are four issues that are usually pretty much the main issues that are raised with me whenever I go to visit them. They are the needs of special-needs children and the resources that are needed and the lack of support workers; the enormous weight of administration that schools were put under and teachers were put under when national standards were introduced; the despair that a lot of teachers and principals felt about the inability to focus on what was really important which was the national curriculum; and the lack of listening by the previous Government to what teachers to what schools to what principals were trying to say. And those things are absolutely critical.Here we have a member who has literally come from the coalface of education—a principal a teacher an educationalist who understands what those issues are and what they mean. And while that bill that the previous speaker just trashed actually had parts of it that were removed because there is a much bigger piece of work going on around the education conversation and how the national curriculum and the National Education and Learning Priorities are actually expressed one of those critical issues—in fact several of those critical issues that I just mentioned—is touched on in this bill and that is the listening. The listening to the teachers the listening to the principals the listening to the schools the listening to the children is all reflected in that incredibly important consultation which the member dismissed as being an extra layer of bureaucracy. Well if listening to children is described as a layer of bureaucracy then goodness knows what kind of discussions go on over that side of the House in terms of what is actually really important in this country.They're listening to support workers. They're listening to the disability community. Those are the things that have been added into this bill in the select committee and they are incredibly important. And those were backed up by submissions submissions from the Children's Commissioner which pleaded and pleaded with the previous Government to listen to the voices of children and young people—absolutely pleaded. Well this Government is listening to the voices of the support workers and the disability community. Those are the three things that I really want to focus on today in this bill and to really commend Jan Tinetti for the work that she's done and is just beginning in a member's bill which is obviously reflective of a wider Government agenda.This bill obviously fits into a wider agenda but this is her work it comes from the coalface and it's about listening to the voices of young people because as the Children's Commissioner has said over and over again if you don't listen to those voices then you're not providing an education system that reflects what those young people need and want and will respond to. Also listening to those support workers who work with children particularly children with disabilities is important. Don't diminish it—don't diminish it. You know I respect that member but don't diminish listening to the voices of the communities.