Peters Jim: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
Peters Jim: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:626;Page:21266] 
JIM PETERS (NZ First) 
: 
 In the grand speech made by the Minister of Finance he asked the question whether New Zealanders can afford National. The real question he should have asked was: “Can we afford Labour yet again?”. The answer from New Zealand First is: “Absolutely no; we cannot.” 
The Minister of Finance covered the various issues that he sees as the components of his platform forgetting absolutely that in 1999 this Government inherited a very stable rural and farming economy and that nothing Labour has done since then has added one whit—perhaps a few months of help to Fonterra. That is the backbone it inherited. Looking at it from the rural economy point of view 6 frittered away and wasted years is that proud Government’s record. No wonder the Minister was so voluble making grand statements about the future; he did that on the backbone of frittered years when this Government has had in terms of the land-use economies the best years that I can remember for a decade and a half if not more. At the end of that time all we have seen are wasted time and wasted policies. 
But let us come back to the central core issue which is this. Last week the most amazing announcement was made by the Minister of Education that the head of the Education Review Office was taking 4 months’ leave to oversee the exam system for the New Zealand Qualifications Authority. What an indictment on that Government’s proud record—as espoused by the Minister of Finance—that as we speak an officer has to go from one Government department supposedly concerned with the audit and review of education somehow to bring some sort of sensibility to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority! What an indictment! What confidence in our Government does that give our young students who are halfway through the examination year? It is absolutely deplorable. 
But it is no wonder because that is the sort of thing I see happening throughout the education portfolio. The Ministry of Education has people beavering away in the back room—the bureaucratic army that John Key talked about—putting together key competencies to overturn the traditional framework of education that the secondary school system has had for the past decade. People are beavering away to put together social key competencies. 
What would one expect therefore of an agency such as the Teachers Council which is empowered by the Education Standards Act 2001 to have certain key duties? One such duty is to determine the standards for teacher registration and the issue of practising certificates. That is meant to be the prime aim of the functions of the Teachers Council. As well it is to develop a code of ethics for teachers. One would expect that the Ministry of Education would have some ability therefore to go ahead and implement the intended changes to the Teachers Council which came from the Teacher Registration Board. 
I can report to the House that that is an abysmal failure. It is not just that three separate heads have resigned and been given good payouts in the process. A year ago I raised these matters at the Education and Science Committee where I was assured by Ministry of Education officials that the actual functions of the Teachers Council were working. So the House will be surprised to hear that the supplementary estimates do not have any additional votes for the Teachers Council to try to establish—which it has not done so far—and maintain its function of leadership in the education sector and also to carry out the simple process of teacher registration. That system is just not working as it ought to. Is it very surprising to me therefore to be able to tell the House that the Teachers Council has not functioned in any way as designed by legislation? There are people out there in front of classrooms who do not hold even limited authority to teach. There are people in front of our young children today who have not been registered in any form at all. There are teachers who were registered but are no longer registered. The whole system has failed dismally—that is the Teachers Council’s monitoring of educational standards and enhancement of the teaching profession as outlined in the Act and as mentioned several times by the Minister. 
Therefore all the good words I hear about the education sector—all the trial projects the short-term funding all the issues about raising the standard of teaching—have failed. Teachers are still the most important part of the school area. All the aids are but a supplement to having a sound effective teacher in front of a classroom. At the present time this Government has failed. It has failed with regard to a supply of competent teachers. It has failed with regard to teacher registration and competence. Unfortunately and most of all it has failed the young people of today. As I said last week youngsters are asking the Government to give them assurance. No such assurance can be given by the Minister of Finance with regard to his Budget or by the Minister of Education.