Sepuloni CarmelCARMEL SEPULONI (Labour—Kelston): I am not on the select committee that considered this bill the Education and Science Committee but like many of the people in the House I have been kept abreast of what has been happening by our spokesperson and by our members who are on the select committee. I do want to acknowledge the select committee. I particularly want to acknowledge my colleagues Chris Hipkins and Adrian Rurawhe who made really valuable contributions to this debate in the third reading and the whole way through. It is really disappointing to hear from Adrian—we were just chatting about this—that very little advice was taken on by the National members of the select committee and very little room for negotiation existed around this particular bill with the Government members. When we are talking about something as serious as the education of our children then you would think there would be some compromise negotiation and listening to advice but unfortunately that is not the way the National Government operates.We heard every member stand up in the House and talk about the contribution that the Minister Hekia Parata has made. Actually I am going to disagree with the National members who have pushed that as their No. 1 key line in the delivery of their speeches. I think she will be remembered for being the Minister who had the absolute worst relationship with the education sector ever the Minister who refused to listen to the educational experts at every turn and the Minister who was responsible for seeing our international ratings in things like maths science reading and writing plummet. Those are the things that that Minister will be remembered for. So I just need to put that on the record.We are opposing this bill and mostly that is because the case has not been made for many of the changes that have been proposed. The majority of feedback that was given by the 216 submissions received on the bill was largely ignored by the National Government. Whilst many submitters welcomed the bill's intention as we did to modernise the education legislation and provide a more coherent framework for the delivery of education they also expressed concern that a bill purporting to place the child at the centre of the education system was being progressed through a process in which the voices of those children have barely been heard.We shared that concern. The Education (Update) Amendment Bill refines an education system that was well suited for the 20th century and does little to bring the system into the 21st. The overwhelming focus continues to be on standardisation and accountability rather than diversity and creativity. We believe that the Government should be focused on ensuring that every school in New Zealand is a great school and that every student has access to a broad education that allows them to fulfil their individual potential and even discover potential they did not know they had. We are concerned that the Government is narrowing the focus of the education system focusing on a small set of measurable targets to the exclusion of a broad and balanced curriculum."I want to give a local example of where I found the Government really difficult to work with on a local issue to do with the education system. It really is an issue that affects whether or not we do and can and whether or not families believe they have great schools in their local area. That is the issue that we face in parts of Auckland and I am going to refer specifically to west Auckland where we have 4500 children every day leaving west Auckland to attend schools elsewhere. I at one point wrote a letter to the Minister Hekia Parata and also to the Associate Minister Nikki Kaye on behalf of the principals association in west Auckland asking the Minister to contemplate the idea or to consider the idea of surveying parents to find out why they were sending their kids elsewhere. It is really important that we do not make assumptions about why they are doing that but actually that we research that properly because we want our local kids to be staying in our local schools.We see in many of our west Auckland schools where there is a decline in the role the impact that that has on property maintenance let alone development. We see the impact that that has on perception within the community and it becomes a downward spiral. So we do need our local parents to have faith in their local schools. Actually when you talk about the downward spiral—and the National Government members like to talk about choice—as a parent in west Auckland I was disappointed when looking at my local school that because of the fact that it has had a decline in roll the options available to my child were going to be fewer than they would be in a central Auckland school because of the fact that the roll had declined so much and therefore the teachers on staff were fewer. So you can see the impact and the flow-on effect that that has.So it is disappointing when you raise serious issues like that and you suggest very rational and reasonable suggestions to Minsters like Hekia Parata and Nikki Kaye that they are ignored and you get a response back saying "No we will not do that because it's about choice." Well it is about choice yes I understand that but what choice do you have as a parent when you do not have the means to send your child elsewhere and all you want really is to have the commitment from any Government that your local school will be the best school? National has not done that at all. It has been about competition and it is absolutely supportive of the idea that those who have money can move their children where they like. So that is a local issue that was ignored and I just wanted to use that as an example of where the Government has not been about creating great schools in every local community and it has been very disappointing to see that that has been the case.We cannot support this bill for the reasons that I mentioned earlier. It does not do what the Government purports it does and we are disappointed with not only the outcome in terms of the bill that we have in front of us now but the process in which the Government members have engaged when considering this bill and developing it as well as just their overall approach to the education system and to our children."