Woodhouse MichaelHon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National): Thank you Madam Speaker. I'm paraphrasing but I'm pretty sure I heard the Minister of Education when she moved this bill at second reading something to the effect of This bill will contribute to great educational outcomes for our children." That kind of surprised me because in my travels I'm sure—and members can correct me if I'm wrong—I haven't heard a single pupil parent or teacher say to me "I really wish the criteria for coopting and appointing school board members would be expanded and I really wish those great wānanga were Crown entities rather than independent. And I really want to know in brackets of $10000 how many of their staff are earning $100000 or more so that they can be aligned with other Crown entities."That is not what teachers parents and pupils are telling us about the education system and it does feel like Minister Tinetti is Nero fiddling once again with the education Act while the educational Rome is burning.We could be doing so much more to improve the educational outcomes that we all want for the children and the young people the rangatahi in our tertiary and secondary and primary facilities. But instead we focus on identity and structure.I was very grateful to Penny Simmonds for her contribution in the second reading who gave an excellent summary of the history and origins of wānanga. That's continued a pattern this week where she was in the Education and Workforce Committee yesterday quizzing Te Pūkenga who finally—finally—eight months later furnished their financial report their annual report and highlighted what a shambles that merger has been for tertiary education in this country.Yet faced with the disaster of the merger of very good polytechs a lot of them Southern Institute of Technology not the least of them—and not the least of which was the reason being that Penny Simmonds was their chief executive for over 20 years. They continue to restructure and rearrange and centralise and increase control and tell boards what to do and how to be appointed rather than the central goal which is "Let's improve educational outcomes." because that after all is the purpose of the Education and Training Act 2020. We have lost an opportunity to focus on the burning bridge—the burning bridge of the woeful educational outcomes under this Government.It is really important the low-decile NCEA 2 outcome data that was released this week is scandalous. It is so important because by my recollection a previous Minister has highlighted that by 2050 half of young New Zealanders will identify as Māori or Pasifika. Unless the educational outcomes for that growing cohort are made equal to the rest of the population more generally this country is going to have a real problem. It's emerging now and the Government is worried more about the identity of the board members on our schools than the educational outcomes for our schools.So while there are some things in here that may have been necessary and appropriate the central point is that this Government cannot resist tinkering around the edges of a system rather than—and the activity that is the substitute for performance rather than expecting and guiding and influencing better outcomes for our children and our young people in wānanga.That is a deep deep disappointment to the National Party. Help is on the way. I think we're down to 72 days. I look forward to a time when a Government focuses on the things that matter: outcomes not activity."