Sio William: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Sio William: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 29 August 2012. Volume:683;Page:4862. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
8. 
Su’a 
 WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Mangere) 
 to the  
Minister for Pacific Island Affairs 
: Does she agree with the Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty that “For New Zealand to do well Pasifika children must do well”? 
Hon HEKIA PARATA (Minister for Pacific Island Affairs) 
: 
 I do agree with that statement. That is why the National Government has committed to delivering 10 challenging Better Public Services results within the next 3 to 5 years. Many of these targets prioritise Pasifika children and the aiga. For example 98 percent of children starting school will have participated in quality early childhood education by 2016 85 percent of all 18-year-olds will have achieved National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) level 2 or equivalent or better in 2017 and the incidence of rheumatic fever will be reduced by two-thirds to 1.4 cases per 100000 by June 2017. 
Su’a 
 William Sio 
: Given that on some measures 40 percent of Pasifika children live in poverty which of the measures put forward by the expert advisory group will she support in order to halve child poverty among the Pacific community? 
Hon HEKIA PARATA 
: A quality education that secures a quality qualification will put all young Pasifika learners on a better pathway. In fact the draft report says at page 22: “The most important factors in improving Pasifika schooling outcomes is quality teaching practice and professional leadership that connects with Pasifika students their families and the wider community. There are initiatives in hand that aim to address Pasifika underachievement: the implementation of national standards in primary schooling the development of Trades Academies a greater range of pathways in secondary education and the Pasifika Education Plan. We endorse”—says the expert advisory group—“all the Better Public Services Targets for education.” 
Su’a William Sio 
: Does she agree with the expert advisory group that Pasifika children are currently not well served by the New Zealand education system; if so will she be raising her concerns about current education policies like increasing early childhood education fees with the Minister of Education? 
Hon HEKIA PARATA 
: I am concerned that the New Zealand education system has not served Pasifika learners as well as it can and will and that is why we are investing in not only early childhood education; in Vote Education 2012-13 $47.9 million of equity funding was directed explicitly at the issue of how we raise the level of Pasifika engagement participation and retention in early childhood education. 
Su’a William Sio 
: Does she consider it her responsibility to help create job opportunities for Pasifika youth; if so what opportunities has she created given that the unemployment rate for Pasifika girls aged 20 years is a staggering 50.3 percent higher than the youth unemployment rate in Italy and just below Greece’s rate? 
Hon HEKIA PARATA 
: I do indeed believe that both in this portfolio as Minister for Pacific Island Affairs and as the Minister of Education I do have a responsibility to contribute to young Pasifika being able to attain employment. The fastest and most sustainable way of doing that is to raise the quality of educational achievement. Both my portfolios are directed at that outcome. 
Su’a William Sio 
: Is she aware that Pasifika households have seen the biggest declines in income since the 1990s according to the household income report from the Ministry of Social Development; if so what action if any has her ministry taken over the last 4 years to prevent Pasifika households being disproportionately affected by the recession? 
Hon HEKIA PARATA 
: The Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs has been engaged in a number of projects that have been directed to this end. The Pacific Employment Support Services has seen 61 percent of its 434 participants into sustainable employment. The ministry has been involved in the youth skills and development initiatives working with the churches across New Zealand to secure trade training places—300 of those. It has been involved with the Ministry of Education in revising the  
Pasifika Education Plan  
so that we can see 1100 more Pasifika people achieving an NCEA level 2 or equivalent qualification over the next 5 years because the most sustainable way of achieving employment for Pasifika learners is for them to have an excellent education. 
Su’a 
 William Sio 
: I seek leave to table unpublished Statistics New Zealand data obtained from the Parliamentary Library for the June 2012 quarter highlighting significant unemployment for Pasifika youth. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is no objection. 









Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.