Tinetti JanJAN TINETTI (Labour): Tuhia ki te rangi tuhia ki te whenua tuhia ki te ngākau o ngā tangata ko te mea nui ko te aroha. Tīhei mauri ora![Write it up in the sky on the land and in the affections of people: empathy is indeed the important thing. Behold the breath of life!]Mr Speaker I am honoured and I am extremely humbled to be standing in this House today and I join with my colleagues in congratulating you on your election as Speaker.I have called the beautiful Tauranga Moana my home for the past 11 years. We were incredibly lucky as a family to have the opportunity to move to this wonderful city. I want to start by acknowledging the Hon Simon Bridges as the Tauranga electorate MP and Clayton Mitchell who also stood in our electorate. Thank you to both of them for looking out for this campaign newbie. While I love my adopted home and the people who live there my roots are firmly planted in the South Island. I had a unique upbringing. I was the youngest of six children of a generational West Coast family. My late parents Peter and Hazel brought us up knowing that we had their unconditional love and support. When I was still a baby my father had the opportunity to take up a promotion which saw our family move to Christchurch. He was appointed as the secretary of Templeton Hospital and Training School a psychopaedic institution for people with intellectual disabilities on the outskirts of Christchurch.At its peak in 1974 654 people with cognitive disabilities lived in Templeton on a site that spanned over 200 acres and my family lived in the only staff house right in the middle of the grounds of the hospital surrounded by the villas that housed the residents. My childhood was one of freedom of exploring the vast grounds of the institution. It was one where I was surrounded by diversity with many of the residents becoming close family friends. The tough conditions within the villas didn't become apparent to me until I got my first holiday job as a cleaner at the age of 15. Even though institutionalisation of people with intellectual disabilities was at the time the societal norm it was at this time that I realised being the norm didn't always make it right. I began to struggle with the concept that it was OK to hide people away from society solely because of an intellectual disability and it was here that my passion for social justice developed.In the early 1970s Templeton was rural and isolated and there were no options for early childhood provisions so I spent those early years at home with my mum. This was a time I loved but I was desperate to attend an environment with other children. So by the time I was five I was more than ready to embark on the very grown-up step of attending the local school. It was here that the experience of one classroom sowed the seeds for my future pathways as an educator.When I was 5½ years old I transitioned from room one to room two at Templeton School. Room two was every child's dream. Here was a classroom that was a wonderland: a room with rabbits mice fish birds a guinea pig called Aunty Alice and even Ben the rat. And I could never understand why Mum would never let me volunteer to take Ben home in the holidays. We had a stage that was made from old desks with the legs cut off and a piece of carpet over them. It was up the front of the room and this was where we took pride in performing our creative dramas that in our five- and six-year-old minds were masterpieces.Cubby holes where we stored our belongings were created out of cardboard boxes glued together on the sides. A mat area at the back of the room centred around a piano where we often gathered to sing at any time of the day. There was a Wendy house and a shop and other learning centres where our imaginations were allowed to soar. This was the early 1970s so it was innovative and it was a bit radical. It was a classroom like many I have since worked in where the teacher understood the need to nurture creativity in children through stimulating their inquisitive minds; a classroom where I developed a passion for learning because learning was magic—a classroom where the needs of each learner were well and truly at the centre; a classroom where compassion and empathy were nurtured. It was here that I developed the belief that I could reach for the stars. So when having had a successful time right throughout my schooling it came my time to investigate possible career options there was only one I wanted to pursue. I wanted to be that magic creator I wanted to be that magic-nurturer and I wanted to be that magic-giver so I became a teacher.I am privileged and proud to have had a career in education spanning over 27 years in Southland Greymouth and Tauranga. Twenty of those years have been spent as a primary school principal and while I have loved all of my education positions I am most proud of my time in the last 11 years as principal of Merivale Tauranga's sole decile 1 school. I want to acknowledge my Merivale community who I know will be watching today. Thank you for the privilege of allowing me to lead your amazing community. It really was my dream job.With high percentages of Māori and Pacific students from largely challenging backgrounds the children of this school and their whānau needed a sense of belonging and identity. We could achieve this because New Zealand was world leading. We developed incredible curricula which educators embraced because these guiding documents were the vehicles that enabled centres and schools to develop localised curriculum with the needs of their students at the heart. Merivale was no different developing a local curriculum where our children thrived and experienced success based on their individual goals and cultural backgrounds. But maintaining that forward momentum became challenging in recent years. Competing pressures have denied teachers and principals the time to teach and lead across all sectors. Having the ability to be creative put the needs of the individuals at the centre and stay true to the goals of localised curriculum has become more and more difficult for teachers as the external pressures of accountability have increased. Support structures to assist students with special learning and behavioural needs have become difficult to access and centres and schools are coming under immense strain to do their best by all students.Students are attending centres and schools with a growing number of high and complex needs. Teachers principals and Ministry of Education front-line staff are devastated that they simply can't access the resourcing they need to ensure that those students receive the highest quality education possible.Support staff are the backbone of most schools and these professionals are incredibly talented but the conditions they are employed under are abysmal: low pay and lack of security about hours and ongoing employment to name a few. As funding has become tighter in schools principals have been faced with the heartbreaking reality that one of the only areas where they have flexibility is by cutting support staff hours therefore decreasing even more levels of support for our most at-risk children.Principals are struggling to staff their schools with suitable teachers and report that they have no answers for this growing crisis. And it is not only schools that have been stressed. Early childhood education has been struggling under funding decisions that have undermined the opportunity for every child to access high quality provisions. I know the value of children starting school having attended fantastic centres delivering high-quality education. Seeing such centres close as I have this year—because bulk funding and funding freezes in a competitive environment have made them unsustainable—is heartbreaking and it's just wrong. It's our children who are missing out.But despite the low morale in the past few weeks I have witnessed hope growing within the profession. Announcements such as the abolition of national standards have been widely welcomed by educators who understand the damage that these standards can do. I am proud to be part of a Labour-led Government who wants to engage with the profession by listening to them and valuing their knowledge their skills and their professionalism.On top of the administrative requirements the effects of poverty have increasingly impacted upon early childhood and school communities. A disturbingly high number of children live in poverty in New Zealand but when we quote the statistics we become desensitised to the realities of what poverty means. So when I think of the large numbers of children living in poverty it's not only the 10 percent of my roll who are living in cars tents and garages; it's also the family of six living in a one-room motel unit for weeks and months on end applying for hundreds of houses to be turned down time and time again and the stress of this situation manifesting itself in the behaviour of the children.It's the family lucky enough to get housing who won't unpack or put out any personal effects because they know that housing is temporary. It's my school's 11 children who were hospitalised within eight weeks last year because of cold damp housing that isn't fit for purpose. It's the many children who have never slept in a bed because they don't have a bed—a bed is a luxury.It's the mums who keep their children at home because they feel shame because they have no food to feed them lunch. It's the children who when the local business puts on a Christmas party each year won't open presents because they want something to open on Christmas Day. Or it's the ones who in the excitement will open them but wrap them back up again for the same reason.It's the question I never ever asked: —What did you get for your birthday?"—because the answer was often "Nothing." It's even the children in awe of the fuel gauge in the school van because they've never seen a gauge above empty. But sadly the real face of poverty is the ex-pupil who took his own life because he couldn't see a way out.These children deserve so much more. All children deserve to live in secure fit for purpose housing all children deserve the right to enjoy their childhood without worry and concern and all children deserve the right to live their life with hope for the future. But you know when I think about poverty I also think of the exceptionally talented educators who while never making excuses recognise that children need to feel safe and secure with basic needs catered for before optimal learning can occur.This is seen in the amazingly talented but undervalued support staff who will quietly take that late child to feed them breakfast before entering the classroom; the incredible teacher who recognises that success for a child might not be literacy and numeracy goals but that they spent a whole day in a class without becoming agitated; the social worker who sees that agitated child and takes them to shoot a few hoops so that they can have a talk; and the outstanding sports co-ordinator who attends every single basketball game driving the van because the children wouldn't get to play sport unless the school provided the transport. It's the incredible board of trustees chairperson who houses homeless families in her own home because she cares and it's the amazing office manager who finds a new polar fleece for the child who hasn't been coming with a jersey in the middle of winter.These educators and many like them are amazing and constantly work to minimise the effects of poverty on children. Without judgment they acknowledge the hideous outcomes of child poverty and they have called "Enough." Imagine what we can achieve as a country when we without judgment acknowledge the levels of child poverty and as a country we call "Enough." And in turn imagine what these amazing educators can achieve because poverty is being addressed as a nation and they can get on and teach.The journey to Parliament has not occurred alone and I am forever grateful to the people who have believed in me and supported me. To our wonderful Tauranga and Bay of Plenty campaign teams thank you for fighting hard alongside Angie Tamati and myself. I want to acknowledge my in-laws Margaret and the late Dr Don Merton. I appreciate how lucky we were as a family to move to Tauranga and be so close to our sons' only grandparents.Before he passed I learnt so much from Don. With his renowned work of saving our endangered birds including the Chatham Island robin and the kākāpō I learnt that you have to stand up for what is right even when others don't agree with you or they criticise you. Don's knowledge skill determinedness and passion saved many of our threatened species. I want to bring those same attributes to fighting for quality public education and our children in this House.I have so much to thank all my siblings for but I especially want to acknowledge my wonderful sister Christine who will be watching in Christchurch today. Life hasn't been easy for you with multiple sclerosis but the bravery and positive attitude you live your life by has been an absolute inspiration to me.To my NZEI Te Riu Roa whānau my thanks to you for not just the support you have shown me but your willingness to always put the child at the centre and to advocate tirelessly for quality public education. You have been my absolute inspiration and I think you so much. I am completely proud to have been an active member of the institute for 30 years.To my sons Liam and Zak—here it comes Zak—I am continually proud of the wonderful young men you have become. Keep shining your lights for all the world to see. And Zak make sure you always phone home. To my husband Dave you are my constant and my rock. Thank you for being you and supporting me in everything you do. You know how much I love you.And there's one more person before I finish. To Dr Ferguson although you will always be Mr Ferguson to me thank you for being innovative and a bit radical. You were an incredible teacher and I have aspired to be like you throughout my career. Thank you for showing a shy five-year-old girl that she had the ability to be anything she wanted to be. Like every educator your influence hasn't finished yet. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa. [Applause]Waiata"