Stanford Erica; Tolley AnneERICA STANFORD (National—East Coast Bays): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. I did have a lot of material that I prepared tonight but I'm going to put that to one side and if I get time to get to it I will. I think it's very important that I start tonight by addressing some of the concerns that Tracey Martin came up with tonight because she came out tonight and she said that she's been to visit charter schools. Well the first thing I would like to say is that she is probably the only one on that side of the House that actually has because we know that the Prime Minister won't go. She refuses to go. But Tracey Martin's been and let's have a think about what Tracey Martin sees when she goes to charter schools. She sees substandard buildings that you wouldn't put a dog in and she brings into this debate the children of my colleagues—how dare she. But if that was actually the case if there were buildings that you wouldn't put a dog in surely that would be against (a) health and safety and (b) the contracts of those charter schools and this Government should be fixing it. The point is that that's not the case. It's absolute rubbish.While Tracey Martin is walking around having a look at the buildings that these children are in I'll tell you what she's not looking at what she's not paying attention to and that is the children in these charter schools. She is not paying attention to what they have to say. She's not talking to the teachers to listen to what they have to say she's not listening to the parents to the whānau and she's not listening to iwi leaders like the rest of this Government. Us on this side of the House most of us—in fact probably all of us—have been to charter schools. We have sat down and we have talked to those students and I can tell you some stories about those students. Josie—she had a baby when she was a teenager. She went to Vanguard Military School with no qualifications no self-worth and no respect for herself or anybody else. She was failing miserably everywhere she didn't feel great about herself and you know what? Sorry—does this House know what? Josie is now achieving beyond her wildest dreams. She is the first female at that school to make the 300 club and the look on her face when she achieved that was absolutely amazing. The self-confidence that that young woman had that she'd never had before and she probably never would have in the mainstream was out of this world.What about Parris? Self-harming; a dad in jail; again failing; miserable—turns up at Vanguard Military School and her life is turned around. It's an inspiring incredible story that I cannot do justice to. Everyone should watch that video.Brad—I know Brad. He lost his mum early last year and it was terrible for his family. I'm emotional about this because I know that this school has turned his life around. He was not having a good time at other schools and his dad didn't know what to do and this school has given him another chance.And yes I get emotional and yes I get a little bit angry about this but I have sat in front of these students I have spoken to them and I have looked at the hope and the confidence in their eyes because they know they have a chance of success now—and they never had that under the mainstream.Jamie Strange has been yelling across this House all night Special character schools! Special character schools!" and Tracey Martin's been going on about how they'll all be open next year and it'll all be fine. These schools have existed since 1986 and they have been failing students since 1986. What this Government thinks is that suddenly by just giving them this different title everything is going to be fine. Well they've been failing them since 1986 and they will continue to fail them because they don't have the flexibility they don't have the ability to pay teachers more—which is what they do now—and they don't have the ability to innovate. Charter schools offer parents they offer families and they offer students something different something innovative and something flexible. And the mainstream has been failing these students for such a long time.I'll tell you what Tracey Martin really likes to talk about because I've heard her talk about it before. She likes to talk about attendance rates and she does it in the House a number of times. She talks about the fact—oh I'm a bit out of breath—that nationally 66 percent of students are attending school regularly which is not very good. Vanguard: 94 percent—but this Government doesn't want to know about it. And they're not taking any learnings from charter schools; they're going back to a model that's been failing kids with high truancy rates and they're not going to look at these incredible models and take any learnings from them. They're forging ahead despite all of the submissions against this bill—from Vanguard Military School from Alwyn Poole from Sir Toby Curtis—which are damning of this Government. And they're forging ahead with this bill to remove charter schools one of the only things that are succeeding for young vulnerable students and especially young vulnerable Māori who have been disadvantaged by the mainstream for so long and this is the only thing that's working for them—that ever worked for them. And this Government and this arrogant Minister is throwing that all down the toilet. Shame on them.DEPUTY SPEAKER: This is also a split call. I call Jamie Strange."