Uffindell SamSAM UFFINDELL (National—Tauranga): Thank you Madam Speaker. It's good to be able to rise and speak on the Regulatory Systems (Education) Amendment Bill. The purpose of this bill is to modify the functions of the Ngārimu VC and the 28th (Māori) Battalion Memorial Scholarship Fund to use words and emblems associated with that and I generally think that is a fairly good thing. We support scholarships. We support people recognising their lineage and drawing upon that and being able to provide words and symbols that exemplify that. I will note the following: I'm an absolutely big fan of our Pacific peoples here in Aotearoa New Zealand. Where I grew up—and I don't often tell people—was in Auckland and it is the largest Polynesian city in the world. It is a fantastic place and as a country we are so much richer for having our Polynesian brothers and sisters here in New Zealand. I do note about the main provisions of this bill that it does increase the annual expenditure that the board can make in a year from $500 up to $10000. It clarifies the purpose of the foundation which is to promote and encourage better education of Aotearoa Pacific peoples and it includes an apology there and notes the Dawn Raids and the impact that that had on people. It does update the definitions to ensure that more countries from the Pacific are included in this and I think it's important that we do pay particular attention to our Pacific brothers and sisters because I think we've probably under this Government been a little bit asleep at the wheel. New Zealand does have an important role to play in nurturing these countries and helping them develop and we have seen that what's happened is we've walked away from that ownership role a fair bit. During COVID that did happen and we've seen these countries—Anna Lorck: Oh Pasifika people were the highest-vaccinated in Hawke's Bay. Highest-vaccinated—Hawke's Bay Pasifika people. SAM UFFINDELL: —cosy up to China a lot under this Government's watch. But I will come back to the bill Madam Speaker. Hon Gerry Brownlee: All right please Anna—it's too early in the morning. SAM UFFINDELL: We do support elements of it—Anna Lorck: I'm wide awake. SAM UFFINDELL: —but unfortunately just like the bill I spoke on about an hour ago—Erica Stanford: All right she's worried about Tukituki. SAM UFFINDELL: —this is another missed opportunity—and I'm enjoying the banter that's going in the House and I'd have to support my members' comments on that one. This is another wasted opportunity because we've got an education system here that is in crisis. We've got 46 percent of New Zealand students who are not regularly going to school. We have got chronic underachievement. One-third of kids could not pass basic reading writing and arithmetic tests and this Government is focused on things that are not going to uplift the education system. This is what we need to be focusing on. My colleague Erica Stanford and our leader Christopher Luxon put forward a fantastic policy last week and I was glad to see when I spoke an hour ago that the Minister of Education Jan Tinetti was here. I hope she took on some sound advice from the member for Tauranga where she is a list member. She needs to be listening because we've got the answers to education on this side of the House and this bill like the previous one is tinkering around the edges and it ain't focused on outcomes and it ain't focused on outcomes for Pacific students. Unfortunately in New Zealand Pacific students do not perform well relative to the rest of the students in New Zealand. So if we want to be caring for Pacific students then we need to be stepping up and making sure that they are learning the basics brilliantly that they're learning maths writing and arithmetic and that they're learning how to read because they are currently underperforming. This bill isn't going to change that and I did point out to the current Minister when she was here that Māori and Pacific kids do worse under Labour than they do under National. Under National—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Now the member will bring it back to this bill. SAM UFFINDELL: I will bring it back—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Thank you. SAM UFFINDELL: —to the bill. We need to make sure that we are focused on uplifting Māori and Pacific students and this bill isn't going to help. While we do support certain aspects of it around the scholarship fund and advancing that and bringing more Pacific countries into what is the definition of Aotearoa Pacific peoples we fundamentally believe that this bill is another missed opportunity by this Government. There are so many more things that the Government on that side of the House and the officials and everyone else at the Ministry of Education could be pouring their resources time and energy into. I oppose this bill.