Seymour David; Rurawhe AdrianDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): Well thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. I rise on behalf of ACT to proudly oppose this piece of legislation. I'd like to make a couple of comments about the debate that we've heard so far beginning with Jo Luxton the member who just resumed her seat who says she's proud to be part of a Government. Well I hate to tell her that she's a backbencher. She's not part of the Government. The Government is the executive: the Ministers and Parliamentary Under-Secretaries. She didn't know about that and she didn't know anything about the policy she's talking about either. That's the standard you get from the Labour backbench these days and what a shame. But I want to come back to Tracey Martin who made a disgraceful speech. She said that Alwyn Poole had been in a discussion with the National Party about promises for the private school in my electorate that Alwyn and Karen Poole run. There was no such discussion and it's shameful that a member of Parliament would use the privilege of this House to defame an individual especially one that happens to live in the Epsom electorate. Tracey Martin should apologise for that. Tracey Martin said that Villa Education have been distributing glossy brochures about NCEA. If Tracey Martin knew anything about the subject she would know that the Villa schools—Mt Hobson Middle School Middle School West Auckland and South Auckland Middle School—are year 7 to 10 schools. They don't offer the NCEA and strangely enough they don't have any glossy brochures about the NCEA. This is the Tracey Martin who said that partnership schools treat children like dogs—what a disgrace. What a disgrace in this House and Tracey Martin should be down here to make a personal statement and apologise. But I don't think there's a lot of time for that because just quietly between you and I Mr Assistant Speaker I'd hate to think what Winston Peters would say if he was caught on tape talking about Tracey Martin. The fact of the matter is that Tracey Martin didn't come to Parliament because she got bored designing rockets at NASA—that's the fact. She's got the highest confidence to competence ratio of anyone I've ever met and by the way she's not even that confident. Anyhow I needed to get that off my chest because it's disgraceful the way that Tracey Martin has used the House and abused parliamentary privilege to defame my constituents today. But what was the problem that partnership schools kura hourua set out to solve? It's this: it's a great shame that we have increasing global convergence—that is a billion people in Africa and Bangladesh and India are joining people in Asia and the former Soviet Union and joining the global economy low-skilled people driving down the cost of low-skilled labour. That means in the 21st century if you don't have skills in a global economy you're toast. Added to that New Zealand has the shame of having the third-greatest gap between the top 10 percent and the bottom 10 percent of learning outcomes in the OECD. This is a time bomb. This is a problem. We need to do better for disadvantaged New Zealanders. We need to do better for those New Zealanders who go to Te Kāpehu Whetū a partnership school in Whangarei who were explicitly told in mainstream schools that they wouldn't succeed because they're Māori. They have gone to a partnership school where they feel valued. They are students like Hope from the Vanguard Military School who I spoke about in the first line of my maiden statement in this House who said to me I never knew I was smart until I came here." Partnership schools were put in place to give opportunity to that and they did but what a contrast between that and this Government's consultation. It is $1.5 million dollars of asking people what they think should happen in education. It's working groups into the NCEA and into Tomorrow's Schools—all the asking and navel gazing and pondering and consultation—and what of this legislation? They're saying "Oh well it's our policy so that's OK." I want to finish by paying tribute to the sponsors of partnership schools: the Nick Hydes the Raewyn Tīpenes the Sita Selupes the—Hon Tim Macindoe: Alwyn Poole. DAVID SEYMOUR: —Alwyn Pooles—thank you—all of the sponsors who stood up and took a risk to make this country a better place. I want to put on record how sad it is—Ronnie Rochel she deserves a mention. Hon Tim Macindoe: And Catherine Isaac deserves a mention as well. DAVID SEYMOUR: Absolutely—from the Waikato. Absolutely they deserve a mention. I want to put on record how sad it is that they have had their livelihood and their project kneecapped by a Government that's done no consultation. All it has done is the bidding of its union volunteers and paymasters. They have put comfortable mostly white middle-class teachers in reasonably well-paying jobs ahead of some of the most disadvantaged brown kids in this country and it is—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): Order! The member's time has expired."