Willis NicolaNICOLA WILLIS (National): Tēnā koe e Te Mana Whakawā e tēnei wiki Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori. In what sadness I stand in this Māori Language Week the week that this Government chooses to prioritise and push through a bill which takes away the right of Māori to attend schools that their community have chosen to establish that their leaders say serve their people and that they believe have lifted the achievement of Māori young people. What a sad thing it is to be this week progressing a bill that is subject to a Treaty of Waitangi claim that has led to a letter being written to our very Prime Minister urging her to await the findings of the Waitangi Tribunal and urging her to be aware of the serious concerns Māori have over the failure by the Crown to consult Māori on the closure of the 11 partnership schools—a letter signed by the Hon Dame Tariana Turia who once sat with members from the party opposite; signed by Dame Iritana Tāwhiwhirangi; and signed by Pem Bird. You know what? This is a Government that's quite happy to sit around the Cabinet table with Tītiwhai Harawera and talk to her and talk to Māori about partnership. This is a Government that's very happy to take a photo opportunity and to say that it wants to make sure the Crown meets its Treaty commitments across Government and that it will do this by providing an independent Government view on Treaty issues. And we had Tītewhai commenting on what this would mean. She said I want to be able to come to you in your Cabinet and say this is not working—can we try something else?" Well you know what Mr Hipkins? Māori said "The State education system wasn't working for us—partnership schools provided an opportunity." They went with that opportunity and it has been delivering for their people and what are you doing? That Minister is taking that opportunity away.I'll tell you what—Winston Peters knows it. He knows that it is absolutely farcical to do a photo opportunity saying you believe in Crown partnership in the same week that you're ignoring this kind of letter. Winston Peters knows that the talk talk talk doesn't match up to the do do do and that is why members opposite should hang their heads in shame.But for those who may be listening to this debate let me remind you about what partnership schools really are about. What this taking away of them represents is a triumph of fear over hope because what partnership schools have meant is that many people who have been failed by the traditional school system—a system that for many generations has sadly failed many young people particularly Māori particularly Pasifika. This is a system that has not been able to deliver and what these schools have done is offer hope. They've said actually let's give communities the power to solve their own problems. Let's allow innovation. Let's try something different. Let's give it a go. Let's see what happens if we alter the model. Let's see what happens if we actually allow teachers to be paid a bit more if we take away some of the rigidity of the funding systems. This little experiment this beautiful budding thing has delivered goods and what the Government has said is "No no no—we're afraid of this doing things differently business. We're going to shut them all down. We can't have it being different. We've got to have the square box that makes everyone the same. We've got to take away the agency this gives parents. We've got to take away the agency this gives to communities who might be able to choose to reject the State system and do things differently and take away the monolithic power that sits within that State system." This is a triumph of the belief in a resignation to failure instead of believing that we can do better.As my colleague Erica Stanford said what this actually comes down to is the people that will now be failed that these schools have delivered for. I want to take the words of Parris who used to self-harm and whose dad went into prison when she was 11 and who says of the partnership school that she now takes two trains and four buses to get to—she says "This school shows me I'm worth it now." And what do the members opposite want to do to Parris? They say "You're not worth it. This school model isn't worth it. Our ideology is worth more than the innovation that this school represents." We say on this side of the House that that is wrong that somehow believing that a community catering to its people better than a Government can is a threat shows that you are giving in to fear at the expense of hope.If this is the best that the Government has to offer for education then they are set to fail our children. If their answer to progress is to say they'll take things away—"we'll take partnership schools away we'll take national standards away"—if that's the prescription for making things better then already you are on the course to failure. The people that you are failing are the parents who deserve choices—the parents who deserve information about how their children are achieving at school and deserve the certainty that that information is being passed on to the Ministry of Education as national standards provided. The people that are being failed are the young men and women who were offered the opportunity of a different model.The members opposite should remember the words of their wise colleague that they sit around in their ministerial robes with Willie Jackson who said "When you look at the success [that] this alternative style education model has had for Māori then it gets an [A] every day." and "as far as Māori are concerned … Chris Hipkins' … bill to scrap partnership schools [ranks] an E." That's what Willie Jackson had to say and I wonder what he has to say now or whether the joy of being a Minister is such that his conscience has gone. Certainly today we see a Government whose conscience is not there for the individuals who are benefiting from these schools whose conscience is not there for the reality of the Crown-Māori relationship—a Government who is actually more focused on its internal dealings and its disputes between the coalition partners than it is on the well-being and progress of New Zealand students. Hang your heads in shame. We will oppose this bill.Debate interrupted.The House adjourned at 10 p.m."