Tolley Anne: General Debate 
Tolley Anne: General Debate 
[Volume:655;Page:5023] 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister of Education) 
: 
 The member who has just resumed his seat the Hon Phil Goff talked of the failed policies of the 1990s. Today I want to talk more about the failed policies of the previous Labour Government when it came to early childhood education because I heard that Government crowing plenty of times about how it was increasing participation in early childhood education. All the time members of that Government talked about their 20 hours of so-called free early childhood education and about how it would increase the participation of young New Zealanders in early childhood education. As the Government coming in we inherited a situation where an area like Counties-Manukau has an average of 60 to 65 percent participation in early childhood education. 
The answer from the previous Government was for the previous Minister of Education to go out and have a look at the schools in that geographical area and at the size of their playing fields and decide that nine schools would be the places where early childhood education services would be built. There was no consultation; the previous Government just picked out the schools where there was some clear space and decided that it would happen. Well actually some of those schools did not want an early childhood centre on their land. In fact one of them was a high school and there was absolutely no relationship between it and an early childhood education centre. 
What have we done in Government? I am very proud to tell this House today what we have done. We have gone out and talked to the communities and we have asked them what they want when we start developing—as we need to—more early childhood centres. What do those communities think they need? Guess what! Lots of people have put their hands up and said they have some good ideas and that their schools want to have early childhood centres on their sites. They think it will be of benefit to their communities and they are prepared to get involved with the design and management of those centres. So now six schools in Counties-Manukau have self-identified as wanting to be suitable sites for a centre and we announced yesterday that three of them will have an early childhood centre on them. Another three decile 1 and 2 schools are being assessed for early childhood education sites. Six certified playgroups are supported to open in Counties-Manukau. 
One might ask: why a playgroup? Well some of these communities do not actually understand the benefit of early childhood education so it is a matter of building confidence in the whole— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: You’re beginning to sound very patronising. 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY 
: It is not patronising at all; this is what the communities themselves have told us. They do not want to go into a formal centre. That was the problem with the previous Government. When Labour was in Government it thought it knew best. It thought that— 
Paul Quinn 
: They would know patronising. 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY 
: They were patronising. These communities have said that if we just build a centre then the kids will not come. Those families that we really want to get to and that the evidence tells us get the most benefit from early childhood education will not come along to an early childhood centre. But they may come to a playgroup that has been organised in their local street and parents may come and participate with their children and start to get involved in their children’s ongoing education. That is what the communities have told us they want and that is what we are helping them to do. 
The communities have also said to us that they should develop some playgroups in some quite highly visible areas in shopping centres. We said that was a fantastic idea and asked how we could help them to do that. You see we on this side of the House understand as a Government that parents are an important part of early childhood education. The previous Government did not see parents as being worth anything and excluded them and any parent-led centres from funding. The previous Government cut out the parents. In fact they only— 
Hon Member 
: Caregivers. 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY 
: Caregivers. We are not allowed to talk about parents. The previous Government talked about caregivers but we care about parents and kids and are listening to our communities.