Cunliffe David; Borrows ChesterHon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Labour—New Lynn): I think one thing we can all agree on is that there is nothing more important than our children's education. From an economic point of view that is what is going to drive productivity growth innovation and high incomes for all New Zealanders in the future. From a social equity point of view there is nothing more powerful to allow people to make the very best of their talents and achieve whatever they want to achieve than a good sound education system that is future-focused that is quality for every single New Zealand child. We welcome the opportunity to debate this bill. We are however opposing the bill based on what we see in front of us because we think it has the balance wrong between excessive compliance to one-size-fits-all standards and dangerous liberalisation and creeping privatisation of the education system which undermines the core principle that education must be a right and of high quality for every New Zealand child. But before I get on to that may I quickly dispose of some of what have to be called straw man arguments from members opposite. The first is that members on this side of the House somehow have not discovered the internet. Well you know I was the Minister for Communications and Information Technology for 5 years and I think our side really upheld its mandate of driving competition innovation and investment to get faster cheaper broadband and internet access for all New Zealanders. That has been continued by the current Government—and good on it—and it is going to continue under the Labour-led Government that starts next year. We like progress we like the internet and we stand for approaching the future. Secondly is the argument that Labour and other parties on this side of the House just like opposing things for their own sake. That is nonsense. There is plenty of stuff in this bill that we are perfectly happy with. We like for example the idea of a teacher competence authority provided it is democratic. We like the opportunity to have communities of learning. We like the fact that there is support and better legal codification of the rights and responsibilities of school boards. There is a lot in this bill and much of it is useful. However there are several fatal flaws. Before I quickly outline them let me just say that education in New Zealand is in a crisis and I measure that by the feedback that I get from our local principals in west Auckland. I met with them a couple of weeks ago—the representatives of our principals' associations. In my 18 years in politics apart from the last time that National tried to introduce bulk funding I have never heard them so aggrieved and worried about the state of the system. They have not had enough money in their operations grants they are getting fleeced in terms of property funding and they are desperately worried about creeping privatisation through charter schools etc. etc. Special education is being gutted by the Government. In this bill—and I know it is only one part of it—communities of online learning so-called COOLS are not cool because they take away the obligation for high-quality teaching and face time. Let us not put up any false dichotomies here because of course we all want access to the internet to assist student learning. Heck we went to the last election underwriting a digital device for every New Zealand student and we are going to make sure that they have the very best of digital learning. But that is not the same thing as gutting and filleting the State school system which is the pillar the bedrock of our education system by privatising it and opening it up to people who can do what frankly too many cheap shoddy private trading establishments (PTEs) are doing in the tertiary sector—having a sham online learning environment with massive drop-out rates and false student numbers. I think we have seen allegedly an institution in the media this week—an Auckland-based PTE called the International Academy of New Zealand—has come a gutzer because it has been doing things allegedly like that. We have got to avoid making the same mistakes again in the compulsory education sector. We want education that is modern that is world-class that is available to every single New Zealand child and that is there for the public good not the private profit of a few mates of the Government. This is potentially the thin edge of a wedge. Yes we will hear it out at the Education and Science Committee but we are laying down a warning today that this bill should not proceed.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Adrian Rurawhe—5 minutes.