SpeechHon TRACEY MARTIN (Minister for Children): Thank you Madam Speaker. So I rise on behalf of New Zealand First to address the Education (Strengthening Second Language Learning in Primary and Intermediate Schools) Amendment Bill. I find it ironic that New Zealand First is the only party that will stand up for Te Reo and sign language in this country. I absolutely find it ironic.I'm going to read from this summary the general policy statement of the bill: The Bill makes it clear that Te Reo Māori and … Sign Language are as … official languages … priority languages and will be resourced." There is nothing in this bill that secures resourcing. There are no progressions for sign language. There are progressions for Te Reo Māori but they have not been implemented whether it be by a National Government or whether it be by a Labour Government. They have not been resourced to be delivered—they are yet to be resourced to be delivered. With regard to sign language there are no progressions. There is no requirement inside the New Zealand school system to actually deliver the progressions of an official language which is New Zealand Sign Language. There is no resourcing either by a National Government or by a Labour Government. I find that fascinating.Then it says in the summary "The current law requires schools to take reasonable steps to enable children to learn Te Reo and this will not change." "Reasonable steps" does not say that they will. "Reasonable steps" does not say that they will not be superseded by Spanish or French or whatever other of the 10 languages that the Government will decide are the priority languages of this nation. I know sitting at Mahurangi College the pressure that came from that community to say "Why are we learning Te Reo Māori? We should actually be learning French." "Why are we learning Te Reo Māori? We should be learning Mandarin." The other thing that this bill doesn't do is it doesn't say what's going to come out of the school day. We already know—I'm fascinated; I'm sorry my Labour Party colleagues—by the fact that the Labour Party who knows how stressed and how full the New Zealand Curriculum is and how much our teachers have to deliver are supporting another thing to put inside our teachers' day—another thing that our teachers will have to deliver without removing anything else. So I do find it fascinating that both the National Party and the Labour Party decide—and I'm going to make an assumption around the Green Party but I'm sure the member will stand up and speak for themselves—that they have the numbers to actually get this through to select committee. My Labour Party colleagues here have said that this is an opportunity to have a discussion. I respect Jan Tinetti as a representative and as a front-line teacher—probably more than many others I respect—when she speaks on this topic. But by putting this through to select committee there is a stamp of approval. To then remove ones approval as this goes through the House is a much bigger deal than to stand here and say right now we do not agree.New Zealand First does not agree. We do not agree that in this moment at this time when Te Reo Māori is still not throughout the country in the way that it should be—and the Hon Nikki Kaye can frown as much as she likes and say that we're never going to take away from Te Reo Māori. She's not on the front line at schools where parents are at the door. She's not on the front line in what is the current argument around New Zealand history and making sure that we have the resourcing for Te Reo Māori and making sure that we actually counter those communities inside New Zealand that say "Why are our children learning that language? It has no point." This is not the time for this argument. The time for this argument is when we all can converse in a conversation with English Te Reo Māori and sign language. That is the moment to have this argument. That is the moment to bring this sort of a bill to the House. That is not this moment yet. We have a lot of work to do on the official languages of this country. If we want to start early then let's start at kindergarten. Let's start at early childhood education like Toru Fetu over here in Wellington. Let's start actually with the language that is of those small children and entrench it in them and make them know from two years old and three years old that this is part of who you are. Let's not decide that we're going to put it into the compulsory sector. Let's actually have some sort of conviction around our beliefs and say who you are matters the language that you use inside of your home matters and from the moment you are born we will acknowledge it—not decide that we're going to put something else into the New Zealand school system when we don't have enough days at the moment for what the Government has already put inside the curriculum. We will oppose the bill."