Coddington Deborah: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Coddington Deborah: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:606;Page:3315] 
DEBORAH CODDINGTON (ACT NZ) 
: 
 That was a fine half-pie sort of ACT speech from that member but I take issue with the Minister of Conservation who accused ACT of subterfuge. We do not actually pass laws because the  
Sunday Star-Times 
 states that we should—we actually respect the Westminster process. It is a cheap shot for the Government to use the tragedy of that little girl. Nobody in this country has anything but sympathy for that family. 
Jill Pettis 
: Support the bill then. 
DEBORAH CODDINGTON 
: That member should not accuse us of not campaigning for children. I have spent the best part of the last 10 years campaigning for the safety of children in order to protect them from sex abusers and child abusers and I have used the parliamentary process to do that properly.  
I would like to move further to the matter of child abusers of the mind. At the moment according to an international survey 1 million New Zealanders are ranked on the lowest level of literacy and that leaves them with a very blighted future. Imagine if 1 million people left school after having been physically maimed through sporting activities at school—so physically maimed that they had to spend their lives on a sickness benefit or the unemployment benefit. There would be an absolute outcry. Where do all those illiterate children who leave school in New Zealand go? They go on to benefits and many of them end up in prison. There was absolutely nothing in the Prime Minister’s statement today about the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) one of the most dangerous experiments ever foisted on New Zealand children. 
 It is totally untried. It is teaching to standards not context. Last year’s year 11 students were guinea pigs and to add insult to injury they now have to pay extra for that exam. This Government blithely says that grants will be available to poorer students. [ 
Interruption 
] Exactly—a parental tax. Once more the children from low-income families are the ones who will be hurt most by this Government and they were already hurt when the Government introduced such an appalling national “qualification” as it likes to call it.  
There is debate over how the assessment is done and there was nothing in the Prime Minister’s statement to address that problem. She thinks that if we ignore it it will go away. Education begins at birth. The Prime Minister said that the Government will be working with the early childhood sector. The early childhood sector actually wants this Government to just butt out. It was getting on fine before this Government stuck its nose in and introduced pay parity for kindergarten teachers. The Government is trying to force all early childhood educators through the same one-size-fits-all teaching qualification which gives no recognition to the experience or skills that have already been attained. Already too many good teachers are leaving the system. What will this Government do? It thinks: “Nanny knows best” when it comes to the delivery of education in New Zealand. The politicians decide on the best school for a child to go to—it has to be the nearest one. If a parent does not like the NCEA but the local college has embraced it it is tough. The State education system says that one’s child must go to a particular college and graduate with an anti-competitive politically correct standards-based assessment qualification.  
I spent 18 months on the board of trustees of a popular Auckland school. We had to knock on doors at 7.30 in the morning to check out what we thought were suspicious enrolments so that we could carry out what this Government decreed in the education legislation. Those poor parents were falsifying their addresses so that they could get the best for their children. They had decided what they thought was the best school for their children to go to. All sorts of excuses were offered by those angry and pleading parents but we had to carry out what this Government decided would be best. Meanwhile due to zoning the real estate prices went up and if members think that that is just an Auckland problem I tell them that it is not. Zoning is dividing communities as far south as Cromwell. The principal of Cromwell Primary school was quoted in the paper last week as saying that it is splitting up families. The principal said that it has the potential to split families the ability to create community divisiveness and that it denies parents a choice of where to send their children to school.  
Why should those parents not have choice? We allow the parents of international students to choose which schools their children go to. Why do we not afford the same dignity to New Zealand parents? The feminists in that Labour Government supported women’s right to choose when it comes to abortion. I applaud that but what about the right of mums and dads to choose which schools their own living children go to? Members should think about that. They should cast aside the status quo and use their imaginations. Imagine if we could give every child $10000 a year tattooed on his or her forehead if one likes figuratively speaking. Those children would suddenly look very attractive to schools. They would look as attractive as the international fee-paying students and parents would be able to choose their children’s school. We allow parents to choose which houses and cars they buy but for some reason we do not let them choose which school their children go to. Of course members are thinking that parents would all send their children to Auckland Grammar Epsom Girls Grammar School or Wellington College but if I buy a hamburger in south Auckland it is exactly the same quality as a hamburger in Epsom so why should the parents of children who live in Otara and Mangere not have access to the same standard of education as the parents of children who live in Epsom and Remuera? It is an irony is it not that the ACT party is the party that promotes that and the Labour party is the party that says— 
Jill Pettis 
: You had vouchers. 
DEBORAH CODDINGTON 
: What is wrong with vouchers? Why can we not give parents some choice? If the Prime Minister had any vision about education in New Zealand she could have used her statement this afternoon to promote a radical exciting stimulating vision of a system that rewards New Zealanders. It could actually be done without involving a lot of upheaval or revolution. How? Just introduce choice! Imagine if I went to the supermarket here in Thorndon and somebody was wandering around—an inspector or someone from the board of directors of the supermarket—to check that I lived in the supermarket’s zone and was not travelling to the supermarket from out of the zone—Lower Hutt for instance. There would be an absolute outcry. But for some reason this Government will not allow parents to have the same choice.  
We could look at giving schools autonomy. We could have faith in parents’ ability to choose best. Mums and dads know best. We could start treating teachers like the professionals they are. We could give them the choice as to who will be their employer. We could give them competition for their services. We could allow them to be self-employed. We could allow teachers to set up schools just like Dawn Jones and John Graham did in Auckland with The Senior College. After 9 years it is a spectacular success because they did not have to pour money into bricks and mortar. Instead they used the money and the little resources they started off with to employ the best teachers at higher rates.  
If we look at articles in the  
Spectator 
 we see that countries like India and countries in darkest Africa are introducing school choice for parents so that the poorest parents can send their children to independent schools. They know what is best for their children. But in New Zealand we insist on going backwards. Also we could start by raising the entry and exit levels for teacher training. The standard is appalling at the moment. We insist on A bursaries for students to get into law school. We should also raise the standards for students to get into teacher training. After all who teaches the future lawyers and the accountants the skills and the knowledge they need to get the A bursaries?  
There is no silver bullet for education. It has to be improved in conjunction with welfare reform and increased prosperity. I challenge this Government to do something for the parents out there who do know best where to send their children to school and what the best education for them is.