Mahuta Nanaia: Education (National Standards) Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Mahuta Nanaia: Education (National Standards) Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:616] 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato) 
: 
 We are here on Saturday under urgency because the Maori Party the ACT Party and the National Party have agreed to push through legislation that fundamentally affects many New Zealanders across our country and those New Zealanders have not had a say on any of it. This Government expects that it can rush through legislation that affects ordinary New Zealanders without letting parents or schools have a say on it and without even bothering about what they think. 
So in rising to speak to Part 1 of this Education (National Standards) Amendment Bill I want to ask the Minister a couple of questions as well. I think the point was well made by Grant Robertson when he asked why there has been no ability for parents to have a say on how a punitive step will actually affect their ability to support their children in education. After all we all want our kids to do well in the school system. We all want them to achieve. We all support schools lifting their game to support our children. But it is about quality teaching and creating a learning environment and that is not what this bill does. This measure takes a punitive step against parents. 
I absolutely agree with Chris Carter: good parents should not be punished by imposing punitive actions such as a fine system. Why? Let us think about common examples in our communities—real examples. For example a woman with three children whose husband has left her may be on the domestic purposes benefit. Will a punitive step actually help her to support her children in their education? She is putting kai on the table and has it in the cupboard. She supports education. Is she totally responsible for what her child does because there are issues of dysfunction in her family that perhaps are not being addressed? What does the Minister say? She says “Let’s fine her. Let’s fine that solo mum whose child does not turn up to school because his father has not been in his life and has not taken an interest in his education. Let’s just fine her.” There are already exacerbating pressures on a family like that. 
This legislation will do nothing to support those mums who want their children to be educated in our communities and that is what this Government has not done. It has not really looked at the implications of a punitive system on vulnerable families who will need support not only from the community and the schools but from us as legislators to ensure that when we apply legislation it will have a positive effect out there in our communities. I do not think that a punitive step really reaches out to the families who will be affected. 
Has the Minister asked herself why truancy is happening in our communities? This is a difficult issue and we are taking it seriously. Truancy is a very serious issue in all our communities because we all know that if kids are at school for longer they are more likely to achieve. But why does truancy exist? I put that question to the Minister. Dr Pita Sharples spoke in this Chamber about this particular issue and he knows very well that if we were to compare mainstream schools with kura kaupapa and wharekura we would find there is a higher rate of truancy overall in mainstream schools than in kura kaupapa and wharekura. Why? Every one of those kura kaupapa and wharekura schools will say that it is because teachers make the difference in the learning environment in terms of valuing the students and who they are. 
If we talk to parents of children attending mainstream schools about the issues of why truancy exists—if we bother to talk to them—we will often hear them say that it is because their children do not feel valued especially Maori students and perhaps Pacific students. Dr Pita Sharples raised the issue himself. A number of the truants we are talking about are in alternative education centres. When we talk to those children and ask them why they are in alternative education centres they will say “The teacher couldn’t even be bothered with me. I was just a number—couldn’t even say my name properly. I didn’t even bother going to school because the teachers don’t value who I am.” That is what students will tell us. 
So when the Minister takes an approach like the one that has been taken in respect of this bill—a very punitive approach—she actually fails to recognise the number of other issues around the help that families need in order to be able to support their children’s education. The Minister needs to take a call on this because it is a very very important question. 
Hon Chris Carter 
: She won’t take a call. 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA 
: No she will not take a call but she needs to. She needs to take a call because a punitive measure such as this will punish good parents who want to support their children’s education. Those parents must be supported in doing that.