Brown SimeonSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. Well that was a very interesting speech from the Green Party where they tried to come up with a whole lot of excuses but they forget that they're actually part of this Government and need to actually take some responsibility for what this Government does. But they are trying to make excuses by saying Well we're part of this confidence and supply agreement so we don't have to take responsibility." Well I'm sorry but you're the party which has brought this Government into power so take some responsibility and answer the question: why are the teachers striking?So what we have seen today up and down this country is something which is historic. For the first time in 24 years we have seen primary school teachers and principals take to the streets close the schools and strike. There are schools in my electorate which have closed and I just want to recognise and acknowledge—Kieran McAnulty: Didn't the member go there last year?SIMEON BROWN: —all of the teachers and all the principals who have made that decision.Matt Doocey: He's got the day off school. Leave him alone.SIMEON BROWN: Yes that's right. I've had today off school myself just to make this speech! Now can you please be quiet in the cheap seats over the other side of the House.So let me get back to where I was at. So it's understandable why these teachers are striking and I want to acknowledge the good work that they are doing. But what we have to also recognise is that they are striking because of the arrogance of this Government and the rhetoric that we are getting from the Minister of Education which absolutely does show that they are not listening they are not listening to teachers and they are not listening to their needs.The Minister of Education went outside Parliament today and what he said was "We are hearing your concerns and so we are getting rid of charter schools."—we are hearing your concerns and so we're getting rid of charter schools. We are hearing your concerns and we are changing the name of the Teaching Council. Well that shows a Government which wants to distract themselves they are out of touch and they don't want to talk about the real issues and the real things.So this comes back to the real issue here. We've got the Green Party on one hand saying "Well we're not really part of this Government but we are." And the reason why they've got this issue with the teacher pay and the teacher strikes is because all of the money's been spent. This is a Government which has the wrong priorities and which has spent all the money. I've talked to teachers. I visit schools in my electorate all the time and they understand. They understand that there has got to be priorities from this Government. They understand the need for Governments to prioritise but they also understand that this Government has the wrong priorities. They've spent $2.8 billion on free fees for university students—$2.8 billion. And how many more students have we seen go to university? Hon Member: Less.SIMEON BROWN: About the same. $2.8 billion—$2.8 billion Mr Ball $2.8 billion. And how much have we seen spent on diplomats? About $1 billion on diplomats. And how much money have we seen spent on Shane Jones' slush fund? A billion dollars a year on the slush fund. So who's got all the power in this coalition? It's the New Zealand First Party which has all the power in this coalition and the Green Party is sitting on the side having to complain.Chlöe Swarbrick: We are in confidence and supply Simeon.SIMEON BROWN: And yes Chlöe Swarbrick says "We're in confidence and supply." Well you're still part of the Government so stop propping it up and do something. Take some action if that's what you going to say. Take some action and take responsibility. The Green Party is all care no responsibility; that's what they're all about—all care no responsibility.Well I'd like to touch on a couple of last comments and this is in regards to some of the issues that we are facing. We do acknowledge that teachers need to be paid more and we do acknowledge that we need to attract more teachers to teach in our schools. Well what message does it send to young people who are thinking of teaching that we have to have strikes to get a pay rise? For nine years when we were in Government there were no strikes from teachers. They didn't have to strike they negotiated they sat around the table and they nutted the details out around the table where it should be.Now we've got a Labour Government and they're striking outside because the incompetence of the Minister of Education and the incompetence of this Government. They can't sit down around the table and make these decisions and actually get a deal done so that we don't have to have strikes from a core public service up and down our country—the inconvenience for parents and families and the disruption to our children's learning. What have we heard today? Now they're talking about a second strike. And how long with this one go for? Two days. They had a one-day strike today; now they're talking about a two-day strike. So Mr Hipkins needs to gets the message: sort this out. Sort out teacher pay so we don't have to disrupt our children's learning.The debate having concluded the motion lapsed."