Shearer David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Shearer David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Sitting date: 19 February 2013. Volume:687;Page:7924. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
3. 
DAVID SHEARER (Leader of the Opposition) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does he have confidence in all his Ministers? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister) 
: 
 Yes. 
David Shearer 
: Given that he previously admitted that the data used to overhaul Christchurch schools was inaccurate has the Minister of Education assured him that the data is now 100 percent accurate; if so what value does he place on her assurance? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I think the member is paraphrasing me but I think what is true in the process is that there was some disagreement between the ministry’s data and the school’s data. As that process was carried out over the course of the last 4 or 5 months there was agreement on the data and for the most part actually in favour of the ministry’s. So yes I am confident now that the decisions announced by the Minister yesterday were based on the best data we have available. 
David Shearer 
: Why are schools such as Manning Intermediate School closing when their rolls are predicted to increase and will this make him focus on re-evaluating that data? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I cannot give you answers on specific schools. You would be better to put those questions down to the Minister directly—but they are actually in a number of press releases that she has announced. All I can say in terms of the decisions and recommendations the Minister made is that she put into consideration a number of factors and they included demographics of where people are going to live damage to the buildings damage to the land and where the likelihood was for the best schools. I will say this: in the course of the proposals now subject to consultation there in effect are 13 schools that will be closed in the Christchurch area; over a slightly longer period of time there are 15 schools that will either be new or be rebuilt. 
David Shearer 
: In light of that answer given that intermediate schools will be closing in 10 months’ time is he seriously suggesting that children are better off in prefabricated buildings rather than the schools that they are already in? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: What I think is true is that parents wanted certainty. What is also true is that once the decision is made—and we have got to go through a consultation process with submissions that close on 28 March from memory—then I think at that point if a decision is made to close a school it is actually highly likely that parents will start moving pupils away from those schools. So I think it does make sense to start transitioning to the new environment. 
David Shearer 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That was really a question about whether he believed that children were better off in prefab buildings rather than the schools that they are already in at the moment. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I think the member needs to acknowledge that the primary question he put down was a very broad question to the Prime Minister. Now he is getting into some quite specific aspects of an education announcement that should be more correctly directed to the Minister of Education. I think the Prime Minister adequately answered your question. 
David Shearer 
: Given that on 4 September last year the Prime Minister personally said that he would read through all of the submissions from parents and schools regarding school closures does he believe now that the prefab buildings that they will be transitioned to are a better alternative than staying where they are? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: In some cases yes. I mean the damage is significant. I am not at all sure all kids who will be leaving a school that is being closed in the next 10-month period will be going to prefabs but I think what is true is you have to take a medium-term view here. Over the medium-term this is a Government that will be spending $1 billion in Christchurch building 15 new schools or rebuilding. In reality he is a member of a political party that knows what it is like to close schools because he has got the gold medallist sitting behind him who closed 281. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! That is certainly not a helpful comment from Mr Mallard. 
David Shearer 
: Does he not concede that closing schools in Christchurch following a natural disaster where kids require and rely on stability and security from their schools is manifestly different from closing schools under the Labour Government? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: This is the logic that the Leader of the Opposition is wanting New Zealanders to believe: that on the back of a catastrophic earthquake in Christchurch that has dramatically changed the demographic patterns of where Cantabrians live where there is huge damage to the schools involved and where the land is substantially damaged nothing should happen. If that is his thinking and his definition of leadership he will remain the Leader of the Opposition until David Cunliffe finally gets the other 20 votes— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! 
David Shearer 
: Can he have confidence in his Minister who proposed increasing class sizes who unlawfully closed Salisbury School who approved the disastrous Novopay roll-out and who has bungled in the last 5 months the Christchurch schools process? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Well they are the views of the Leader of the Opposition. They are not my views. In fact to paraphrase the political commentary on TV last night I think she acquitted herself very well in Christchurch yesterday. By the way from what I could see today in the House it was like 100-nil to Hekia Parata zero to Metiria Turei. You— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order!