Mooney JosephJOSEPH MOONEY (National—Southland): I rise as the member of Parliament for Southland on behalf of the National Party to speak on the Education and Training (Teaching Council Fees and Costs) Amendment Bill and to oppose it on behalf of the National Party. It is somewhat ironic that when we have just received news that we have got the biggest increase in the cost of living in a decade inflation of 4.9 percent from this time last year when the costs of living and the costs of buying essentials is going up for our hard-working teachers among others in our communities this bill is going to retrospectively justify effectively doubling the cost of registration for teachers over a three-year time frame.So just to be clear: the Labour Government earlier this year rewarded essential workers with what was a wage freeze and now they are telling teachers who are the unsung heroes of the pandemic and who are making sure that our children continue to be educated—something that is critical for the future of themselves their families and this country—that they are going to have to pay more to be a teacher; in fact double over a three-year time frame. This is not good enough.The Post Primary Teachers' Association—the PPTA—took a case to the High Court earlier this year and the High Court was quite compelling in what it said: firstly that the Teaching Council had failed to engage teachers and in fact teachers had no opportunity for meaningful or indeed any input into the decision to move to an annual certificate renewal. The court noted that the move to annual certificate renewal was likely to create more work for teachers than triannual certification and the council had incorrectly said it could not legally accept instalment payments or fees for a triannual certificate. The court said I have reached the conclusion that the change to the period of certification was a significant one that produced detriment for a large number of teachers. The teachers had no opportunity for meaningful or indeed any input into the decision." This just brings to mind for me a number of other things that this Government has done itself which are not engaging in meaningful discussions with people who its decisions affect and unfortunately we are seeing this extended to this bill which is retrospectively justifying a doubling of certification fees for teachers. It is frankly mind-boggling. I note that this Government has found a significant amount of money—in fact hundreds of millions of dollars—for the Ministry of Education restructure yet it cannot find a few million dollars for teachers at the front line of our education system. What message does that send to our hard-working teachers who are keeping the wheels of education moving during this pandemic? Why should hard-working teachers who have done such an incredible job literally have to pay more because this Government has not been on the ball? It is not the teachers' fault that the Teaching Council did not consult with teachers adequately nor is it the teachers' fault that the provisions of the Education and Training Act were inadequate to achieve Parliament's objectives. While the Act is admittedly large and complex Parliament should cop the High Court ruling on the chin and pay for its mistake. It sets a bad precedent for Parliament to rewrite an Act immediately and retrospectively in response to one court decision. National does acknowledge the important work that the Teaching Council does in regulating the profession and the council requires revenue to execute its role. But this is the wrong way of going about it.New Zealand's teachers have done an extraordinary job during these lockdowns and are continuing to do so during the lockdown that we are experiencing in parts of our country. They have been spending a lot of time online making sure their students continue to learn and I want to especially extend my appreciation to them. New Zealand owes our teachers a debt of gratitude. The National Party very much values our teachers. With that I would say the National Party does not commend this bill to the House."