Horomia Parekura: Education (National Standards) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
Horomia Parekura: Education (National Standards) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
[Volume:651;Page:610] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Labour—Ikaroa-Rawhiti) 
: 
 I rise to support the great speech made by my colleague Chris Carter in relation to what the Labour Government has done in the last 9 years. I see that Mr McClay has disappeared but he was huffing and puffing about those young people who were 8 9 and 10-year-olds and who are now 18 19 and 20. 
I would say to the Minister in the chair the Hon Anne Tolley—apart from congratulating her because she lives in Gisborne—that the Education (National Standards) Amendment Bill is quite a fascinating bill. We listened to debate on the bill providing a 90-day trial period for employees where National took away workers’ rights and said that it was good for them and took 2 percent off KiwiSaver and said it was good for people. Now standardised testing which has been tested internationally is something that turns around to more bad practice. I wonder whether there is a hint of that in this bill because when boutiques and the Esprit Group tried that practice in France and when people tried it in Wisconsin it turned towards being a voucher system. I ask whether this bill is the lead-in to that because it is quite incredible: we started off with the teachers being blamed then the parents and now it has become a monetary issue. If we double or triple the fine will that fix up the issue? How cranky is that? 
Mr Peachey said that a lot of the practices from his time in the classroom are now antiquated. Steve Maharey understood that and he moved to modernise the classroom. As Chris Carter said the Labour Government put a lot of effort into solving the problem of truancy and that is why it declined by 24 percent. I am really happy and thankful that this Minister of Education Anne Tolley has said teachers will not be affected by the 90-day probationary provision. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Courageous! 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: It is courageous stuff—great decision-making. I thank the Minister for that because she knows she said that like that beleaguered statement that was being tossed around over the other side of the House. We see the failed national standardised testing in the Education (National Standards) Amendment Bill and it is being linked to other activities that National wants to bring in. We know what bulk funding did and we know how that practice got around. This is incredible. 
In the last two days when the Opposition has performed remarkably against a Government that is still trying to find its way we have all said that education is the cornerstone to going forward. There was something in the Speech from the Throne about invigorating and turbocharging the aspects of enterprise. I see Hekia Parata over there and she is a great educationalist. I am so proud of the Maori members in here. [ 
Interruption 
] That is right she is my cousin and I am so proud of her. I am so proud of Nanaia Mahuta who will most probably become the vice-chancellor of Waikato University. I am so proud of Te Ururoa Flavell even though St Stephen’s School closed. He was the principal and he knows about it. 
Hon Members 
: What about Paul Quinn? 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: And Paul Quinn went to Stanford University. I left school at 15 but I became one of the longest-serving Associate Ministers of Education in this country under the great Labour leadership so I learnt a fair bit. 
Few parents encourage truancy and members know that full well. We practised Te Hiringa i te Mahara which brought up the performance of schools up in the East Coast led by Parata and well resourced by this Government. If members go to the Tolaga Bay Area School—do members know where Tolaga Bay is?—they will see that every student who leaves that school goes somewhere. I say to Mr Bennett that at Turakina Maori Girls College where truancy was high and at St Joseph’s School all of those young ones go somewhere. They are not as privileged as he has been through life and Governments have to be careful in this standardised testing stuff not to create a bigger class distinction because a whole range of issues and ramifications both social and cultural are bound around truancy. 
Mr McLay talked about Murupara. We gave the people of Murupara a curriculum that was relevant to what the community wanted. They wanted to teach Ngati Manawa and we did that. Truancy came down through the Labour Government. Government members should be thankful that we supported the Education Review Office because if they want to construct frameworks of performance they should be sure about what they put into them. The Minister has not thought this through well enough she has just rushed this legislation and bleated and bleated about this being important.