Source: New Zealand Parliament – Hansard
Question No. 2—Prime Minister
2. Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by all his Government’s statements and actions?
Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON (Prime Minister): Yes, I do, and especially our action to teach the basics brilliantly to our Kiwi kids. The maths results released on the weekend are absolutely appalling, when four out of five of our children at year 8 are below where they need to be, and three out of five are more than a year behind where they need to be. It is safe to say that the system has failed. We have to fix it, and now we have a plan to do exactly that—a world-leading curriculum based on the science of learning, top quality resources to support our teachers, regular assessments, and clearer reporting for parents. We have an outstanding Minister of Education, Erica Stanford, who has achieved more, I think, in six days than the last member did and the last Government did in six years, and it is more evidence for what Kiwis already know: that this is a Government that is for the parents and also for education.
Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Will the new requirements around maths that he announced over the weekend also apply in charter schools; if not, why not?
Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: Again, we think charter schools are an important feature of innovation to bring into the education system. They will be held ruthlessly accountable for delivering improved academic achievement, attendance, a number of key metrics, and then left to get on with the job that they need to get on with.
Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Point of order, Mr Speaker. The Prime Minister himself introduced all the content around maths in his primary answer. The supplementary was directly related to the content that he himself introduced in his primary answer, and he didn’t address the question.
SPEAKER: Well, I think he did, by saying they’ll be required to provide comprehensive, I think was the word, across the curriculum. The Prime Minister, I’m sure, might want to say something more.
Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: Well, charter schools will be required to deliver results, and we’ll hold them accountable for doing so.
Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Point of order, Mr Speaker. My question was whether the requirements that he just outlined would also apply to charter schools. Saying that they’re going to have rigorous standards is all very well, but will the standards that he set out for every other school, in the area of maths, apply to charter schools. That was a pretty straight question.
SPEAKER: It was a straight question, but one of the things that’s sort of interesting is that, while the person asking a question may want a particular answer, he can’t guarantee that it’ll be given. The question was most definitely addressed.
Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Why should the New Zealand public have confidence in his Government’s reintroduction of boot camps and that they won’t result in a repeat of the shocking abuse highlighted in last week’s royal commission report when his Minister for Children said last week that she cannot guarantee that abuse won’t take place?
Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: Well, again, what I’d say to you is that the royal commission of inquiry report into the boot camps at Aotea Great Barrier are incredibly different from what we are proposing here—completely different. What we’ve got is unvetted and unqualified staff, as that member would have read in that report. Here we have senior psychologists and two social workers working with 10 kids. We had very isolated conditions, appalling conditions. We have a three-month residential programme that involves the family, whānau, siblings, and community organisations from the get-go. On the other hand, it was focused on punishment and also abuse. This is focused on powerful interventions in these young people’s lives to turn them around. And there was no oversight or monitoring, as the member would understand from that reporting, and there is deep monitoring and protection in place under our military-style academies.
SPEAKER: Just so we’re clear, the primary questioner has for quite some time been getting the first three supps.
Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Will he do what his Minister for Children refused to do last week and guarantee that no children attending boot camps established by his Government will be subjected to abuse?
Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: We are doing everything we can to make powerful, targeted, and safe interventions in those young people’s lives, and we will not give up on them. We’re going to do everything we can. We’re going to try new things. We have a good pilot, with good oversight and good monitoring, but we are going to do things differently to get things done in this country.
Hon David Seymour: Does the Prime Minister have any reflections, in the wake of the royal commission on abuse in State care, on politicising the grotesque, violent suffering outlined in that report by making comparisons that are totally invalid to something that is actually completely separate?
Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: As I said, they’re incredibly different, and I think it’s disingenuous to compare them.
Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: If he is confident that abuse will not happen in boot camps, why won’t he give that assurance now?
Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: Because I am doing everything we can in this Government to make sure that we are going to make powerful, targeted interventions on these young people’s lives. We are making sure we’ve got qualified and vetted staff. We are making sure we’ve got monitoring and protection in place. We are making sure that we actually have family and whānau and community organisations in place. This is a trial. This is a pilot. We will learn from it. But I can tell you, we’re doing everything we can to make powerful interventions to change the trajectory of where these lives are going.
Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: If all of those things are going to be effective, why won’t he guarantee that no child will be abused in boot camps?
Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: Well, I am guaranteeing that we are doing everything we can to turn those lives around.
Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Will he assure the public that he will not intervene in any future fast-track resource consent applications, as he did in the case of the redevelopment of a disused petrol station in Cockle Bay, which was being redeveloped into 54 apartments, where his objection was cited as one of the reasons it isn’t going ahead?
Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: Look, the member has gotten very petty in Opposition. I have to say, look, we are interested in solving problems. One of the big observations of the previous Government was that there were lots of words, lots of post-it notes, lots of strategies, and nothing getting done. We believe in fast-track, one-stop provisions. We think that’s the way that we get things done. We strengthen our regional communities. We strengthen our national economy. We’re going to get it done. Come and join us. Support and vote for fast-track legislation, support and vote for the oil and gas repeal, and get on board.
Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: 54 houses blocked by you.
SPEAKER: I’m not going to stop interjections, but Standing Orders does require they are rare and reasonable. I don’t want to be the judge of what’s reasonable, in this case.
