The Education Minister is responsible for the futures of hundreds of thousands of Kiwi kids, but doesn’t understand the most basic rules of Parliament, National’s Shadow Leader of the House Michael Woodhouse says.

“Serious questions need to be asked about the competence of Education Minister Jan Tinetti after the Privileges Committee found her sustained and erroneous judgement caused Parliament to be misled.

“Having to apologise to Parliament is a serious issue for any MP, but it is particularly embarrassing for the Minister responsible for the future of New Zealand’s children.

“This is one of Labour’s most senior ministers, but her inability to understand and follow basic rules begs the question of whether she is fit for the role.

“While she has escaped being found to have committed contempt, the committee found a high degree of negligence on the Minister’s part impeded the functions of Parliament.

“Right now, our kids are not going to school, achievement levels are plummeting, and some schools are choosing to ditch NCEA Level 1 altogether because they have no confidence in the Government’s NCEA change programme.

“Instead of tackling these issues and turning around Labour’s poor outcomes in Education, Ms Tinetti has been focused on cleaning up her own indiscretions.”