There are serious questions that need to be answered by Government agencies regarding the method of brake testing on Waiheke Island, Auckland Central MP Nikki Kaye says.

“This is a significant issue because it cuts to the heart of people’s confidence in vehicle safety.

“Media reports today demonstrate that there is confusion and a lack of clarity around the brake testing system for Waiheke Island.

“Reports indicate that Vehicle Testing New Zealand (VTNZ) has admitted using what has been called ‘an inferior test’ since March 2017. This is despite the agency’s brake protocol which says that the decelerometer method should only be used for up to two days.

“It is also against the backdrop of VTNZ being scrutinised by law firm Meredith Connell.

“While VTNZ has said that they don’t believe there is a safety issue, it has admitted to breaking the rules by using the old test for too long.

“It is also clear that Waiheke customers were not told about this and there is a strong case for islanders being made aware.

“I am requesting an urgent briefing from NZTA and VTNZ on these issues.

“It is clear to me that not only have protocols been broken, but there needs to be greater assurance around public safety for vehicle owners on Waiheke Island. I will be asking a lot more questions of Government agencies on this issue.”

“I have requested an urgent briefing from the Ministry as a result. An independent check may be required on NZTA systems in order to prevent this risk in other communities.”

The Ministry of Education has finally released the costings of the pay offer for secondary teachers which have been held onto for months an hour after a question was lodged to be asked in Parliament today, National’s spokesperson for Education Nikki Kaye says.

“I have been asking written questions where the Education Minister has cunningly avoided providing the details of the individual costings of each element of the pay offer for secondary teachers for months. Within an hour of the question being lodged in Parliament today, the Minister provided that information to the PPTA.

“Failing to provide this information thus far has been, in my view, one the barriers to settlement because the unions have been unable to verify the costings of the offers.

“The fact that it took a question in Parliament to prompt Minister Hipkins to allow the Ministry to release this information proves he is more focused playing political games than reaching a settlement and preventing strikes which we know are deeply disruptive to students, families and parents.

“The Minister, alongside the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance, have been saying that the existing offers are more than the equivalent three offers by the previous National Government combined. This is incorrect, both by the Ministry’s own costings provided today and information in Parliament with regard to secondary teachers.

“The costings show the secondary school offer is approximately $360 million over four years. To this into perspective it is equivalent to approximately 13 per cent of the Governments package for tertiary students.

“We also know that other areas of the public service, like the New Zealand Police, have had offers much higher than teachers.

“The Minister’s comments last week, when considering the teachers offer in light of other offers, that National isn’t ‘comparing apples with apples’ need to be explained, especially given there are tens of thousands of teachers who want to know why other public sector workers are being offered much more.

“The Government needs to stop playing politics and wasting time and get back to the table immediately to provide an increased offer to prevent strikes.”

With the passing of the Education Amendment Bill today the Government has ignored continuous outcry from Māori leaders and scrapped the partnership school model, National’s spokesperson for Education Nikki Kaye says.

“Yesterday Māori educators Sir Toby Curtis and Dame Iritana Tawhiwhirangi applied for an urgent Waitangi Tribunal hearing over the closure of partnership schools.

“The Minister of Education Chris Hipkins chose to ignore the claim and today the Education Amendment Bill, which contains provisions that remove the partnership school model from legislation, passed its final reading.

“Partnership schools have a strong track record of lifting Māori educational achievement. The claimants believe axing the model will have a detrimental effect on the futures of young Māori because it limits opportunities for educators to help Māori students succeed.

“The Minister should have done the decent thing and delayed the provisions scrapping the model until the claimants had the opportunity to be heard. Instead he pushed ahead with the legislation without even having a conversation with these highly respected Māori leaders.

“This follows the Minister repeatedly stating that the Crown had not been formally served with the initial Treaty of Waitangi claim, before admitting an error had been made and blaming it on Crown Law.

“The passing of the bill is the final step of an uncaring process that has seen the Minister refuse to meet with many schools and stakeholders, admit he didn’t think there should be Select Committee hearings at partnership schools to provide opportunities for families to submit and fail to deliver all the transition provisions the schools were promised as they become special character schools.

“The legislation passed today also removes National Standards provisions from legislation, finalising the Government’s reckless move to scrap them without a replacement system and leave parents in the dark about their children’s achievement.

“It is a sad day for partnership school students and their families. Their voices have been ignored by the Government, and they have lost the schools that helped many of them experience success in education school for the first time in their lives.

“National remains committed to reinstating and expanding partnership schools within 12 months of returning to Government.”

The Government is not doing enough to resolve the teacher shortage according to even its own numbers while it continues to drag its heels on the longer term strategy which will make the real difference, National’s Education spokesperson Nikki Kaye says.

“The data provided by the Ministry of Education to allow teachers to be added to the essential skills list indicates school growth demand alone could be for as many as 1000 more teachers per year over the next five years. While this package may help, today’s target of 850 shows the Government is coming up short.

“What the Government must deliver is the long term workforce development strategy started by National more than a year ago to ensure we can fill our classrooms now and prevent other shortages in the future.

“This strategy must get to the core of the issue around how we can better attract people into teaching and retain our best teachers. Ideally it will bring back experienced teachers who left over workload and pay issues and won’t leave schools reliant on offering incentives to attract new graduates and people from overseas.

“The fact the strategy has not been released yet shows the Government is struggling.

“National took a number of steps to help try and address the shortage including boosting the number of TeachNZ Scholarships, the voluntary bonding scheme and, for the first time, investing in promoting teaching as a career to tertiary students studying STEM subjects. We provided funding for recruitment and relocation and we welcome the Government today announcing it will build on that.

“National also had work underway to extend voluntary bonding cash incentives to a much larger group of teachers in areas like Auckland but that was scaled back by Education Minister Chris Hipkins.

“Importantly, teachers are waiting for the Government to reduce workloads and increase pay. Primary teachers overwhelmingly rejected their second pay offer last week and are now pursuing strike action while secondary teachers have also rejected the Government’s first offer.

“The Government needs to do more in both the short term and long term to ensure we don’t have disruption for students and we have teachers in classrooms where they are needed.”

National Party spokesperson for Sport and Recreation Nikki Kaye says the Government’s launch of a $10 million Strategy for Women and Girls in Sport today is a positive start but there is more to do to reduce inequity. 

“I welcome this strategy but more needs to be done to ensure women are more highly represented in sport not only as athletes but also in leadership and governance positions.

“There are some promising initiatives in the strategy including a contestable fund which will seek some fresh ideas for getting more girls physically active however more needs to be done to look specifically at the disparity in funding in youth sport.

“Through my discussions with some organisations it is clear there are significant inequities in sport funding. One area of concern is the disparity in community funds that impact organisations like Netball New Zealand.

“Netball New Zealand represents 140,000 primarily female registered athletes and they estimate they receive a disproportionately lower level of funding compared to other codes that have high numbers of boys participating.

“The issue of disparity in sport funding by community trusts is a tough issue to tackle. I believe that there needs to be increased transparency of this funding so that we understand the extent of the inequities.

“I am aware that some trusts are making a huge effort to better understand the disparity at the community level but there is a need for this to happen across the sector.

“I congratulate the Government on the initiatives announced today. I look forward to working with the Government and the sector to make greater progress to deliver equity in sport.”

After several years of work the Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Bill to strengthen the management of apartments and townhouses has today been released by National’s Housing spokesperson Judith Collins and Auckland Central MP Nikki Kaye.

“We see a huge opportunity to strengthen the existing unit titles regime in areas such as pre-contract disclosure, record keeping of body corporates and better management of conflicts of interests and proxy votes”, Ms Collins says.

“The main reason for the change has been concerns around a lack of transparency and inadequacy in long term maintenance plans, and a clearer understanding of the role of a body corporate manager.

“Some estimates have the apartment sector alone worth more than $50 billion. Under investment in long term maintenance plans can result in large unexpected bills for homeowners if defects occur, or sharp rises in body corporate fees.

“Places like Auckland have seen a huge increase in unit titles. The number of multi-unit housing developments in Auckland increased from just over 15 per cent of new houses in 2010 to over 40 per cent in 2017.

“A refined governance, management and planning structure will ultimately lead to more quality housing through improved long term maintenance plans and boost the confidence of first time buyers.

“Nikki Kaye, alongside property and legal experts, produced a report for the last National Government and a discussion paper was subsequently released which forms the basis of this law. National had committed to ensure the legislation would be progressed if we were in Government,” Ms Collins says.

The Bill aims to:

• Improve the information disclosure regime to prospective buyers of units
• Strengthen the governance arrangements in relation to the body corporate, the entity responsible for the management and operation of a unit title complex (owner)
• Increase the professionalism and standards of body corporate managers
• Ensure planning and funding of long-term maintenance projects is adequate and proportionate to the size of the complex concerned.

“The law distinguishes between unit title complexes based on their size so smaller complexes can either be excluded or can opt-out of some compliance obligations. The legislation aims to strike a balance between the benefits of additional compliance requirements with any potential costs,” Ms Kaye says.

“Earlier this year Judith and I met with Housing Minister Phil Twyford where we confirmed we would draft a Bill, and we have now written to the Minister asking the Government to adopt the legislation. If the Government chooses not to adopt the law the Bill will be lodged as a Private Members Bill in Judith’s name.

“As a result of some of these issues, disputes have arisen without accessible and affordable resolutions – the Bill seeks to reduce dispute costs and improve the accessibility of mediation.

“We want to reduce homeowner disputes in multi-unit dwellings and help support easier resolutions.

“For most people their home is the largest asset they have so when things go wrong there can be devastating and life-long impacts.

“Through our discussions with apartment owners, property and legal organisations, including body corporate chairs, we know there is huge support for law reform in this area.

“We will work hard to ensure this law reform is progressed,” Ms Kaye says.

You can read more about the bill here

News that the secondary teachers have rejected the Government’s pay offer means that the instability and potential disruption in the sector for teachers, students and parents is far from over, National’s Education spokesperson Nikki Kaye says.

“After primary teachers overwhelmingly rejected their second pay offer last week and are now pursuing rolling regional strikes it comes as no surprise that the secondary teachers weren’t happy with their first Government offer either.

“I am at the PPTA conference in Wellington today to listen to secondary teachers’ concerns. It is clear to me that they have also not been prioritised by this Government and that it has instead chosen to spend $2.8 billion on an unsuccessful fees free policy for tertiary students.

“For teachers it is not just about pay. The Government has not provided a firm funding commitment for special education coordinators in schools - despite announcing a plan to provide them in each school.

“Smaller class sizes is another priority for many teachers which has not been prioritised by the Labour-led Government. Smaller ratios would help to lessen teachers’ workloads and provide more one on one time with students.

“And now, for both the primary and secondary pay offers, the ability for teachers to get the support of a maternity grant up front has been proposed to be changed, meaning that new parents would have to wait until they come back to work for any support. This is unacceptable and unfair to new mums and dads.

“I am concerned that there has been a lack of transparency around the offer. It is my understanding that despite requests from union organisations the Ministry of Education has not provided the breakdown of the costs of the offer.

“The Minister has failed to deliver multiple promises in education including ending school donations. The Government overpromised to a lot of New Zealanders and has chosen to prioritise other areas. 

“This is extremely concerning for everyone involved and it only creates more uncertainty with the situation. The Government needs to front up now and prioritise funding for teachers in an attempt to avoid more strike action.”

National’s spokesperson for Education Nikki Kaye is concerned for parents facing potentially multiple strikes over the next six months as a result of the Government’s lack of priority of teacher’s salaries and other funding.

“Primary teachers have today rejected the Government’s latest offer. This is the second offer that was refused and it means that parents may be facing two day primary school strikes.

“This is concerning for parents - strikes mean significant disruptions for families and learning.

“Some secondary teachers have also publicly criticized the Government’s pay offer. The secondary offer will be publicly announced next week but teachers tell me it’s not looking good. If there is no movement parents may face multiple strikes over the next six months.

“The Labour Government has not offered smaller class sizes or prioritised salaries and instead have chosen to spend $2.8 billion on an unsuccessful fees free policy for tertiary students.

“One of the issues with the offer is the lack of a firm funding commitment for special education coordinators in schools. Another problem is the reversal of existing rights around maternity grants in both primary and secondary pay offers.

“The Government promised a lot around resolving teacher’s shortages but has only provided two thirds of the funding for what it promised at the election.

“The Government has also sought to put teachers going on maternity leave in a worse position where they lose the ability to get a grant up front, instead they would have to wait until they come back to work for any support. This is really harsh for new mums and dads and we oppose this.

“The Government has raised expectations and needs to get back to the table and prioritise funding for teachers. The Government also needs to work with schools and parents to ensure there are adequate supervision arrangements for children during the strikes.”

National’s spokesperson for Education Nikki Kaye has confirmed today that large numbers of primary principals and teachers have contacted the Minister of Education on the eve of the settlement ballot next week. 

“The Acting Education Minister confirmed in the House that she has been contacted by over 100 teachers and principals in the last three days raise urgent issues such as teacher’s shortages, relief teacher issues and increased class sizes.

“We are now coming up to a year in of the Labour-led Government and a number of these issues could have been alleviated as part of some short-term supply packages if the Minister had taken some action. 

“The reality is that the Government has only provided two-thirds of what it has promised to spend in education and has not adequately prioritised short-term supply issues. 

“The National Party has raised questions before about the impact that the teacher shortage is having on class sizes. We have shifted our position and made a commitment to increasing the number of primary teachers to reduce class sizes and giving kids more teacher time.

“Despite Labour MPs campaigning on smaller class sizes during the election they have refused to commit. Labour have no excuse for not being able to keep its promise on class sizes or to significantly increase teacher salaries but has instead chosen to prioritise $2.8 billion for a fees free policy for tertiary students.

“The Government has also said that they care deeply about special education and learning support yet we understand that they are not moving on the issue of a SENCO role for schools as part of the collective bargaining.

“The Acting Minister has confirmed in Parliament today an announcement will be made on additional learning support tomorrow. National is supportive of additional support in this area. 

“Moving towards next week there is an urgent need for the Government to get to the table to address these issues so that there aren't future strikes.

“The outcome of the ballot will be next week and if the teachers vote to reject the offer then there will likely be future strike. The Government must find a way to address these issues to avoid another costly strike.”

Chris Hipkins’ latest piece of legislation is yet another attempt to dismantle reforms made by the previous National Government, National’s Education Spokesperson Nikki Kaye says.

“National established Communities of Online Learning (COOLs) to harness rapidly evolving digital technologies and provide more learning options for young people.

“COOLs would have provided huge opportunity for students to learn subjects that teachers in their local area may be unable to teach, but now the Minister has put up legislation that will repeal the system with nothing in its place. At the very least the Minister should provide an alternative regulatory framework for sustainable quality online learning and content.

“This will impact organisations like the Virtual Learning Network who have been so successful that they have grown the number of students accessing their programmes by five times where they were several years ago. At the very least the Minister should be providing a decent replacement system.

“The new bill also makes changes to cohort entry which will see an effective change to the school starting age. For decades, kids in New Zealand have been able to start school at the age of five.

“Now there will likely be thousands of children at schools with cohort entry who will be delayed the opportunity to start school until weeks after their fifth birthday. This is not good enough.

“The Minister has also put up proposals around requiring private schools to be safe physical and emotional places for students. Of course we support ensuring students have access to a safe environment.

“However, the detail and the driver for these changes are completely unclear. While we support this being a criteria for registration – the powers to cancel the registration of a private school appear to be very wide.

“These changes are on the back of other ideological moves such as scrapping partnership schools and National Standards. The Government has not progressed its own agenda because it’s tied up in paperwork and has been immersed in at least 16 Education reviews.

“The Bill also enables the Minister to issue Government policy directions relating to the Education Council’s functions. It requires the Education Council to consult with the Minister prior to making changes to teacher qualification requirements or registration criteria.

“Mr Hipkins is trying to bring the profession under his control, which is hypocritical and contrary to the Government’s wider policy position of a ‘high-trust’ profession.

“The Regulatory Impact Statement by the Ministry of Education notes the ‘risk’ involved and the perceived conflict. The Ministry also acknowledges that this may be seen by the sector as limiting the council’s independence.

“The National Party will oppose the Education Amendment Bill (No 2). The Government is on an ideological crusade to get rid of anything brought in by National, rather than putting up a positive agenda of change.”