Category: Education

While the education reforms now being introduced by the Coalition, to overhaul the curriculum and the law will improve standards and give Kiwi kids a better opportunity to build decent lives for themselves, it remains unacceptable that provisions are being left in the legislation to empower He Puapua and race-based rule.

The Minister of Education, Erica Stanford is determined to introduce a knowledge rich curriculum for all New Zealand students. It is a standardised curriculum which ensures that students across the country receive the same high-quality knowledge consisting of academic subjects with content selected for its value and justified for its veracity.

The cause of the problem we face is, of course, the inexorable rise in expenditure on super and healthcare as our population ages. While we currently have around 800,000 retirees, by 2061 this number is expected to approach 2 million. At that time the number of workers per pensioner will fall from around four to one today, to just two to one.

Competition is just as important in government as it is in private sector markets. The lack of competition, over the past 80 years, in government-owned social service institutions, is why they are in such a mess today, when compared to say Singapore’s welfare institutions.

What happened in Britain should be a warning to our Coalition. The euphoria of hope after their election win is fading as supporters question whether the promised reforms will be delivered. Their concerns are over their lack of headway in reversing He Puapua.

If Sir Roger is right in his prediction that none of the existing political parties will support the proposed reforms because they don’t want to relinquish their tight-fisted grip on power, then we will need an army of Kiwis who are prepared to help us create the momentum we will need for a change of this scale...

Using Letters of Expectation Labour’s Ministers were able to put He Puapua into effect, away from the spotlight of public scrutiny, transforming institutions into agents of radical indoctrination. Under their directives virtually every government organisation was required to prioritise the Treaty and Maori interests. Such requirements are now endemic.

A critical issue for universities throughout the Western world, has been an ideological shift away from institutional political neutrality, and a focus on teaching and research excellence, towards the critical social justice politics of diversity, equity, and inclusion. DEI agendas focus mostly on race and gender identity issues and have become oppressive and exclusionary.

The Government will honour the Treaty. But unlike the Labour government, we will honour it without moving away from equal voting rights, without creating complex co-governance bodies and bureaucracies in Wellington to decide how central services should be delivered in the regions, and we will honour it while upholding the equality of all New Zealanders before the law.

The problem we face is that few political leaders have the vision or courage to introduce transformational reforms that will genuinely empower New Zealanders to build a brighter future for themselves and their families.