GEORGINA BEYER (Labour—Wairarapa): It is tragic, really. It is tragic to watch the demise of a once-proud National Party—deluded, dejected, and all but defunct. It is lacking in leadership and searching in vain. Let me ask whether this scuttlebutt is true: which Auckland-based National Party MP will possibly be usurped and challenged in his or her seat by the current Mayor of Auckland, former National Party Minister John Banks? God help us if John Banks ever finds his way back into that party! It is my understanding that there are members of the National Party in the Auckland area who believe that his re-election might be the panacea to solving the Bill English lack-of-leadership issue. I suggest that if John Banks is not the answer, then perhaps National members might like to look again at the women within their caucus—to improve and upgrade women’s visibility and priority within the benches across the way, and to promote another woman and take us back to the days of Jenny Shipley. Those members are probably wishing they could go back to those halcyon days when they were once strong and proud.

What is it about Bill English’s leadership that prompts such thought or scuttlebutt—that there may be others who were once proud and had done well, like Mayor Banks of Auckland? Perhaps they should make some contribution. For those male members of the National Party who cannot fathom elevating one of their own women’s caucus members to a higher place in the leadership stakes, I tell them that I can offer Mr English the name of a surgeon who might be able to assist him to cross over in some way. I am sure that that assistance will be warmly welcomed, should it be the way he wishes to go.

This really is about the National Party’s policies—or lack of them. We can see how National Party members have cast their minds back to the halcyon days under their regime of the 1990s. Yes, policies from those days are the policies they regurgitate again and again. They are useless policies, simply because National has no idea what is going on—for example, in education. National has resorted to resurrecting old, failed ideas such as the reintroduction of national testing, removal of enrolment zones, privatisation of the education system, and beneficiary bashing to target truancy. Those ideas are from a National Party with no new ideas.

If National wants to make improvements it has to think forward and have vision. It has taken decades for the National Party to come up with those so-called new ideas so it is no wonder it continues to fail at the polls. All the policy ideas proposed for education are nothing more than tired old slogans from the policy failures of National’s last term in office. They have rightly been described as “crude and rather predictable conservative slogans”. The thin and lightweight document is very clearly tired, and devoid of fact or new ideas—zoning and privatisation? What an embarrassment!

The Labour-led Government is building a world-class education system whereby we will ensure opportunity for all, not just for the privileged few. Unlike National, Labour has moved on, replaced the failed policies of the 1990s, and rebuilt the education system in order to improve outcomes for all students. There was a lot to do. The legacy of the National Government did a huge amount of damage to our public education system. Our priority in Government is to build an education system that equips New Zealanders with 21st century skills—not something from back in the 1840s or thereabouts—and reduces underachievement.

We have invested in literacy, for example. In our first Budget an extra $24 million was injected into that area alone, and in the last Budget another $15 million. That is progress coming from this Government. We have invested in quality teachers. We have put 550 more teachers in schools, and $2.65 million in funding will be provided over 4 years to set up a working group of experts to develop a framework for best teaching practice. That is a lot more than that lousy, useless National Party across the way ever offered. National can only hark back to its failed policies of the 1990s; Labour invests.