NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) : I rise to support the Education (National Standards) Amendment Bill, and I am delighted to be here today to do so. I acknowledge the contributions of all members in this House—on both sides—to the debate so far. I also acknowledge the many people in this Chamber with experience in education; not just the former teachers and former principals but the parents, who have the basic right to know how their children are doing.

This measure is about parents having access to information about their children, and I am proud, as the member of Parliament for Auckland Central, to be part of a Government that is giving parents that information. I am proud to support this legislation and proud to be delivering on another promise of this fantastic National Government.

The other important aspect of the bill that I want to speak to today is the truancy provisions. Thirty thousand kids in New Zealand do not make it through the school gate—that is right; 30,000 kids a day do not make it through the school gate—and under the previous Government the problem got worse. Over a period of 6 years, more and more kids did not make it through the school gate. We believe in these kids. We are going to do everything in our power to make sure they make it through the school gate.

Let us deal with the aspect that we are passing this legislation through the House under urgency. The reason we are passing this legislation under urgency is that, unlike those members, we think it is a priority to do something about truancy. We campaigned on it, and we are delivering to parents like the parents in the gallery today the right to know how their kids are doing at school. We are delivering to those 30,000 kids, who are the future of New Zealand; it is their right to go through the school gate, and we will get them to go through it. I support this legislation.