10. SUE MORONEY (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister of Education
Does she stand by all the statements that she made and that were made on her behalf yesterday?
Hon ANNE TOLLEYWhy did she say that the claim a suspended principal was a student achievement practitioner was completely false, when Deborah Mutu gave a presentation as a student achievement practitioner to a meeting of Northland principals and Ministry of Education staff at the ministry’s offices in Whangarei on 31 August, the same Deborah Mutu who the Northern Advocate reported in May 2008 as having been suspended from her role as principal of Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Kaikohe?
Is she aware then that Deborah Mutu’s teacher registration has not been renewed following her suspension, nor was her employment as principal reinstated?
What information can the Minister provide to Parliament today to show that the Northern Advocate report was in fact false when it said that she had been suspended as the principal of the Kaikohe kura?
I am advised that the Ministry of Education, in advertising for the student achievement practitioners—these expert advisers of whom 46 have been employed—has done extensive research into the background of the over 500 applicants who wanted to take part in this National-led initiative to support the increasing of student achievement in our schools as a result of national standards. The ministry has done extensive research and checked out the backgrounds of all the applicants and certainly has given advice to me in the last 24 hours that no one has been employed who was a suspended principal.
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I asked specifically what information the Minister could put before Parliament. She has failed to provide any evidence—
Mr SPEAKERForgive me, but I think I heard the Minister say that the advice she has received from the Ministry of Education was such and such. I think advice from the Ministry of Education is evidence, indeed.
I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. If the Minister was, in fact, referring to an official document, could she table that document, please?