March 2009

Submissions close today on the Law Commission's review into the laws and regulations that govern the Independent School sector.

New Zealand currently has a total of 99 registered independent schools - with a combined roll of more than 30,000 students. Independent schools are subject to a different regulatory system to that which governs State schools and, in October 2007, the then Labour-led Government requested that the Law Commission undertake a review into these regulations.

According to Law Commission President Sir Geoffrey Palmer: "the law concerning the regulation of independent schools has never been paid any systematic attention and much of the reasoning for the original provisions is lost in the mists of time".

Debate is raging, and criticisms flying thick and fast, following Prime Minister John Key's announcement that employees will be able to 'sell' their fourth week of annual leave back to their employers - effectively swapping their time off for a cash equivalent.

The announcement reverses a key element of the previous Labour Government's Holidays Act, which barred employers from paying staff cash in lieu of their entitled paid leave. This meant that employees wishing to receive their full leave entitlement had no choice but to take four weeks off work during a given year.

The move has drawn fire on a number of fronts, however, with a common misconception being that employers might now 'force' staff to take a cash payment rather than the time off that they are entitled to. Some have even gone so far as to predict that thousands of workers would now receive employment contracts requiring them to request cash instead of annual leave.

Having your head in the clouds might not necessarily be an acceptable trait for a Minister of the Crown but that all changed on Wednesday when, during a visit to Ohakea Air Force Base as Associate Minister of Defence, I was able to observe a test flight of a Supermarine Spitfire MK 1X PV270.

The first Mk IX Spitfire to have flown in New Zealand since 1956, this aircraft has been a five-year labour of love for engineer Brendon Deere, his family and his team of specialists.

Brendon is the nephew of renowned WWII Spitfire ace Air Commodore Alan Deere, and this aircraft - housed at RNZAF's Historic Flight Hangar 1 - is a lovingly restored recreation of the Spitfire that Deere personally flew during the war.

It has undergone a substantial re-paint – its original camouflage and markings have been applied, and the craft has been restored in the colour scheme of Alan Deere's personal Mk 9 Spitfire when he was Wing Leader at Biggin Hill.

In my role as Minister of Consumer Affairs I was last week delighted to open the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association's (CTFA) annual conference 2009 at SkyCity in Auckland.

Formed in 1972 by a core group of companies that were then manufacturing most of their products in New Zealand, the CTFA was set up to present a united front and to lobby government in the interests of member companies. Since its inception, the association has taken on a number of additional roles - from monitoring government legislation, to providing a referral centre for international and domestic trade enquiries.

The ACT team is in Auckland today, and will be joining Party members and supporters for the ACT New Zealand Annual Conference 2009 - the first annual conference ACT has held since the General Election that saw the Party increase its number of MPs from two to five.

Now ACT not only has five MPs, it has two Ministers of the Crown - myself and the Hon Rodney Hide. ACT's goal is for New Zealand to match Australia economically and socially by 2025, and this year's conference will look at how we can capitalise on this new opportunity to do just that - make New Zealand the wealthier and more prosperous nation we all know it can be.

Prime Minister John Key will address the conference at 8:50am tomorrow (Saturday, March 14 2009), and all ACT MPs will also speak. Guest speakers at this conference also include former rugby league coach Graham Lowe, former Secretary of the Treasury Dr Graham Scott, and political marketing specialist Dr Jennifer Lees-Marshment.

It was heartening to see today that the Recreate Auckland Trust has received a last-minute reprieve from closure by the ASB Community Trust.

Recreate was established in 2002 by parents of young people with disabilities after the Crippled Children Society (CCS) stopped running, what it called, “separatist” activities for the disabled. Instead, CCS encouraged disabled people to take part in mainstream activities with non-disabled people.

Recreate operates after-school, weekend and holiday programmes - including outdoor camps - for disabled young people from over 500 Auckland families. It ran out of money when the ASB Trust had to cancel funding after the value of its investments plummeted in the global financial crisis.

Today marks the 60th anniversary of Commonwealth Day, an annual celebration observed in all 53 Commonwealth countries throughout the world on the second Monday of March.

It appears, however, that the love affair with the Commonwealth is floundering, with a survey conducted to mark the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth's foundation revealing that even the British seem to know litle about just what the Commonwealth is.

As Queen Elizabeth II released her Commonwealth Day statement – which stated that the future of the Commonwealth nations lies in the hands of its one billion young people – the online poll of 2,119 adult Britons found that young people were the least familiar with the Commonwealth and its role.

Plenty if you are awarded the title of Knight or Dame Grand Campanion (GNZM) and Knight or Dame Campanion (KNZM/DNZM).

Today the Prime Minister announced that titles are to be reinstated in the New Zealand Honours system. The Queen has given her approval and the changes will come into effect in time for the Queen's Birthday Honours list in June. We are returning to the situation that was put in place when New Zealand Honours were first established in 1996. The first two levels of the New Zealand Order of Merit were titular (honour where the person is referred to as Sir or Dame) and it is these levels that are being reinstated.

It is history that gives titles their importance. When Labour took away the awarding of titles in 2000 - replacing them with "Principal" and "Distinguished Campanion" of the Order a sense of history was left behind leaving strings of letters that few knew the meaning of.

The general willingness by Wellington City Councillors to forego salary rises this year is laudable, and in keeping with similar moves to freeze MP pay rises in recognition of the current financial situation.

The fact is that, as public figures, MPs and city councillors have a duty to lead by example and not lose touch with the citizens and constituents they have been elected to serve.

The current financial situation is having a large impact on New Zealand families, who must budget carefully to cover increased grocery costs and fluctuating petrol prices. Kiwis throughout the country are being forced to tighten their belts and elected officials should be expected to do no less.