Hekia Parata fabricates a ‘Special Education Association’

83 comments on “Hekia Parata fabricates a ‘Special Education Association’ ”

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1. dukeofurl 1

   29 August 2016 at 10:14 am

   So it appears the Special Education association is ‘homeless’ too ?

   perhaps Hekia had been knocking on car windows when she ‘found it’. Im sure there is furious work under way creating this association and making sure it has a lovely warm home.
2. One Anonymous Bloke 2

   29 August 2016 at 10:17 am

   Perhaps someone can explain to me why section 110 of the Crimes Act (relating to false oaths) can’t be used to protect New Zealand from the National Party.
   • Andrew Geddis 2.1

     29 August 2016 at 1:13 pm

     Because she didn’t say this under oath.
     • One Anonymous Bloke 2.1.1

       29 August 2016 at 1:24 pm

       Thanks for your answer; I’m afraid it simply reveals more layers of (my) ignorance.

       Her oaths as an MP and Minister don’t apply? What are they for?

       What about s.108 (4)(b):

       Every proceeding is judicial within the meaning of this section if it is held before any of the following tribunals…

       the House of Representatives or any Committee of that House…
     • One Anonymous Bloke 2.1.2

       29 August 2016 at 2:37 pm

       …I will in all things be a true and faithful Councillor.

       Is the Executive oath so meaningless? I understand that we don’t want the cops knocking down the doors every time the PM opens his mouth, but how bad does it have to get?

       Can legislation enacted under such false pretences be expected to pass judicial review?
     • S.E.sucks. 2.1.3

       29 August 2016 at 9:30 pm

       No one needs to make an oath. There is a separate crime of making a false statement in a forum where if it had been said in Court under oath it would have been perjury. Every time ACC write a ‘submission’ giving their ‘position’ at a Review they breach the Crimes Act but fortunately for them, even when clients report this behaviour to the Police, the Police kindly turn a blind eye to it for them.
   • Draco T Bastard 2.2

     29 August 2016 at 5:47 pm

     She said it in parliament which means that she should be brought before the Privileges Committee but I don’t that’s likely to happen even if an MP raises a complaint with the Speaker.

     And, yes, lying to parliament/people of NZ should be a criminal act that comes with jail time – a lot of jail time.
3. Anne 3

   29 August 2016 at 10:21 am

   Love the photo. She’s one of those people who laugh a lot but don’t really have a sense of humour. It became noticeable in her case when former Labour MP, Darren Hughes made an hilarious speech in parliament about Steven Joyce’s tertiary qualifications. The entire chamber was laughing (even the victim) except Parata who sat there in stony silence.

   I hope there’s a public backlash because she’s really shown herself up this time. She was using the most “vulnerable” students to further her mindless ideological neo-liberal agenda without a thought for the welfare of the students concerned.
   • marty mars 3.1

     29 August 2016 at 10:43 am

     + 1 your last paragraph is very true. Horrible minister.
4. McFlock 4

   29 August 2016 at 10:47 am

   On Planet Key there’s a Special Education Association that supports everything National proposes…
   • Macro 4.1

     29 August 2016 at 1:29 pm

     It consists of the man(with his nose)inthemiddle of Keys cheeks.
     • Draco T Bastard 4.1.1

       29 August 2016 at 5:49 pm

       😈
     • NZJester 4.1.2

       29 August 2016 at 10:05 pm

       So the Special Education Association is Mike Hosking then Macro?
5. TC 5

   29 August 2016 at 10:56 am

   Time for hipkins to prove his worth and land some blows on one of the most toxic dishonest education ministers since the last national one in Tolley.

   Gloves off time imo and show some passion chris on behalf of those getting shafted.
   • Dianne Khan 5.1

     29 August 2016 at 11:02 am

     So far the opposition and news media have been surprisingly quiet about it. Do we now live in a political era so devoid of honesty that no-one is even interested in blatant lies? The opposition really needs to step up, as do the media and the unions!
     • Wendy W 5.1.1

       29 August 2016 at 4:04 pm

       THey area all too scared to say anything in case they lose their jobs. Look at what happened to Dita de Boni – she said too much it seems.

       http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/08/12/dita-de-boni-axed-from-the-nz-herald-any-more-room-left-at-rnz/
     • Wensleydale 5.1.2

       29 August 2016 at 11:48 pm

       When you say “surprisingly” quiet, you mean “predictably” quiet, don’t you? I mean, we’re all depressingly familiar with the NZ mainstream media’s stock in trade these days — “Nothing to see here, move along.” You’d get more enthusiasm from a week-old corpse.

       And as for the unions… well, they don’t seem to have the stomach for a fight anymore. It’s all about negotiation, and compromise, and “taking a diplomatic approach” for fear of scaring the horses. If we backpedal any further, we’ll be putting the chains around our own necks and requesting a complimentary flogging.

       Meanwhile, we’re all on a slow boat to nowhere, and there’s a bloody great waterfall up ahead…
     • srylands 5.1.3

       30 August 2016 at 12:09 am

       Omg. The reason it is quiet is because this so called story is not newsworthy. Real people are not interested.
   • rhinocrates 5.2

     29 August 2016 at 2:28 pm

     Time for hipkins to prove his worth

     He has: it’s zero.

     Hipkins has said that the real enemies are within the Labour Party. His mind’s elsewhere, certainly not on the job he’s paid to do.
     • TheExtremist 5.2.1

       29 August 2016 at 6:30 pm

       I agree. Hipkins is a snake.
   • Doogs 5.3

     30 August 2016 at 7:56 am

     Somebody doesn’t remember Merv Wellington. I do!
6. shorts 6

   29 August 2016 at 11:15 am

   COOL story bro…. what a brighter future we all share
7. Scott 7

   29 August 2016 at 11:20 am

   The New Zealand Special Education Association seems to be an established body.

   I suggest you augment your goggling skills by putting speech marks around the phrase Special Education Association, and then narrowing the search to NZ websites.

   It seems their current Chairperson is Dr Gaye Tyler-Merrick of the University of Canterbury.
   • Brigid 7.1

     29 August 2016 at 11:34 am

     If these are the people the MP is referring to, why did she not say so?
   • joe90 7.2

     29 August 2016 at 11:35 am

     Best you speak to Gaye Tyler-Merrick about the association that isn’t.
     /

     http://www.nzsea.org.nz/
   • Anne 7.3

     29 August 2016 at 11:35 am

     Is this the New Zealand Special Education Association you are referring to Scott?

     From the post above:

     … we tracked down a small group of people (like, 4-6 people, it seemed) at the University of Canterbury that might be the Special Needs Association! Was this it? No. And anyway, that small band of merry folk are disbanding.
     • Scott 7.3.1

       29 August 2016 at 11:45 am

       No, I was referring to the “New Zealand Special Education Association”. I did not search for others, just that which the Minister named and it was alleged she made up. What I found was the organisation she named.

       I don’t know anything about the organisation, except that its Chairperson seems a pretty reputable academic, and that it has had national conferences as far back as 1997 (as I found presentations to it linked by goggle).

       The accusation is that the organisation doesn’t exist. That appears wrong and ought to be withdrawn. What might be interesting if whether it did say what the Minister purported it to say, but that is different question. If that is the accusation it would be an easy thing for a researcher to check – the Chairperson’s email address is on the university website profile page alongside confirmation of her role as chairperson.
       • joe90 7.3.1.1

         29 August 2016 at 11:55 am

         The accusation is that the organisation doesn’t exist.

         No activity since 2013 and a dead website indicates an organisation that doesn’t exist.
         • Scott 7.3.1.1.1

           29 August 2016 at 12:05 pm

           Why then does Dr Gaye Tyler-Merrick list her chairpersonship of it on her university profile?

           I would have thought it reasonably simple, given that the organisation is not made up as is alleged, to check with the chairperson to see if it did what the Minister says it did.

           Or at least to explain that there used to be such an organisation but it is now defunct (if that is the case and the profile is out of date). But that was not the accusation being made. As it stands, the accusation made by the guest poster is plainly wrong. Their is such an organisation, and it appears to have at least one serious academic involved in it and have been (if not still is) large enough to have national conferences in the past to which other academic presented.

           If the guest poster is going to accuse someone of lying, they ought to get the facts / accusation straight first.
           • Brigid 7.3.1.1.1.1

             29 August 2016 at 12:12 pm

             I’d say the accusation stands.
             From Hekia Parata’s facebook page
             “Glenis Bearsley Minister, I understand that the ‘Special Education Association’ is a very small group of lecturers and teachers in the Canterbury region who are currently in the process of discontinuing the organisation due to lack of interest. Could you please explain your comments in Parliament about the NZSEA endorsing the use of National Standards for assessing students with intellectual disabilities. We have had confirmation from an executive member of the NZSEA that these comments have not come from this organisation…”
             • Scott …

               29 August 2016 at 12:25 pm

               The accusation made is that the organisation was made-up, that there is no such organisation.

               That accusation does not, on its face, stand.

               What you elude to is a different accusation – and I agree the facebook exchange calls the statement in parliament into question.

               But who knows if the facebook comment is not the misleading one? I would have thought that before going off and making serious accusations you’d make the most rudimentary checks. If those check were made, they have not been mentioned when plainly they should have.
               • Brigid …

                 29 August 2016 at 12:39 pm

                 Please read:
                 “We have had confirmation from an executive member of the NZSEA that these comments have not come from this organisation…”

                 Therefore, neither on the face of it it or otherwise, the NZSEA is not the Special Education Association.

                 I claim it is your research skills that are wanting, not Diane Khan’s
                 • Scott …

                   29 August 2016 at 1:08 pm

                   That quote is not from the above post, and is at complete odds with the accusation made in the above post that there is no such organisation.

                   That was the accusation that got my back up. The accusation is that the organisation was completely fictitious. It seems increasingly clear that is not the case.

                   Now if the organisation does exists, which your new quote seems to confirm is the case, then the next question would be whether a member of is had expressed the view the Minister cited, and if so whether they expressed it on the organisations behalf. But that is a different accusation to the one I take issue with, and is an accusation I don’t claim to have any information about.
                   • Brigid …

                     29 August 2016 at 2:12 pm

                     FFS!!
                     You admit you’ve viewed Parata’s face book page. Why is it that you didn’t notice the quote
                     “We have had confirmation from an executive member of the NZSEA that these comments have not come from this organisation…” from Glenis Bearsley?

                     Now turn your computer off and go outside and play.
                   • North …

                     29 August 2016 at 3:14 pm

                     In her Facebook response to Melanie Simons Parata claims that her reference was not to a defined, constituted, ‘Association’ but rather to various individuals she has spoken to. So no Scott, you’re barking up the wrong tree.

                     Parata invented an ‘Association’. That there happens to be something of a one (which by her own rationslisation/cover up she could not have been referring to), is only coincidental, and irrelevant. In any event that something of an association reports it did not say what Parata claims, reputable academic attached or not, Scott.

                     Parata is an arrogant liar and a gross incompetent whom you are attempting to whitewash as having integrity. Resorting to pettifoggery and hair splitting in the process. Foolish.
       • Sabine 7.3.1.2

         29 August 2016 at 12:11 pm

         do you have a link to the association? YOu know where we could look up the principles, their work, their fundraising etc etc.
         • Scott 7.3.1.2.1

           29 August 2016 at 12:17 pm

           I don’t know if they have a website. I found out information related to them by searching for “Special Education Association” (in speech marks) and then limiting that search to NZ sites.

           The Chairperson profile is found at the link below, and she lists her chairperson role under the heading “Professional Affiliations”.

           http://www.education.canterbury.ac.nz/healthsciences/people/tyler-merrick.shtml
           • Sabine 7.3.1.2.1.1

             29 August 2016 at 12:19 pm

             mate you should just leave it at that.

             http://www.cinch.org.nz/categories/1311/1387/entries/4651
             http://www.nzsea.org.nz/

             the link is dead, oops 404 not found.

             dear Mrs. Hekia Parata made shit up, lied in parliament, lied on her fb page and when called out made so much shit up it would make the toilets in Havelock North look clean after a gastro outbreak.

             sorry, no matter how much lipstick you throw on the pig its still a pig.
             • Scott …

               29 August 2016 at 12:31 pm

               All I’m saying is that the accusation made above is that the organisation doesn’t exists.

               The most simple of searches indicates that that accusation is wrong. The accuser claims to have done the same search I did. If they found what I did, and it was hard to miss, there should at least be some form of explanation.
               • Anne …

                 29 August 2016 at 12:56 pm

                 Why then does Dr Gaye Tyler-Merrick list her chairpersonship of it on her university profile?

                 Because she hasn’t updated her profile or she’s trying to hoodwink people she’s still chairwoman of an association that in reality no longer functions. I’ll be charitable and presume it is the former.

                 A body that no longer functions is no longer a body that exists in real life.

                 You’re just being a pain in the proverbial. Get lost!
                 • Scott …

                   29 August 2016 at 1:15 pm

                   Why do you say it no longer functions / exists? Why assume her profile is inaccurate?

                   Even if that is the case, why was that not the accusation? That “the organisation ceased to operate some time ago” and I know that because I check with X about it…

                   The accusation is that the Minister just made the organisation up. Plainly, the organisation is not made up.

                   If pointing out the obvious, when all around it seem prepared to accept that black is white because they like it that way, is being a pain then I don’t apologise for that.
                   • McFlock …

                     29 August 2016 at 1:25 pm

                     Well, parate said on her FB page that she wasn’t referring to the organisation that might or might not exist / be in the process of being wound up.

                     Apparently she was referring to all those people in the field that she’d discussed it with. And randomly gave that group the name “special education association”.

                     So, yeah, she made it up.
               • Andrew Geddis …

                 29 August 2016 at 1:27 pm

                 I’m not sure what you say is correct.

                 There may be (or, quite possibly, once have been) something called the “NZ Special Education Association”. But when asked what she meant by it, Parata didn’t point to this organisation and instead referenced “all those in the delivery of special education with whom I have had discussions”. So as there’s no indication she’s aware that this outfit even exists, why should we assume she was referring to it in her parliamentary answer (as opposed to just inventing an authoritative sounding name for a fictitious entity)?

                 Look at it this way. Imagine I claim that I used to date a model called “Nicola Standing” who (I said) was very beautiful and loved me lots and lots. Someone calls bullshit on that claim. But then, using google-foo, a profile page for a beautiful model called “Nicola Standing” is found on the inter web … someone whom I had never met before, much less dated at any time. Does finding a model with her name on the internet then prove that I didn’t “make her up” – or is it entirely fortuitous that the model girlfriend I invented from thin air happens to share a name with a real model?

                 In other words, the fact there is (or, was) something called the “NZ Special Education Association” does not mean that Hekia Parata didn’t make it up – and her inability to identify the group when asked who they were suggests that she did.
                 • r0b …

                   29 August 2016 at 1:44 pm

                   Exactly.

                   https://twitter.com/ThomasHaig/status/769984386636902403
                 • Editractor …

                   29 August 2016 at 2:12 pm

                   Are parliamentary answers also provided in written form? In her FB post she uses “special education association” without capitals, therefore avoiding the proper noun. Deliberate or just laziness?
                 • Scott …

                   29 August 2016 at 2:16 pm

                   So when the headline writer says “Hekia Parata fabricates a ‘Special Education Association'” they didn’t actually mean that, and when the writer of the guest post said “IT DOESN’T EVEN EXIST! I can’t even … I mean, really? She just lied?” they didn’t mean that either.
                   • McFlock …

                     29 August 2016 at 3:04 pm

                     The “special education association” Parata referred to doesn’t exist. A group of that name might exist, but Parata herself declared that she was referring to another group that had never, ever been called that before, had never organised itself as a group, and was just a collection of people she met at different times and who apparently agreed with her on whatever she said. I doubt this “group” have ever held a meeting or corresponded together.

                     Another group of that name might exist, although it doesn’t seem to be registered with MBIE so the official nature of that group is intriguing.

                     Yeah, I know this is difficult to believe about a National minister, but it really looks like she just made shit up in parliament because it was a convenient way of shutting down difficult questions about her failed policies.
                   • left for dead …

                     29 August 2016 at 5:58 pm

                     Scott, tell me you are not from the ministers office, it would explain a lot.
                   • Hanswurst …

                     30 August 2016 at 9:46 am

                     So when the headline writer says “Hekia Parata fabricates a ‘Special Education Association’” they didn’t actually mean that […].

                     Yes they did. Learn to read.

                     and when the writer of the guest post said “IT DOESN’T EVEN EXIST! I can’t even … I mean, really? She just lied?” they didn’t mean that either.

                     Yes they did. Learn to read.
   • reason 7.4

     29 August 2016 at 4:23 pm

     Nah Scot ….that’s not the Association that Hekia proudly told Parliament were backing her wonderful plans ….

     Her one is actually part of Nationals new flying squads ………….. Do keep up.

     Hekia also believes in adaptive learning …………….. where we have to adapt to words like association having any meanings that Nact Mps like Hekia choose to associate with them ………..

     For example they subtly changed and introduced another meaning for GST …. Global Shadow Transactions

     Lesson over 😉
8. Keith 8

   29 August 2016 at 12:05 pm

   Everyone else lies in National, it’s what you do when you are caught out, you lie. And the polls did suggest that New Zealanders don’t give a shit about bare faced lying, hence the lying has got a bit more intense lately.
9. Liam White 9

   29 August 2016 at 12:27 pm

   I found a listing for the group here:
   http://www.cinch.org.nz/categories/1311/1387/entries/4651

   Which was last updated in April 2016. All their details and meeting times are there and they appear to be an active group.

   I suggest it would be appropriate to contact the chairperson of the group, and possibly edit this post if that yields more information.

   I think if this group exists and are contactable they deserve a fair hearing. Whether Hekia was telling the truth that she had spoken to them seems doubtful judging by her Facebook comments.
   • lprent 9.1

     29 August 2016 at 2:16 pm

     Accordingly to my phone, that is a directory entry of Christchurch organisation. The entry was last updated in April.

     But it doesn’t show activity.

     Your comment reads to me like a deliberate lie by selectively filtering facts.

     The post says that there was a moribund organisation of the name. It doesn’t seem unlikely that it would persist in a voluntary directory long after it is deceased.

     Hardly cause to modify the post.
     • Scott 9.1.1

       29 August 2016 at 2:40 pm

       The post does not refer to a failing organisation of the same name. It refers to a failing organisation of a similar, but different, name. It would seem that the writer of the post overlooked that there is (or maybe was) an organisation of the same name, and a person still claiming to be its chairperson.

       Why not contact the person whose profiles says they are chairperson of the association the Minister did in fact name, and see what the story is.

       It may be that the association is defunct, it might not. It may be that the chairperson says that (to her knowledge) no one on its behalf told the Minister what the Minister claims, but without doing that it seems that the accusation in the headline and the body of the text is wrong – or at the least it is certainly based on unsound research.

       It does appear likely there is a story in this, but perhaps not the one being published.
       • Hanswurst 9.1.1.1

         30 August 2016 at 9:52 am

         It would seem that the writer of the post overlooked that there is (or maybe was) an organisation of the same name, and a person still claiming to be its chairperson.

         It would seem that you overlooked what Hekia Parata wrote when asked what she meant. It would also seem that you overlooked where it was reported that the persons you are referring to said that Parata had no endorsement from them, i. e. they cannot have formed the association she was referring to. In your defence, I might say that you are not flogging a dead horse. That, however, is merely because the horse you are flogging appears not to exist.
         • Scott 9.1.1.1.1

           30 August 2016 at 3:32 pm

           I agree that causes questions, but it does not mean that the accusation in the headline and the body of the post is right. It seems increasingly clear that the Minister did not fabricate the existence of the organisation.

           Look, its not hard. You say she may have made up what she claimed they told her, you may be right. It may also be she mis-attributed the advice. Who knows. I have certainly not overlooked that, but that is not my point.

           The trouble is that seems increasingly clear that what did not happen is her fabricating the organisation. That is what the headline accuses her of doing, and the body of the post does the same. It is increasingly clear that accusation is wrong. Indeed a simple search would have disclosed that early on, together with an easy way to check out what did happen (the identity of the chairperson of the organisation).
10. srylands 10

    29 August 2016 at 12:46 pm

    I am sure that no Ministers “lie”. That is a ridiculous suggestion in a country such as New Zealand. They are all doing the best they can for the country. And this applies equally to the Clark Government. Some Ministers may have been misguided or mistaken, but they never “lie”.

    Hekia probably just misspoke. She may have been referring to the Special Education Principals’ Association of New Zealand. Just dropped a word. We all do it.

    http://www.sepanz.org.nz/about-us/

    Anyway how about you focus on the substance of the story rather than childish semantics?
    • One Anonymous Bloke 10.1

      29 August 2016 at 12:49 pm

      Is that what you tell yourself when you cash the taxpayer cheques you bludge?
    • McFlock 10.2

      29 August 2016 at 12:54 pm

      Hekia probably just misspoke. She may have been referring to the Special Education Principals’ Association of New Zealand. Just dropped a word. We all do it.

      You didn’t read the post again, slylands.
      Basically, you just made easily disprovable shit up to defend Parat’s easily disprovable shit. And you didn’t even have the decency to finish reading the post before you did it.
    • joe90 10.3

      29 August 2016 at 12:55 pm

      When is a lie not a lie? Well, obviously when it’s a misspoke.

      But you know that, don’t you!
    • Macro 10.4

      29 August 2016 at 2:02 pm

      As the Principals of schools about to be affected by this shift of funding from Primary and Secondary schools to pre-school – I’m sure they are all for it!
    • Wensleydale 10.5

      30 August 2016 at 12:02 am

      They lie all the time, as you well know. Some of them lie like the rest of us breathe; it’s almost instinctive. And when they’re not lying, either outright or through omission, they’re obfuscating, being evasive or disingenuous, and taking us all for fools.

      It’s what they do. A bit like real estate agents and vacuum cleaner salesmen.
11. Stuff The Politicians 11

    29 August 2016 at 12:49 pm

    How does Parata get away with her spin ?

    It is more or less misleading Parliament, is it not ?
    She is a danger to be given a Portfolio of any sort.
    If Key had any gumption she would be gone.
    • Matthew Whitehead 11.1

      29 August 2016 at 1:59 pm

      Technically she misled Parliament if she did not at the time have the approval of an agency with a name reasonably similar to “Special Education Association,” as this post suggests.
    • NZJester 11.2

      29 August 2016 at 10:21 pm

      I’m sure she will follow standard National Party practice of saying one thing in parliament, then correcting the written record later by saying she misspoke and having them amend it so she can claim she has not misled them.
12. Stephanie Rodgers 12

    29 August 2016 at 1:02 pm

    Well, the flying derail squad are certainly busy on this one – looks like you’ve hit quite a nerve, Dianne!
13. Sirenia 13

    29 August 2016 at 1:53 pm

    ‘Special’ education is a well networked sector in NZ, especially through social media. Hekia should know that when claiming that a group supports her new policy (which discriminates against one group at the expense of another) that the veracity of that statement would be checked. A usual way for a group to endorse a policy would be to put out a press release or Facebook page post (yay, look at us, we have influenced a minister!). But nothing from anyone this time.

    She was quickly caught out for lying about the support from a non-existent group. What’s more she admits in that twitter link at the top of this post that she made it up and that the Special Education Association is ….’all those involved in the delivery of special education with whom I have had these discussions’ (ie some Ministry staff and a couple of National Party members).

    Incidentally, immediately following this new policy announcement there was a great deal of social media crowd sourced policy analysis which quickly revealed its unfairness. Soon after, the Ministry of Education had to start the PR soothing process. http://www.education.govt.nz/news/our-assurance-on-special-education-older-children-will-continue-to-get-the-support-they-need/

    I hear the Ministry is not a happy place under this Minister. This stuff up won’t help.
14. Richardrawshark 14

    29 August 2016 at 1:55 pm

    Hekia needs special education, the association of the front of my boot and a multitude of follow through organizations.

    I have a completely stupid opposition who it seems couldn’t organize the numbers for a protest at a Greenpeace meeting.

    My heart breaks looking at the politicians just taking the almighty proverbial and daring anyone to criticize.

    All the while kids and homeless is going on and your frankly doing zilch but a lot of talk.

    Perhaps getting out protesting and seeing if people come with you might just might be better at showing this government there is a broad opposition.

    Talking is losing, National are all over the opposition by choking the media. They have the message and control the critics!

    If after all this time you haven’t worked that out your beyond fucked.

    Or is it too cold to protest, you’d rather talk shit and do nothing.
15. Foreign waka 15

    29 August 2016 at 5:07 pm

    How sad all of this really is. The ones needing all the energy and devotion spent on semantics, politics and grandstanding are the people with special needs. And it will end up once more a “community care program”, which means that those who care have to go and beg for those who cannot help themselves in various ways. How utterly brutal, uncaring and may I say uncivilized. Truly and utterly uncivilized.
    I am actually not surprised. What is there to be expected within a society, oops not quite that far are we, where it is OK to have that many people without a home, where it is common that the offspring is killed in record numbers, where 30% of kids end up functionally illiterate and prisoners are being released with plastic bands that scissors can cut. Lets just top this off with the sick not really having any access to health services anymore, dying before they get assessed for a cure, any cure that is.
    Basically, not much better than Europe in the 1800. But he, its all good… we have sports and … sports, and….more sports and TV and…. games, and….
16. Sabine 16

    29 August 2016 at 5:53 pm

    i think its quite clear that the Lady in question has a somewhat “generous” attitude to truth and mis-speaking and just plain making shit up as she goes along.

    the amount of people that are coming to the defense of the damsel in distress is telling.

    so funny where it not so sad.
    • Gangnam Style 16.1

      29 August 2016 at 6:25 pm

      She has one of the more impressive social media/PR teams. & nope, I not a Wellington bubble staffer just a working stiff in South Dunedin.
      • Sabine 16.1.1

        29 August 2016 at 6:55 pm

        ahhh working stiffs of the world unite 🙂

        no matter what, that lady can’t wear enough lipstick to make herself pretty and honest.
17. Muttonbird 17

    29 August 2016 at 8:49 pm

    I was at the Thursday night recording of 7 Days. Hekia Parata was the guest for the Yes, minister section and she was savaged by the panel. Some of the younger comedians didn’t ride her too hard but the others had a field day.

    When pressed she had the temerity to state the National Government is a caring government.

    Everyone laughed.
    • Brigid 17.1

      29 August 2016 at 9:33 pm

      Yes, she said something like “I believe I am doing the best possible job for education” and she was generally surprised at the panel’s laughter, saying “What’s that about?”
      • Muttonbird 17.1.1

        29 August 2016 at 9:51 pm

        I didn’t see the screened show itself but I can tell you she failed the challenge on the second question.
18. Repateet 18

    29 August 2016 at 9:42 pm

    Hekia Parata has not stooped to a new low with lying. She has stooped this low before with lying.
    • BLiP 18.1

      29 August 2016 at 9:50 pm

      ‘

      Yep, true, Hekia Parata is a serial liar. However, in this instance, I suggest she has reached a new low in that she has exposed the fact that National Ltd™ is so bereft of any evidence or expert-support for these policies it is reduced to blatant lying. It remains to be seen if Opposition MPs and the MSM have reached a new low, also. Whether this latest example of National Ltd™ perfidy gets swept under the carpet will be the telling feature.
19. UncookedSelachimorpha 19

    29 August 2016 at 10:28 pm

    Looks like a lie.

    There is a “NEW ZEALAND SPECIAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION INCORPORATED” listed on the NZ societies register (society number 269799), formed in 1986, but struck-off in 2000. Hardly a great source for endorsement.

    http://www.societies.govt.nz/cms/incorporated-societies
20. UncookedSelachimorpha 20

    29 August 2016 at 10:32 pm

    …and nothing on the NZ Charities register

    https://www.register.charities.govt.nz/CharitiesRegister/Search
21. mosa 21

    29 August 2016 at 10:52 pm

    Key is so good at deception and getting away with it that the rest of the cabal follows his example.
    Key has misled parliament on many occasions and has never been held accountable.
    This government is taking the piss and have no care or respect for the people who put them in unless you donate money or represent a vested interest or hold a right wing opinion and can get a prime time current affairs slot to spew the National party line like a over hyped cheerleader as de facto Nat MP Paul Henry will be doing soon every week night at 7 pm, something to look forward to, its like we dont have enough of these government people on air already but obviously the brainwashing has missed some of the population and we cant have that.
    • Hanswurst 21.1

      30 August 2016 at 10:02 am

      Key is so good at deception and getting away with it that the rest of the cabal follows his example.

      No, the NZ media are so happy to run Key’s spin and very little else that the rest of the cabal follow his example. Key’s “deception” is generally so flimsy that a well-aimed fart could knock it to bits.
22. Dianne Khan 22

    30 August 2016 at 2:11 pm

    Dear right wing apologists, trolls and anyone else with blinkers on – here’s an update regarding your precious NZSEA:

    https://saveourschoolsnz.com/2016/08/30/update-defunct-group-nzsea-confirms-hekia-parata-did-not-consult-them/

    ~ Dianne
    • Pat 22.1

      30 August 2016 at 2:16 pm

      I feel there may be still room for equivocation

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