Boardroom mood nails the MP who is doing some heavy lifting for this Government: Editorial

Christopher Luxon, Chris Bishop and Erica Stanford are among the Government's top 10 performers. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

EDITORIAL

Education (children going to school), Transport (potholes and orange cones), Finance (pay), Infrastructure (new homes, fixing old pipes), Defence/Space (flying to the Moon), Foreign Affairs (making sure our international voice is heard), Police (law and order), Workplace Relations (fair pay) and Trade (more free-trade agreements) – that’s how the Herald’s Mood of the Boardroom last week ranked the MPs doing the most mahi for the Government.

For the 100 chief executives and chairpersons, that’s how they see what is important as employers and to New Zealand’s economic recovery and who they ranked the top-performing Government MPs.

Erica Stanford, Simeon Brown, Nicola Willis, Chris Bishop, Judith Collins, Christopher Luxon, Winston Peters, Mark Mitchell, Brooke Van Velden and Todd McClay. They are the top 10 according to the survey and within that group of 10, there’s also Luxon’s kitchen Cabinet – his close confidantes and go-to lieutenants who front most of the Government press conferences.

Stanford’s No 1 rating should come as no surprise.

She has turned education on its head in her relentless pursuit to lift failings, like school attendance and poor academic results across the sector, including the Education Ministry’s oversight of school buildings, where there is a $6 billion backlog of builds.

The Education Ministry paused all school builds and initiated a review – especially its capability and capacity to manage the school building contracts. The inquiry was overseen by former National MP Murray McCully.

Construction of a new 15-classroom block at May Rd School is going ahead, but phase two has been paused as the Government announces an inquiry into school properties. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

What McCully found was the ministry’s management of the building portfolio lacked transparency, clarity and efficiency. His main recommendation was to establish a new entity separate from the ministry to “assume ownership and asset management responsibility for the school property portfolio”.

“There was a strong consensus that school buildings funded by taxpayers should be simple, functional, cost-efficient and based on repeatable or standardised designs. The ministry’s failure to execute in line with these principles drew strong criticism,” McCully’s report says.

What is pleasing about Stanford’s education performance is that she is totally focused on children and their learning skills and though she has angered groups within the education sector, she stays true to her instincts.

For instance, taking $30 million from teachers learning te reo Māori and using that on children’s maths books, made some jump up and down.

It made her an easy target for being labelled red neck and racist. But the $30m course she defunded is only one of the many available and there are plenty of free classes.

So, for those teachers and others who want to learn te reo, great – go ahead do it, it’s just an online click away.