Paula Bennett: In truancy data saga, Education Minister Jan Tinetti commits five offences

Jan Tinetti during question time in Parliament this week. The Education Minister will face questions from the Privileges Committee on Thursday. Photo / Mark Mitchell

OPINION

It’s hard to pick what’s worse in the Jan Tinetti saga over misleading Parliament.

Questions were put to Education Minister Tinetti by Erica Stanford from National at question time about whether she had held up the release of truancy data. The data was due to be released in December and Stanford was questioning Tinetti on February 22.

Tinetti stated that she had nothing to do with the delayed release of the data and when questioned further said it was a decision for the Ministry of Education for when to release the data.

Upon returning to her office she was evidently told that the release had been delayed so that it could come out the day Tinetti announced a $74 million truancy package.

Offence number one: Did she really not know that the truancy data release was held up to coincide with her announcement? And if she didn’t, why didn’t she? Who’s making the decisions in her portfolio?

So, Tinetti misled the House and knew she had, either at the time or within a few hours. Make no mistake, she misled Parliament. Some media are wrongly saying that there is a question as to whether she misled Parliament or not. No there is not.

As stated by the Speaker of the House, Adrian Rurawhe, “While mistakes are sometimes made which can result in the House receiving a misleading statement, it is vitally important that as soon as this is discovered, the minister returns to the House to correct their answer at their earliest opportunity.”

Offence number two: Not correcting her answer in the House at her first available opportunity.

Tinetti knew she had misled the House on February 22, she did not correct her answer until May 2, and only after the Speaker wrote and told her to. Parliament sat on February 23 so she could have easily done it the next day. If she had, we wouldn’t be talking about it now.

As with most things, it’s not the mistake that matters the most, it is how you handle it. Like most long-term ministers I have made a mistake and had to go back down to the House and correct it. I can’t remember the exact details, I think I got a number wrong, I do remember being mortified that I had to correct an answer. But you get that in the big jobs, I made a mistake and within hours I corrected it.

The Prime Minister made a mistake in his first question time on February 14. I imagine it wasn’t his ideal scenario to have to stand up and correct his answer, but he did at his earliest opportunity.

I know this all sounds a bit pedantic but as the Speaker said, “It is an important principle that the House can trust the accuracy of ministerial replies to Parliamentary questions.”

Offence number three: Not knowing the rules. Tinetti says she didn’t know that she had to correct her answer in the House.

Really? She has been in Parliament for five and a half years. She would have seen a number of ministers have to correct their answers, even her own boss a few days before she misled Parliament on February 22.

If her staff have the authority to hold up the release of important data without asking or informing their Minister then surely they also know Parliament’s rules and would have advised her.

Offence number four: Not telling the whole truth when finally correcting her answer.

When correcting the answer earlier this month, Tinetti said she “subsequently became aware that my office did have input into the timing of the release of the data”, but did not say that this had been brought to her attention the very same day she made the misleading statement.

Surely she has worked with enough wayward kids in her previous role as a school principal to know that omission of the facts is in itself dishonest.

It is a big deal that the Speaker has referred the matter to the Privileges Committee. It is effectively Parliament’s court, an MP hasn’t been before it for 15 years. She will be questioned by the committee this Thursday in a public session.

Questions also need to be put to the Prime Minister. He was Minister of Education when these statistics were meant to be released in December. As Minister, he had the schedule of releases in November. His office knew the truancy data was to be delayed. The data is so bad that one has to wonder if he encouraged it to be delayed so his reputation wasn’t tarnished right before a leadership change.

Offence number five (which should possibly be number one): The truancy data.

The Ministry of Education’s data shows in term three last year just 46 per cent of students attended class regularly. The fact that more than half of our kids are not attending school regularly is the main offence and one that this generation will feel the effects of for their lifetime.

Paula Bennett is a former Deputy Prime Minister and National Party politician who now works at Bayleys Real Estate as national director-customer engagement.