“The real losers in the sorry saga of Jan Tinetti are the kids, says ACT Education Spokesperson Chris Baillie.

“Jan Tinetti was effectively found not guilty of contempt of Parliament because she had no idea what she was doing. She apparently didn’t know her own office was meddling in the release of vital attendance figures, trying to line them up with an announcement by the Prime Minister’s office.

“Tinetti’s defense boils down to ‘I thought it was ok to mislead Parliament because I didn’t know what was going on.’ The Privilege’s Committee report says it all, ‘a high degree of negligence,’ and a ‘significant error of judgement.’

“While being incompetent may have saved the education Minister from misleading parliament, it won’t save the 800,000 or so citizens who rely on the education system for their future.

“The problems are well rehearsed, kids not enrolled, kids enrolled but not attending, kids attending but not learning, kiwi kids sliding down the international rankings, a Ministry of Education that is a law unto itself.

“If you wonder why education is suffering in New Zealand, just remember Labour has a Minister of Education who can escape punishment for misleading parliament because she genuinely doesn’t know what’s going on.

“This is just the latest in now weekly examples of why New Zealand, and especially Kiwi Kids, need real change for their future at the election this October.”

The final report into the question of privilege concerning the time taken by the Minister of Education to correct a misleading statement to the House.

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