National gets NZ First bill killed off

Newshub reports:

New Zealand First has abandoned a controversial Member’s Bill which would have placed restrictions who can call themselves a teacher.

On Monday, MP Jenny Marcroft announced she had withdrawn the ‘Education (Protecting Teacher Title) Amendment Bill’ after a “positive discussion” between her party and the office of the Minister of Education.

The positive discussion would have been Hipkins saying this bill is moronic and you need to drop it.

The Bill would have meant that only those who have trained and are qualified as teachers can use the title in order to “lift the status of teachers”.

It would have become an offence, punishable with a $2000 fine, to connect the word with any unqualified person or business. People who were not qualified would have had to use the title of lecturer, tutor or educator instead.

The proposed Bill was harshly criticised by National, which NZ First MP Tracey Martin called “scaremongering”.

National has been quick to take credit for the withdrawal, with Education Spokesperson Nikki Kaye calling it a “big win” for people such as swimming and music teachers.

“It’s clear that National’s campaign against this flawed Bill has succeeded,” she said in a statement.

The scary thing is that Labour and Greens voted for the bill in the first place!