Illiberal ACT puts politics before education

A truly liberal party would always put education ahead of politics but because the ACT Party is an illiberal party prepared to enter into a coalition with any old authoritarian party, it puts politics before education, Matt Robson said today.

"The biggest university with campuses throughout New Zealand, Te Wananga o Aotearoa or the University of New Zealand, has sensibly chosen a UNICEF-award winning literacy programme to combat illiteracy amongst Maori," Matt Robson said.

The University of New Zealand has a proven record of uplifting educational standards for its students and should be applauded, not attacked, as its work is absolutely vital to help lift New Zealand's economic performance.

"Instead of supporting the university's educational efforts, ACT's Mr Hide is reported in the New Zealand Herald today condemning the UNICEF programme purely because it has been designed in the developing Caribbean nation of Cuba," the Progressive Party deputy leader said.

"What this shows again is that the ACT Party is an illiberal party. It brands itself as pro-education, but in reality it is just an old-fashioned authoritarian and ideological party not interested in letting facts get in the way of its prejudices. One fact to consider in this debate is the reality that the Cuban Education Ministry has indeed helped to significantly dent illiteracy in Latin America," Matt Robson said.

"Education is necessary to uplift all of our people so that our economy has a better chance of reaching its full potential. ACT, on the other hand, is only interested in parroting the United States government's illogical and illegal trade embargo on the small Caribbean nation of Cuba," Matt Robson said.

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