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Speaker 1: So as we head into another long weekend where any

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Speaker 1: number of schools will have had teacher only days this

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Speaker 1: week and any number of parents will take an extra day.

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Speaker 1: The government is cracking down on truancy, so the Ministry

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Speaker 1: of Ed has been given the directive to prosecute parents

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Speaker 1: who let their kids attend and suffer. So we've got

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Speaker 1: about ten percent of students who are absent for fifteen

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Speaker 1: days or more inna school term.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 1: David Seymore is the Associate Minister of Education, of course,

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Speaker 1: and is with us morning to.

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Speaker 2: You morning back.

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Speaker 1: Are the schools doing enough? Do you think or not?

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Speaker 2: It varies a lot around the country. I've since taken

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Speaker 2: on this job visited dozens of schools and I've sat

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Speaker 2: down with groups of Deputy principles and attendance officers, youth aid,

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Speaker 2: police and local charities. And there are people that are

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Speaker 2: doing a great job. There are other schools where less

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Speaker 2: than half of the children show up and it's just

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Speaker 2: not good enough. But on balance, I think most people

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Speaker 2: and most schools are actually trying to solve this problem.

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Speaker 1: Good what's a prosecution.

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Speaker 2: Well, basically a school will go to the Ministry of

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Speaker 2: Education say look, we've got someone who that they're not

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Speaker 2: a can't there or won't We've tried, we've gone out,

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Speaker 2: we've engaged with them basically giving us the middle finger

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Speaker 2: and saying education is not important and you've got no

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Speaker 2: right to demand that my kid enrolls and attends to school.

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Speaker 2: In that case, I've been told by the youth Aide Police,

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Speaker 2: by the attendance officers, by the deputy principles, we need

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Speaker 2: another sanction, another step we can take. At that point

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Speaker 2: they will go to the Ministry of Education and say

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Speaker 2: this is a potential prosecution case. Ministry of Education will

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Speaker 2: weigh it up and if it stacks up, they'll take

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Speaker 2: a prosecution. Ultimately go before the courts. Now you can

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Speaker 2: bet find thirty bucks a day up to three hundred

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Speaker 2: dollars initially for a repeat offending. The fine on parents

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Speaker 2: can be three thousand dollars.

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Speaker 1: As much as I want this country to be a

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Speaker 1: better place in all aspects, it is taking a bunch

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Speaker 1: of losers to court who don't have any money anyway,

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Speaker 1: who won't pay their fine really of any bailue.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it is a value. And what youthay police officer

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Speaker 2: I remember very clearly told me in Parmeston North. If

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Speaker 2: I've got no sanctions to issue, then i can't do

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Speaker 2: my job. I actually need some teeth. It's also you

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Speaker 2: talk about value, it's about values as well. We find

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Speaker 2: people for speeding past a school gate, and so we

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Speaker 2: should running over children's obviously something that we should put

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Speaker 2: a lot of effort into preventing. However, I would say

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Speaker 2: that the denial of a future to a child by

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Speaker 2: not going to school, getting knowledge from prior generations and

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Speaker 2: being able to navigate your life on the twenty first century,

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Speaker 2: that is also a serious crime against a child. And

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Speaker 2: our system of government and our set of choices about

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Speaker 2: who we find what we do in terms of policy

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Speaker 2: should prioritize that as.

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Speaker 1: Well well articulated actually David Seymour, the Associate Ministry of

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Speaker 1: Education and as of this weekend, Deputy Prime Minister.

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Speaker 2: For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to

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Speaker 2: News Talks at B from six am weekdays, or follow

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