I wasn’t sure that I’d heard correctly at the time.

But having reviewed today’s parliamentary question time exchange and read the draft Hansard transcript, it’s clear that Hekia Parata is a little rusty on her maths.

Either that or she doesn’t know what the suffix “-fold” means.

Parata says (from about 7.20 in the clip above):

Actually it reflects this government’s continual raising of the investment in early childhood education. It’s risen three-fold in the period that we have been in government. That’s a 32% increase.

Parata has had a miserable couple of weeks, certainly, and we all make mistakes, but she is, after all, the minister of education.