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Sunday, August 26, 2012

Mike Butler: Ducking for cover over spending

Issues at the Maori Language Commission, publicised in the past week by the Dominion Post, show that the State Services Commission, Te Puni Kokiri, and Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples, need to take steps to introduce the level of accountability that is expected in government departments.

The Dominion Post revealed:

1. Overpayments to board members of $124,000 not required to be repaid.

2. No release of a report about a former chief executive who quit after a number of staff complained.

3. Personal purchases racked up by that former chief executive on a corporate credit card of which $4503 was repaid.

4. Personal purchases of $2200 racked up by the current chief executive on a corporate credit card for her husband’s travel that has been repaid.

The person who monitors Maori Language Commission spending, the chief executive of Te Puni Kokiri, also booked up $1800 on his corporate credit card to pay for his wife’s travel, which he later repaid.

All this took place while a former Maori Language Commission deputy chief executive was in jail in Argentina facing charges of drug smuggling.

When questioned, a senior member of the commission told a Dominion Post reporter that she would not understand because she was not Maori, and the mainstream media could not be trusted.

Apparently, when Maori Television Show Te Kaea made its own inquiries, it was told it should know better than to attack its own.

Source
Accountability called into question at commission, The Dominion Post, August 23, 2012.

2 comments:

Ray S said...

Yes, we should know better than to attack spending by these corporates, after all, its only taxpayer money and they have a culture of entitlement. The response to the maori TV questions in that they should know better than to attack their own sums it all up really.Disgusting, disgraceful and plain ordinary racist.

Barry said...

The existence of these race-based "maori" outfits is GOVERNMENT racism against the rest of us. The disastrous pretend pm key's to blame for not dumping then - he's destroying NZ with his separatist actions.