English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:626;Page:21198] 
3.  
Hon BILL ENGLISH (National—Clutha-Southland) 
 to the  
Minister of Education 
: What payments have been made to Te Wananga o Aotearoa under the terms of the Treaty of Waitangi settlement negotiated between Te Wananga o Aotearoa and the Crown and on what conditions have these payments been made? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Minister of Education) 
: 
 The sum of $40 million under the conditions of the deed which I am happy to table. 
Hon Bill English 
: Has the Minister seen official advice tendered to him on 23 December 2004 that stated that the additional redress of $15 million was payable only on condition of certain performance measures as indicated in the deed being met; and as it now appears that the payments were made in 2002 and 2003 without performance measures having been met why did he pay millions of dollars to the wananga when it had not met the conditions for the payment? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I apologise for having to go into a little bit of detail on this question. The matter was subject to Crown Law advice around whether conditions had been met. The specific condition that I am advised was not met was in relation to the proportion of students who were Maori. There was a requirement to have a minimum of 6400 students who were Maori as part of the deed of settlement requirements. The wananga actually had 20400 students who were Maori. With the proportions set out in the deed of settlement there was a maximum of 6800 Pakeha students. Unfortunately there was a breach in that the wananga had nearly 14000 Pakeha students. I think that to withhold a payment—and certainly this is the advice that I have now received confirmed by Crown Law—because too many white people were enrolled would have been unreasonable. 
Hon Bill English 
: Why has the Minister demanded repayment of $17500 from the Enner Glynn Playcentre in Nelson which was an overpayment due to a ministry mistake but he has not demanded a single dollar of repayment from the wananga for an overpayment of $15 million that was due to his own mistake? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I absolutely reject the second part of the question. The advice is clear that the payment should have been made. I know there was one senior official in the Ministry of Education who questioned that. The advice from Crown Law is that it was appropriate. We do not stop wananga having money for having too many honkies. 
Deborah Coddington 
: Is the Minister satisfied that taxpayers have received good value for money from the massive payments made to Te Wananga o Aotearoa; if not why does he continue to pour taxpayers’ money into this institution? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Certainly not; and a lot less taxpayers’ money is going in under our rules than went in under those developed by Bill English and his mates. 
Hon Bill English 
: How does the Minister explain to the New Zealand public the double standard he is using when he is demanding a repayment of $17500 from the Enner Glynn Playcentre an overpayment due to a ministry mistake but he has not demanded repayment of a single dollar of $15 million that officials say should not have been paid to the wananga; and how will he explain that to the mothers at the playcentre which will go broke if the ministry persists in demanding the repayment? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I reiterate my comment: I have received advice including advice from the Crown Law Office that this payment to the wananga was not an error. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I think the member was seeking a comment on the playcentre. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I addressed one part of his question. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: You did and I am afraid that the Standing Orders do state that if there is more than one question in a supplementary question the Minister is required to answer only part of it.