Smith Nick: Urgent Debates — Te Wananga o Aotearoa—Auditor-General’s Report 
Smith Nick: Urgent Debates — Te Wananga o Aotearoa—Auditor-General’s Report 
[Volume:628;Page:553] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson) 
: 
 This Auditor-General’s report brings into very serious question both the credibility and the competence of this decaying rotten Government that we have. I will firstly deal with the issue of credibility.  
We have a letter from the previous Minister of Education Trevor Mallard dated 20 June stating that the council of Te Wananga o Aotearoa should be fired. That is what he stated in June but was it fired? No it was not. That was a cute pre-election exercise to try to pretend to the public of New Zealand that the Government was all about action when in fact there was nothing but inaction. Then during the latter stages of the election campaign Trevor Mallard said that the decision on firing the council would be made before the election. Well did that happen? Was that promise of that Government Minister followed through on? No it was not. [ 
Interruption 
] Just after the election I tell Mr Hodgson Mr Mallard said that the decision would be made when the Auditor-General's report was tabled. Well the Auditor-General’s report was tabled yesterday. Do members know what Government members now say? They say it is has been too long since the Government agreed to fire the wananga’s council to follow through on that. This situation is just like that of David Benson-Pope. We cannot believe what Ministers say any more. The credibility of Ministers in this Government cannot be believed.  
Then we come to the issue of the council of the wananga. That body is legally responsible for over $600 million of hard-earned public money. Dr Cullen has said to us that we should not be concerned because members of the council have changed—that even though we are sitting on a damning report about the wananga we should not be concerned because there have been changes. Well let us hang on a moment because Mr Craig Coxhead is still the chair of the wananga council. 
Hon Pete Hodgson 
: What did the courts say about this man? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Government members do not want to talk about the wananga; they will make every possible diversion.  
Darren Hughes 
: What did the High Court judge say? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I challenge Mr Hughes who is piping up to talk about the wananga. Who takes responsibility for this report from the Auditor-General and for the $600 million of public money?  
Let us go back to the public record. We can go back to a report to the full Cabinet—Mr Hodgson was there—dated April 2002. The Ministry of Education reported to Ministers that there were gross issues of accountability and serious issues of governance that needed to be addressed. The report went on to state that there were significant audit concerns about the wananga. When was that report released? It is dated April 2002. Members on the Opposition side of the House ask why Ministers sat on advice given in April 2002 with the result that 3½ years later the Auditor-General states that the problems still have not been fixed and tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars of public money have been wasted. We ask the Government who is accountable. Who is accountable for this damning report from the Auditor-General? 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: The Auditor-General.  
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: The former Minister of Education Trevor Mallard says that it is the Auditor-General. I say to the Minister that when I left the position of Minister of Education in 1999 the wananga was receiving $5 million per year. Under Mr Mallard’s watch that funding increased to $239 million per year. Who in this House was accountable for Vote Education? Trevor Mallard was responsible for it in that period. Why have we not heard Trevor Mallard take some accountability in this debate for the huge issues raised in the Auditor-General’s report?  
Let us look at some of the things the Auditor-General stated about the wananga in this report. The report states that there was a loose policy in respect of credit cards being used to pay for international travel. What does that mean? It means that there has been globetrotting at taxpayers’ expense while young New Zealanders who should have been receiving a quality education were not doing so. The report states that there were gross conflicts of interest in terms of the financial management of arrangements made between people at the wananga and their close relatives. That is nepotism in a Government-funded organisation that is receiving $239 million of public money. What do Government Ministers say? They say that nobody is accountable. Has any Minister stood up and said he or she is the Minister responsible for the huge increase in funding and that he or she accepts a share of the responsibility for this damning report from the Auditor-General? We get absolute silence.  
We can then ask Minister Trevor Mallard when he first became concerned about governance and financial management at the wananga. Do members know what Mr Mallard has said? He has said it was when he first became the Minister. Well that was in 1999. If we take him at his word that he was concerned about the wananga in 1999 then I have a simple question for him: why did he increase the funding from $5 million per year to $239 million per year if he had concerns about the financial accountability of that organisation from day one?  
But the plot thickens. Do members know who was on the wananga’s audit and risk committee during the period covered by this damning report from the Auditor-General? It was Mr Shane Jones. Who is Mr Shane Jones? Is he not the new star light and saviour of the Labour Party? I would like Mr Jones to make a contribution in this afternoon’s debate. He has been paid public money to keep an eye on the $600 million of public money that has been paid to the wananga by serving on the very audit and risk committee responsible for that and we have not heard one jot from him. I ask the next Government member who speaks to tell us why the Government is so keen to damn some people but Mr Shane Jones’ name has not been mentioned.  
Then we can question just what was going on in the Government. We know that back in 2003 Ministers Maharey and Mallard were getting weekly briefings—not just briefings but weekly briefings—on the wananga.  
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: No they weren’t.  
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Well Mr Mallard pipes up.  
Hon Bill English 
: That’s what the papers state.  
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: That is what the papers state.  
Hon Bill English 
: Maybe he didn’t turn up to them.  
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: It is quite likely that as my colleague Bill English said the Minister did not turn up to the meetings. But the papers state that Mr Mallard was receiving weekly briefings.  
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Tell the truth. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: The Minister says I should tell the truth. Let me look at the papers. I see I have a briefing paper to the Minister of Education who was Trevor Mallard dated 23 April 2002. It states that the auditor reported a number of significant concerns related to management governance and huge increases in enrolments.  
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: He doesn’t make a weekly briefing you fool.  
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: The Minister says he has never had a weekly briefing. He did have these papers; he did nothing. The Government poured millions of dollars more into the wananga. We now have a damning audit report and the Government says that it is not at fault.  
We on the Opposition benches say to Mr Mallard and Mr Maharey that they are accountable. They are accountable for the mess and for the damning audit report. We want to know why the chair of the wananga council remains the same and the chief executive of the wananga remains the same. No Minister is accepting responsibility. The taxpayers of New Zealand deserve some answers as to who is responsible for this damning report on $600 million of public money that has been so poorly spent by this Labour Government.