Minister ‘elitist, sexist, racist’

Press, 26 February 1983, Page 3

Minister ‘elitist, sexist, racist’

Parliamentary reporter The Minister of Education. Mr Wellington, has been accused of being "elitist, sexist, and racist” by Labour's snokesman on education. Mr C. R. Marshall. These assertions were made by Mr Marshall after Mr Wellington’s refusal to allow students who were unemployed this summer to apply for hardship grants under the new bursary system. “Women and Maori and Pacific island students have greater difficulty getting holiday employment than white males,” Mr Marshall said. “The Minister is thus discriminating against those groups through his decision. “We are moving towards a society when those with higher education will be wealthy, white, and male and I call on the Minister to reverse the trend,” he said. Students who had been unemployed over the summer vacation would have to exist on their basic bursaries at $27 a week or, if they qualified for a boarding supplement, $47 a week.

Boarding costs were well above $5O a week, Mr Marshall said. Some parents would not be able to afford

to give their children an extra allowance, either at home or if they had to pay board or rent. University education would become, as already shown by a recent survey at Auckland University, a privilege for the wealthy or for those, who were lucky enough to get holiday jobs. Mr Wellington was en route for Auckland and unavailable for comment on Mr Marshall’s statement. But his office in Parliament pointed out that the Government had put an extra $9 million into the bursary system this year. For years students and their association had been saying that people could not afford to go to university, but yet again student numbers were, up this year, the Minister’s office said. Mr Wellington earlier yesterday accused some lobbyists of distorting the truth and some journalists of doubtful integrity in regard to education spending, NZPA reports. He said education spending had increased from $595 million to $1,663 billion since the Government took office seven years ago. It 'could be “quickly

deduced by the simplest mathematical mind" that spending had nearly trebled, he said. “The fact that so many newspapers have been fed a different line and unthinkingly printed it says little for the accuracy and integrity of some newspapers and journalists.” he said. Mr Wellington said that it said "absolutely nothing" for “certain people" who claimed to speak for the cause of education. "Why certain education lobbyists direct themselves to the distortion of truth is a matter which constantly fascinates me.” he said. Mr Wellington made his comments in an address at the opening of a gymnasium at Te Kauwhata College. Footnote: Figures supplied yesterday by the Statistics Department show a different story. If inflation over the seven years is taken into account — 178.95 per cent from the September quarter of 1975 until the December quarter of last year — education spending has almost remained static. The sum of $595 million in 1975 would be worth almost $1.60 billion today. Earlier report, page 12