‘Misuse’ charge at Minister

Press, 2 June 1984, Page 8

‘Misuse’ charge at Minister

PA Wellington The Labour Party yesterday accused the Minister of Education, Mr Wellington, of “gross misuse of Ministerial authority” for making special grants to schools in his electorate. Mr Wellington replied that he also gave help to schools in other areas “on the basis of a case put to me at local level.” Labour’s education spokesman, Mr C. R. Marshall, said more than $50,000 was spent on special grants to the Papakura Intermediate and Cosgrove Primary schools. Both are in Mr Wellington’s Papakura electorate. The grants were made after he visited them in March. Mr Marshall said the only other schools in New Zealand which received similar grants from the Minister were two schools in Hawke’s Bay ($2OOO each) and a school in Canterbury ($2500). The Auckland Education Board had 57 schools on its list for minor capital and maitnenance works funding but not the two Papakura schools. “This is the worst case of open pork-barrel politics I can remember from any Minister of Education,” Mr Marshall said. He released departmental

messages obtained from Mr Wellington under the Official Information Act. They showed that departmental officers were concerned about the original estimated cost of $146,000 for the projects, Costs were pruned to an estimated $53,000 and Mr Marshall said he wanted to know the final cost. Mr Wellington said in a statement that out of 17 wards in the Auckland Education Board area, spending on capital works in the Papakura ward in the past five years represented the fourth lowest. “Since becoming Minister in 1978 I have visited more than 650 schools,” he said. “From time to time I make decisions on the basis of a case put to me at local level by people close to the situation. “This happened in the East Cape when I agreed that a school hall could be extended and that the amount the community had originally been told they would have to raise could be reduced significantly,” he said. “Does this mean that schools in Papakura should go without because the Minister is their local member of Parliament,” Mr Wellington said. “Such logic is nonsense.”