Maori Affairs former Secretary defended

Press, 24 December 1986, Page 5

Maori Affairs former Secretary defended

PA Wellington The Under-Secretary of Finance, Mr de Cleene, yesterday defended the former Secretary for Maori Affairs, Mr Kara Puketapu — a week after claiming there had been a “first-class cover-up” over the departmental head’s retirement. "I am certain that Mr Puketapu was not guilty of any personal impropriety. I never said so,” Mr de Cleene said. His comments in Parliament last week had instead been directed at what appeared to be the incompatibility between the department making entrepreneurial decisions and its responsibilities to the taxpayer. Last week Mr de Cleene accused the previous National Government of a “first-class cover-up,” claiming it had deliberately “let someone off the hook.”

He told Parliament that “... even political bending was done through the State Services Commission to enable Mr Puketapu to retire from the service, otherwise he would have been disciplined and sacked.” Mr de Cleene’s comments prompted the commission to appoint the former Chief Judge of the District Court, Sir James Wicks, to investigate the circumstances surrounding Mr Puketapu’s retirement.

However, Mr de Cleene issued a statement yesterday in which he said it was imperative to decide the true function of the Maori Affairs Department. “I don’t see how we can have officials making entrepreneurial decisions and, if they blunder, the Maori people and the taxpayer getting the worst of all worlds.

“That was the problem I was referring to in the House when I was talking about the former secretary, Mr Puketapu.” Mr de Cleene said it seemed that Mr Puketapu had been in an impossible situation. “He was drumming up support for Maori initiatives while being the head of a Government department. In that situation something had to give. “I am clear that Mr Puketapu was not guilty of any personal impropriety. I never said so. I hope the Wicks report can lay that matter to rest, but that will not resolve the underlying problem. “That can only come with a totally new approach to the responsibilities of the department. Until that happens the bureaucrats and the entrepreneurs are heading for a self-inflicted T.K.0.”