‘Not all money reaches jobless’

Press, 23 July 1987, Page 18

‘Not all money reaches jobless’

PA Wellington A lot of money designated by the Government for the unemployed does not go to them but is spent on administrative costs, says the convener of a community-based committee in Wellington, Mr Bill Maung. Access skill training programmes, to which the Government had allocated $3OO million nationally, would pass only about a third of that money to the unemployed, he said. His committee was suspicious about the word “training” used in such schemes. “This means a lot of money is spent on the trainers.” Rather than training, there should be more emphasis on providing jobs — this would provide for a better targeting of tax-

payers' money, he said. Community workers, Maori wardens, gang leaders and social workers are represented on the committee, which plans to form a formal organisation based on the Whanganui a Tara group. This ran in the early 1980 s to deter crime and violence in Wellington by providing a liaison between those in need and the authorities. Already the interim committee had worked out a programme to help meet housing needs, Mr Maung said. This came after a meeting last week attended by representatives of the Wellington City Council, Land Corporation and Housing Corporation, as well as the Maori leader, Sir Graham Latimer, community workers, and gangs.