'Money wasted on carpets, cars' Minister in crash

Press, 12 April 1988, Page 8

'Money wasted on carpets, cars' Minister in crash

PA ; Auckland The Conservation Department has been accused of putting carpets before kakapos in its environmental spending. Reacting to reports that the department overspent its budget for the year just past, the director of the Native Forests Action Council, Mr Guy Salmon, said yesterday that “too much money had been wasted on administration and on carpets and fleets

of cars, and regional offices.” “There is this fundamental problem that their internal cost structure is not sufficiently effective for them to have money left over to spend on conservation," he said. To illustrate his case, Mr Salmon said that the department’s top conservation project, to identify and buy or lease environmentally important land in private hands, received $1 million to $2

million last year. This, was out of a budget of more than $lOO million, and was little more than the amount spent for the same purpose by the Lands and Survey Department in 1972.

The [acting director-gen-eral of the Conservation Department, Mr Peter Vygate, said he appreciated Mr Salmon’s view. “On the other hand I do not think he has much experience of running an

organisation of 2000 people with a budget of $lOO million,” Mr Bygate said.

The department had high set-up costs, and staff had to be provided with offices and transport if they were to do their jobs properly. Overspending for the year would be about $4 million, although Mr Bygate .said final figures were [ not due from the Treasury until later this week.

PA Wellington The Associate Minister of Finance, Mr Neilson, was a passenger in an N.Z. Post car when it was in collision at the corner of Evans Bay Parade and Wellington Road yesterday.

No-one was injured. Mr Neilson was being taken to the airport to catch a flight for a speaking engagement in Matamata.