Simon Power National Youth Affairs Spokesman
28 January 2004
Labour wastes more education money
Students are missing out while Labour is wasting education money on useless projects and adding new levels of
bureaucracy, says National's Youth Affairs spokesman Simon Power.
Today the Tertiary Education Commission advertised in the Dominion Post for 17 new management positions. "How can Labour
justify spending thousands of dollars on new managers when tertiary institutions and Skill New Zealand are struggling to
stretch limited funding to provide quality education for young people and students?"
Mr Power says the job descriptions are typical of the bureaucratic mumbo jumbo that can be expected from Labour.
"I can't understand how a Steering Instruments Manager, a Stakeholder Engagement Manager, along with a Sector
Development Manager, a National Area Manager, Regional Managers, a Specialist Funds Manager, an Operations Policy
Manager, and a Monitoring and Evaluation Manager - all "managing the distribution of $2.2 billion to qualifying Tertiary
Education Organisations" - can be effective.
"And the Minister's Enhancing Quality Project announced today won't improve tertiary education. He's got to first sort
out the failing NZ Qualifications Authority, which is responsible for quality assurance, instead of launching another
money-eating project.
"Labour is failing students by wasting education money on ever-increasing bureaucracy and wasteful projects," says Mr
Power.
Ends