Shirley: commissioner & inquiry into wananga both needed

Friday 25 Feb 2005

Ken Shirley - Press Releases - Other

"Its not a question of a ministerial inquiry or the appointment of a commissioner, it is clear we now need both," ACT MP Ken Shirley said today.

"The Minister needs to put a commissioner in immediately to take control of the governance of the wananga and stop the haemorrhaging. Independently of that a ministerial inquiry is required to get to the bottom of this sorry saga," Mr Shirley said.

"The victims in this debacle are firstly the students who have been deceived with extremely low quality courses and inept supervision of those courses.

"The other obvious victim is the New Zealand taxpayer who has seen the Labour Government throw money in unprecedented volumes at this suspect organisation in spite of their stated concerns over many years.

"The wananga must not close. ACT wants to see quality investment in education but we must have meaningful courses that are well run and the culture of executive extravagance must be removed," said Mr Shirley.

ENDS

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