John Carter MP National Party Civil Defence Spokesman
8 June 2006
Bungling Barker defends indefensible
National Party Civil Defence spokesman John Carter is astounded that Rick Barker continues to shoot the messenger for
his ministry's muck-ups.
"A few weeks ago, when civil defence didn't answer the phones, it was all the BBC's fault. Today, when his ministry's
new website had technical trouble, it was my fault for mentioning it.
"Bungling Rick Barker simply will not accept blame for anything. Instead of launching a personal attack on me, he should
have thanked me for pointing it out, admitted there was a problem, and had it fixed.
"I understand that some regional civil defence operations were also unable to access the www.getthru.govt.nz website
this morning. That is a serious issue which warranted my attention.
"Furthermore, since Mr Barker is so quick to pass the buck for his departmental mistakes, he may like to find someone
else to blame for the spelling of 'New Zelealand' in the website's latest news section," says Mr Carter.
ENDS