Tracey Martin MP

Spokesperson for Education
3 NOVEMBER 2016

Novopay Still ‘a Dog’ And the Bill is Still Climbing

Ministers must be held to account for the latest Novopay catastrophe that has released the personal details and wages of teachers and principals to others – a massive privacy breach.

“The first to go should be Minister Steven Joyce, the “Mr Fixit”, under whose watch the payroll system just got worse,” says Education Spokesperson Tracey Martin.

“He claimed in 2014 it was ‘no longer a dog’. Yet again he’s been proved wrong.

“Others who should take responsibility are Minister of Education Hekia Parata, who signed up for it knowing there had been no trial, and Minister Craig Foss, who cleared the original contract knowing there were serious errors.

“By 2014 the system had cost the NZ taxpayer $100 million, after being bought in 2012 from an Australian company that clearly had no idea what they were doing, but were good at sales.

“It is one sorry tale of failure. Teachers have paid the price as Novopay’s failures continued month after month – often teachers were not paid, or they were overpaid. No one knew what would happen next.

“The incompetence of this government over Novopay is immense.”

ENDS

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