18 February 2005

Labour culpable as Te Wananga feathers its nest

"Te Wananga o Aotearoa increasingly looks like a massive taxpayer funded scam that should stop," announced Libertarianz Leader Bernard Darnton today.

"Labour, Jim Anderton and the Greens all supported increasing taxpayer funding 100-fold to this outfit, and should be held accountable. They cannot pretend it isn't their fault tax -victims have seen their money wasted," he says.

"The practices of Te Wananga should have been clamped down on years ago. Their profligacy smacks of the sort of attitude that third world dictators have: They fleece the public to feather their own nest."

"The usual claims of 'Maori-bashing' from the Maori Party should be ignored. When taxvictims are being ripped off, no-one should be able to hide behind claims that accountability is "racist."

"If students want to pay Te Wananga the costs of whatever courses it provides, they should be free to do so, but nobody else should be forced to pay for it" said Darnton. "Taxvictim funding of Te Wananga should end forthwith, and Te Wananga forced to sell all assets it acquired with taxpayer funds in the last five years."

"Libertarianz would abolish taxpayer funding of tertiary education," Darton confirmed. "We say, give people their taxes back and let them pay for their studies out of their own money, through scholarships or grants they gain, or by borrowing. This will make institutions accountable to students, avoid institutions like Te Wananga from feathering their own nest at the expense of others, and let people decide if they want to pay for political correctness or not" he concluded.

ENDS

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