Georgina te Heuheu National Spokesperson for Maori Affairs

15 May 2002

te Heuheu says reports will be a whitewash

Reports due to be released tomorrow into the appointment of the recently sacked Chief Executive of Maori Television will be nothing more than a whitewash, says National's Maori Affairs Spokesperson Georgina te Heuheu.

"They will not answer the real question the public wants answered and that is, who was in charge and where does the buck stop," Mrs te Heuheu says.

"None of the Ministers will want to claim responsibility and they all will point the finger at the consultants - Millennium People.

"Helen Clark has blamed the consultants, Michael Cullen has blamed the consultants and Parekura Horomia is hiding under a stone. None of them will want a report published in election year that might highlight their lack of willingness to accept accountability.

"The simple fact is the consultants are not the ones in charge. They do not sign the cheques off and the buck neither starts nor stops with them."

Mrs te Heuheu says the new Maori Television Service has not yet been legally formed. The legislation permitting this sits on the Order Paper. Not even the board has the power to sign off expenditure connected to the television service.

"Responsibility lies with Ministers Cullen and Horomia.

"One or other of them should front up and own up because they would have had to authorise payments both to the consultants and to the sacked Chief Executive. They must tell us who," Mrs te Heuheu concluded.

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