Wednesday, 15 December 2004

Alexander: Is Judy Bailey worth $800,000?

“Whether anyone is worth any particular salary should not be left up to government,” United Future broadcasting spokesman Marc Alexander said today.

“The problem of comparing the relative value of one job versus another is best left to the market.

“While most sensible people would regard an $800,000 salary for reading off a cue-card or tele-prompter to be ridiculously excessive, it is not Judy Bailey who should be embarrassed but the idiots who are willing to pay for her.

“The problem is that those idiots who are normally answerable to the shareholders don’t seem to be answerable at all because the shareholders are the taxpayers of this country.

“Sandwiched in between this fiasco is the Broadcasting Minister who, as usual, is incapable of doing much about it.

“The dolts at TVNZ may claim that the negotiated salary was a commercial decision but the simple fact is that they are not a commercial business. TVNZ is a government-sponsored enterprise.”

“TVNZ has proved that governments should not be involved in running commercial businesses. This is especially so when it is the public who are exposed to the economic risks of such decisions without any choice at all.

“My advice? Fire the TVNZ pay negotiators and the Board; congratulate Judy for her taxpayer funded successful rip-off; and in the future let government leave business to business,” said Mr Alexander.

ENDS

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