Katherine Rich MP National Party Social Services Spokeswoman

03 November 2004

No fanfare for 'hip-hop fund' in drag

National Party Social Services spokeswoman Katherine Rich says the Government has quietly re-launched the fund that gave life to the 'hip-hop tour' under a new name.

"It's the Social Entrepreneur Fund Mark Three. The Social Entrepreneur Fund promised to promote 'stunning examples of human innovation' but was scrapped once National exposed 'stunning examples' of taxpayer waste.

"The re-branded Social Entrepreneur Fund, which is now called the 'Community Initiatives Fund', is already calling for applications, which close on December 12.

"After reading the promotional material, it's easy to draw the conclusion that it is, in fact, the same fund in all but name.

"Funnily enough, a key difference appears to be that the re-branded programme specifically excludes 'ideas that focus on individuals or a single family'.

"That might rule out a repeat of the 'hip-hop tour', but it fails to address a fundamental failure in reporting and monitoring processes.

"As we say in the South, it's the same horse with different eyebrows.

"It's pretty clear this spin-obsessed Labour Government has learned nothing from the disaster that was the Social Entrepreneur scheme," says Mrs Rich.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>