Katherine Rich MP - National Party Welfare Spokeswoman

21 December 2004

More taxpayer money wasted in CEG lolly scramble

"Another audit report and another damning indictment on Labour's approach to spending taxpayer money," says Katherine Rich, commenting on the release late today of an audit report into a CEG grant to Te Hiku TV in Northland.

"Today, in Labour's usual pre-Christmas information dump, we read again just how slack CEG was in its decision-making process to pour $115,000 of public money into the project."

Earlier this year, Mrs Rich questioned the Community Employment Group's (CEG) funding for the TV station - the report today is the result of those inquiries.

"The audit report concludes:
* There were weaknesses in CEG's approval processes. The project as approved did not fully comply with the funding criteria.
* There was insufficient documentation retained to illustrate consideration of key aspects of the decision to approve the grant.
* Funding instalments were not linked to the key risks of the project.

"The report also says CEG monitoring practices were ineffective as no action was taken to address the impact of the deviations from the business plan.

"In simple terms, CEG gave them the money and left them to it. This is another example of an extravagant Government finding new and risky ways to spend its growing surplus.

"I lay blame for this latest CEG scandal on the culture of undisciplined spending in the Labour Government," says Mrs Rich.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

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>>