Gordon Campbell | Parliament TV | Parliament Today | Video | Questions Of the Day | Search

 


Novopay Pledge Is Bunkum, Chaos Reigns

Chris
HIPKINS
Acting Education Spokesperson

10 January 2013 MEDIA STATEMENT

Novopay Pledge Is Bunkum, Chaos Reigns

The Ministry of Education’s pledge to provide 'financial support' to schools who have had bank accounts emptied over the summer break courtesy of the shambles that is Novopay, will be cold comfort to the thousands of school staff forced to cut short their holidays to deal with the on-going mess, Labour's acting Education spokesperson Chris Hipkins says.

"Schools around the country have been employing extra staff to deal with the Novopay fiasco, yet the Ministry of Education is still refusing to offer them any sort of compensation. That means money that should be going into educating kids is going into fixing up the Government's administrative bungles.

"The cost of overpayments made by Novopay is just one of a number of extra expenses these schools are facing. Just as important are the extra administrative costs created by the shambles, and the Government isn't offering any help with those.”

He is predicting more chaos when Novopay runs the first big pay cycle for 2013.

"Novopay can't even get it right over the holidays when there are no relief teachers and irregular payments. Imagine the bedlam when schools start trying to add new teachers, remove teachers who have moved on, and adjust hours and responsibilities.

"While Hekia Parata and Craig Foss continue to enjoy their extended summer break, thousands of Kiwis up and down the country have been left uncertain about whether they will be paid at all or - if they are lucky enough to be paid - whether they'll get the right pay.

"It's well past time for the Ministers to step in and fix this mess once and for all. Their 'hands-off' approach to running the country has allowed the debacle to spin out of control.

“If they're not up to the job of getting things back on track, John Key should replace them with people who are competent enough to do so.”

labour.org.nz

ENDS

© Scoop Media

 
 
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines

Full Scoop Coverage: NZ Budget 2013

Arguably Reassuring: Inspector-General Finds GCSB "Arguably" Legal

Of the 88 individuals:

• 15 cases involving 22 individuals did not have any information intercepted by GCSB.

• another four cases involving five individuals were the subjects of a New Zealand Security Intelligence Service warrant and the GCSB assisted in the execution of the warrants. The Inspector-General is of the view that there were arguably no breaches and the law is unclear.

• the Bureau only provided technical assistance which did not involve interception of communications, involving three of the individuals, so no breach occurred.

• the remaining cases involved the collection of metadata, and the Inspector-General formed the view that there had arguably been no breach, noting once again that the law is unclear.
More>>

 

Parliament Today:

Unsold Energy: Government "At War With Solid Energy Board"

Despite having known the scale of Solid Energy’s troubles for years the Government was prepping the company for sale just days before it cut 400 jobs and revealed it was in serious trouble, says Labour’s SOEs spokesperson Clayton Cosgrove. More>>

ALSO:

Special Schools: Salisbury Stays open After Court Ruling, Community Pressure

The Minister of Education Hon Hekia Parata met with Salisbury School students and the Board this morning and confirmed that Salisbury will remain open as part of the delivery of service within the new Intensive Wrap-Around Service, along with the other two residential special schools. More>>

ALSO:

Gordon Campbell: On The Government’s Trampling On The Rights Of Family Carers

Don’t want to be unduly alarmist about this, but we seem to have an outlaw government on our hands – if by that we mean a government willing to suspend the ability of citizens to seek the courts’ protection if and when the government violates freedoms set out in our Bill of Rights. More>>

ALSO:

Wellington Local Government Survey Results: "Support For Change"

Almost 2000 submissions have been received by the four Wellington councils consulting on possible change to the region’s local government, demonstrating support for change. More>>

ALSO:

Wellington.Scoop: Derailment Stops Wellington Train Services

A morning derailment stopped all Wellington train services for most of the day Monday. A KiwiRail spokesperson said the derailment had involved the 7.43am train from Porirua and there were no reported injuries. More>>

ALSO:

Salvation Army Report: Pacific Peoples Making Progress Despite Increasing Adversity

Co-author Ronji Tanielu says the report shows that while Pacific communities continue to face social, health, education, and economic problems that became pronounced in the 1970s, and in many cases have worsened, the Pacific community is tenaciously making progress in some areas, but struggling in others. More>>

ALSO:

Trans-Pacific Trade Agreement: NZ-Born Fair Deal Coalition Gets Global Makeover

The Fair Deal Coalition announces that it is ramping up its presence with a global publicity and education campaign that will raise awareness of intellectual property rights proposals in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). More>>

ALSO:

Gordon Campbell: On The 2013 Budget

We are apparently on track for a margin-of-error $75 million surplus, now in sight for 2014/15. But this sickly creature is hobbling out of the lab on the basis of all kinds of facilitative conjuring... With this strictly nominal surplus in sight, the 1984-ish justification for eternal austerity will have a news talisman: namely, getting Crown debt down to 20% of GDP by 2020. More>>

ALSO:

Get More From Scoop

 

LATEST HEADLINES

More RSS  RSS
 
 
 
 
Parliament
Search Scoop  
 
 
Powered by Vodafone
NZ independent news