Chris Hipkins
Acting Education Spokesperson

12 February 2013

Hopeless Hekia didn’t do her homework

Hekia Parata didn’t do her homework before giving the green-light for Novopay to go live, and schools, teachers, parents and pupils are paying the price for her incompetence, says Chris Hipkins, Labour’s acting Education Spokesperson.

In Parliament this afternoon the Education Minister admitted she did not read all the relevant information and Cabinet Papers on Novopay before signing off on its full roll out.

“The school payroll contract is worth tens of millions of dollars, and covers more than 100,000 staff. I would’ve thought that a decision of such magnitude would have warranted a bit more thought, research and consideration.

“If she had read all the Cabinet Papers on Novopay she would have known that the original plan was to run the new payroll system in parallel with the existing system, as contingency in case of any problems. Why did that not happen?

“Hekia Parata also told Parliament that she had no idea that the Ministry of Education considered pulling the plug on Novopay just two weeks before she signed off on its full introduction.

“Just what does she do all day? Clearly she doesn’t read the necessary paperwork. And she doesn’t ask officials the obvious questions.

“Schools are seriously out of pocket because of the Novopay shambles. Millions of dollars that should be being spent educating our kids is being diverted to deal with the on-going fallout from the botched implementation of Novopay.

“Hekia Parata can sit, smile and talk about the benefits of hindsight all she likes but the bottom line is she failed to do her job as a Minister,” says Chris Hipkins.

ENDS

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