David
CUNLIFFE

Labour Leader

19 March 2014 MEDIA STATEMENT
Last straw: Hekia Parata must go

John Key must relieve Hekia Parata of the Education portfolio for breaching her assurances to the New Zealand people over the allegations surrounding Te Pataka Ohanga, says Labour Leader David Cunliffe.

“Last night Mrs Parata said: ‘I am satisfied public money was spent in an appropriate way. There were no instances of Te Pataka Ohanga using public money inappropriately.’

“Today she referred allegations about Te Pataka Ohanga to the Serious Fraud Office. The SFO has a high threshold for referrals.

“Last night’s bizarre nocturnal press conference was clearly a cover-up.

“The Minister gave a categorical assurance that she was knowingly not in a position to give. For breaching that assurance Mr Key must now relieve her of her portfolio.

“This dismal performance comes hard on the heels of her weekend foray into performance-based decile funding, and other disasters such as Charter Schools, National Standards, the Canterbury schools’ shambles and the class size debacle.

“This is clearly not a Minister New Zealanders can rely on for the care and education of our children.

“The message to John Key is clear: this Minister needs to go,” David Cunliffe says.

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