Press Release
29 July 1999

"Don't know, don't care" Minister should be sacked

Green Party Co-Leader Rod Donald has called on Prime Minister Jenny
Shipley to sack Social Services Minister Roger Sowry after his performance
in the House today.

"I asked the Minister a perfectly sensible question; what was in the lunch
boxes for which six WINZ staff paid $100 each at the recent 'World Masters
of Business' Event," said Rod Donald.

"In reply the Minister said 'I don't know and I don't care'.

"That answer sums up the Minister's whole attitude towards Work and Income
New Zealand. He doesn't know and he doesn't care about the extraordinary
culture of corporate extravagance which pervades WINZ since his government
merged Income Support and the Employment Service.

"Beneficiaries and taxpayers up and down the country will be appalled to
learned that the Minister in charge of the government's biggest budget
doesn't care whether taxpayers' funds are squandered by senior staff
attending lavish talk-fests or used wisely to help struggling
beneficiaries survive.

"The $100 spent on one day's lunch is more than most superannuitants, sole
parents, job seekers and students have for food for a whole week.

"What sort of government is Jenny Shipley running? Certainly not one that
exhibits the basic principles of her much-touted code of social
responsibility.

"The sooner this government is put out of its misery the better," he said.

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