Jenny Shipley is ultimately responsible for the Incis debacle and her desire to ignore the problem until after the election directly led to IBM's decision to pull out, Labour police spokesperson George Hawkins said today.

"IBM representatives met with the Prime Minister in March and made it clear the project had reached crisis point.

"The cost of Incis had blown out by $30 million but even that was not enough to pay for the additional requirements demanded by the police.

"IBM says that following the meeting with Mrs Shipley it was keen to find a way to save Incis but the Government refused to negotiate in a "timely manner."

"The PM wanted to hide the whole sorry mess beneath the carpet until after the election," George Hawkins said.

"It was shallow political expediency of the worst kind, from a sorry administration already licking its wounds over its mishandling of the Tourism Board and the Fire Service Commission.

"Incis was poorly conceived and has been hurtling headlong towards disaster from the beginning, but the National Government has had endless opportunities to pull on the brakes. It has repeatedly failed to do so because it's more interested in its own political survival than proper governance and ensuring taxpayers money is spent in an appropriate way.

"Jenny Shipley could have sorted out Incis months ago. Her failure to do so has left the police without the information technology they need, and the prospect of taxpayers having to fund a costly and protracted court battle.

"Mrs Shipley's time as Prime Minister will be remembered for her astonishing blunders. She seems unable to understand that if you find yourself in a hole you should stop digging. Yet again she has put political expediency ahead of integrity and sound management of public money, and yet again it has blown up in her face and the taxpayer will have to foot the bill."

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