Sack all the National Party cronies on the Lotteries Commission

Grant Gillon MP Thu Sep 2 1999

The five National Party appointees on the Lotteries Commission should be removed, Alliance Internal Affairs spokesperson Grant Gillon says.

He says the Government has been trying to cover up for its own appointed National Party activists.

'When Ministers came out against the former chief executive's $410,000+ salary, they were deflecting attention from the fact that the decisions were made by National Party members appointed by National Party Ministers,' Grant Gillon said.

'The National Party activists on the Lotteries Commission are directly responsible for approving the excessive salary of the Lotteries chief executive. They are a former candidate, former divisional heads of the National Party and the Chairperson is an ex-President.

'Only yesterday the Government was making a fuss of pointing out that CEOs of Crown entities of similar size to the Lotteries Commission are paid $156,000 a year on average. Presumably, their point was to emphasise their dissatisfaction with the Lotteries Commission.

'In their desperate attempt to look like the good guys purging the greedy, the National Party has found itself looking in the mirror.

'If they want to come clean, they should dump their cronies from the Commission.'

Grant Gillon said it would be a scandalous waste of taxpayers' money if any of the Commission members were paid a golden handshake to smooth their exit.

© Scoop Media

Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

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