Whanau Ora Comments Sugarcoat Mediocrity

The Government should stop making excuses for mediocrity and demand excellence from Whanau Ora, say the Taxpayers’ Union. Responding to yesterday’s Auditor-General report, and the subsequent downplaying by the Government, Taxpayers’ UnionExecutive Director, Jordan Williams, says:

“It is simply a scandal that $137 million of taxpayer dollars has been spent without clear goals of what the money is meant to achieve. That fault lays squarely at the Government’s feet.”

“Throwing taxpayer money at a project and hoping for the best isn’t good enough. Taxpayers need to know that every cent of taxpayer money is being used efficiently and effectively. Whanau Ora is no exception."

In reference to Finance Minister Bill English’s reported comments that “[Whanau Ora] is not a failure, it was a pretty radical programme to start with,”, Mr Williams says:

“Taxpayers welcome new initiatives to effectively deliver frontline services. But ‘radical' proposals mean the goals and monitoring should be more rigorous, not less.”

“Whanau Ora needs to show real improvement, or it should be scrapped. There is simply too much need for scarce taxpayer dollars to have it be wasted on a political show pony that is not getting results."

ENDS

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