Simon Power National Youth Affairs Spokesman

28 January 2004

Labour wastes more education money

Students are missing out while Labour is wasting education money on useless projects and adding new levels of bureaucracy, says National's Youth Affairs spokesman Simon Power.

Today the Tertiary Education Commission advertised in the Dominion Post for 17 new management positions. "How can Labour justify spending thousands of dollars on new managers when tertiary institutions and Skill New Zealand are struggling to stretch limited funding to provide quality education for young people and students?"

Mr Power says the job descriptions are typical of the bureaucratic mumbo jumbo that can be expected from Labour.

"I can't understand how a Steering Instruments Manager, a Stakeholder Engagement Manager, along with a Sector Development Manager, a National Area Manager, Regional Managers, a Specialist Funds Manager, an Operations Policy Manager, and a Monitoring and Evaluation Manager - all "managing the distribution of $2.2 billion to qualifying Tertiary Education Organisations" - can be effective.

"And the Minister's Enhancing Quality Project announced today won't improve tertiary education. He's got to first sort out the failing NZ Qualifications Authority, which is responsible for quality assurance, instead of launching another money-eating project.

"Labour is failing students by wasting education money on ever-increasing bureaucracy and wasteful projects," says Mr Power.

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