Labour Leader Helen Clark said today that a Labour-led government would return to the practice of convening Cabinet meetings weekly.

In March, the Prime Minister, Jenny Shipley, changed the Cabinet timetable to fortnightly meetings. That change was criticised in a report released on Friday by the Gvernment Aministration Select Committee, which said the Cabinet was not meeting often enough to do its job properly.

Helen Clark said that the select committee report released last week supported the criticisms she made in March of Mrs Shipley's decision to halve the number of Cabinet meetings.

"It was wrong to halve the frequency of Cabinet meetings. For the sake of good and efficient government, Cabinet should meet weekly.

"National's appalling performance over then past six months can, in part, be traced back to Mrs Shipley's decision. The ongoing shambles might have been less serious if Mrs Shipley had been heeding the advice of her ministers on a more regular basis.

"It is customary in Westminster-style Parliaments for Cabinets to meet weekly. That is the case in Australia and Britain.

"Labour will return to weekly Cabinet meetings. We have an extensive work programme mapped out for the incoming Labour-led government and the new ministers will be working hard to put those policies in place," Helen Clark said.

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