Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Licence needed for work use Learn More
Parliament

Gordon Campbell | Parliament TV | Parliament Today | Video | Questions Of the Day | Search

 

18 WINZ staff at Masters of Business trough

Jim Anderton Eighteen WINZ staff spent nearly six thousand dollars to attend the World Masters of Business seminar in May.

Alliance MP Grant Gillon says Social Services Minister Roger Sowry is in hot water after giving the impression in parliament that no WINZ staff had attended the event. In fact a WINZ report to Mr Sowry today shows that eighteen staff were there. Twelve staff from the WINZ 'finance division' attended at a cost of $295 each.

Another six from the 'debt unit' paid $395 a head.Among the speakers at the ev ent was 'Chainsaw Al Dunlap', described by the New York Times as 'Rambo in Pinstripes', and 'a gleeful celebrater of stratospheric CEO salaries and draconian downsizing.

'In parliament this afternoon Mr Sowry tried to table a document from WINZ which he said confirmed 'that it did not have a corporate table at the event...despite allegations made by the Alliance.

' Grant Gillon says Mr Sowry has deliberately used misleading language to give the impression that WINZ d! idn't attend the event at all.

'Who cares whether it was a table they bought or just some chairs? What we have is further confirmation of the culture of extravangance at WINZ.

'Six thousand dollars of taxpayers money was wasted so that WINZ staff could go along to hear Chainsaw Al Dunlap lecture them on the benefits of laying off staff by the thousand and paying senior executives more.

'It's bad enough that it happens at all.

It is even worse when the Minister tries to cover it up,' Grant Gillon said.

ENDS


Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

Featured News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.