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

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