JOHN HAYES
WAIRARAPA National Party candidate

20 July 2005

Goff and Dyson Violence plan won’t work

National Party Candidate John Hayes says the Goff/Dyson plan to spend $15 million to deal to the “Bureaucratic failings that contributed to the murder of Masterton girls” (Times Age lead 19 July) is laughable. How could anyone be so silly as to employ another 10 public servants to deal with the coordination of services targeting violence in the Wairarapa when local organisations like Violence Free Wairarapa and the Family Violence Network were setting the standard for the rest of New Zealand to follow.

This was another example of wasteful expenditure by a government flush with money taken from our pockets. It also highlighted the failure of public servants to consult local people and organisations and understand what was going on in New Zealand’s regions.

Hayes said the Goff/Dyson response to the Wairarapa represented poor policy, wasteful expenditure and demonstrated no understanding of what was happening in our patch. Hayes said he was the only political candidate who paid his own way and spent three days attending the Violence Free Wairarapa conference earlier this year. Unlike our list MP’s Hayes knew that people from throughout New Zealand were coming to Masterton to see the huge level of cooperation under the aegis of the Family Violence Network. The Government and their minions do not understand the Wairarapa’s needs.

“The Goff/Dyson response reflected mid eighties ideas. The Ministers have clearly asked their Chief Bureaucratic advisor “How can we spend money on family violence in the Wairarapa?” It seems the reply was “Give me more money Minister- I will employ more staff and they will build a new anti-violence programme”.

“Our patch deserves better. Its time the government and its officials took time to understand what was happening in The Wairarapa” said Hayes.

ENDS

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