The Auditor-General, John Ryan, has decided to carry out an inquiry into aspects of the Government’s Strategic Tourism Assets Protection Programme.

Concerns about the Programme have been raised in the media and with our office. Tourism businesses have questioned the clarity and transparency of the Programme’s criteria and whether they were applied consistently. Because of the concerns we have heard, the amount of public funding involved, and the importance of robust processes to ensure public trust and confidence is not eroded, we have decided to carry out an inquiry.

In keeping with the Auditor-General’s role, our inquiry will focus on the actions and processes underpinning the initial eligibility assessments and subsequent assessment of eligible proposals.

You can read the terms of reference, and background, for this inquiry on our website.

© Scoop Media

Auckland will move to alert level three for a week at 6am tomorrow morning after two new Covid-19 community cases announced this evening could not be directly linked to earlier cases, the Prime Minister has confirmed.
The rest of the country will move to level two.... More>>

Gordon Campbell: On The Rivals For The Covid Saliva Testing Dollar

If you want a good insight into what the limits of tiny, barely discernible steps to reduce poverty actually look like, delve into the latest Statistics Department figures on poverty in New Zealand Most of the nine measures utilised reveal little or no progress in combatting poverty over the 21 months to March 2020... More>>