Polity: Looking behind the Kohanga finger pointing

Written By: - Date published: 9:11 am, March 21st, 2014 - 8 comments
Categories: Maori Issues - Tags: , , ,

polity_square_for_lynnThe original of this post is here at Polity.

The news this morning has all kinds of finger pointing between Hekia Parata, Derek Fox, John Key, the Kohanga Reo trust board, and others.

Why are so many people pointing fingers all over the place? Because everyone involved has screwed up one way or another.

Parata and the government have bungled the terms of reference for the EY report, refusing to directly investigate Te Pataka Ohanga spending when they easily could have. If you can investigate finances at a trust, you can investigate finances at a co-located, wholly owned subsidiary of the same trust, too.

And her handling of the reporting back – “Nothing to see here!” [beat] “To the SFO!” was so woeful it was almost comic.

The board appears to have dropped the ball on running its internal investigation, too, which is why the politicians are angry.

This mess is only going to get bigger. Parata will be thanking her lucky stars that there is no Parliament for the next couple of weeks.

See also

  1. Board: Kohanga members admit time for change
  2. Parata: Parata attacks kohanga reo board
  3. Derek Fox – Parata was wrong – Trust board

8 comments on “Polity: Looking behind the Kohanga finger pointing ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. vto 1
    21 March 2014 at 10:03 am

    Posted this on open mike but it seems to have dived into moderation for some reason…

    I don’t get all the fuss over the Kohanga Reo fuss the last couple days. Yesterday on te wireless Nat Radio the Panel, Jim Mora had the little turd Jordan Williams on ranting about how evil it was that the trust had set up a corporate structure which was entirely lawful but which had a result which was a sham in that it broke a link that quite clearly existed between the end point and the start point (public funding)

    Perhaps Jordan Williams would care to also attack political party donation structures which put in place corporate structures which are entirely lawful but which have a result which is a sham in that it breaks a link that quite clearly exists between the end point and the start point (secret funding)

    Jordan Williams could start with the National and Labour Parties.

    It was a disgusting and hypocritical attack by the organisation that is controlled by Jordan Williams and David Farrar. Their credibility weakens every time they stick their heads over the parapet. Bunch of puppet muppets, not to mention blatantly racist as evidenced by their target selection…

    Interesting that Rob Salmond (polityman?) shared Jordan Williams view similarly with no expressed thought as to the widespread use of these types of structures….. and implications thereof ….

    • Bearded Git 1.1
      21 March 2014 at 10:42 am

      That was Mike Williams not Jordan Williams, or was Jordan on as an expert?

      • vto 1.1.1
        21 March 2014 at 10:44 am

        Jordan was on as an “expert”. But he was no expert, except as “ex” being an unknown quantity and “spert” being a drip under pressure, which sums up his performance perfectly.

    • Bearded Git 1.2
      21 March 2014 at 10:42 am

      That was Mike Williams not Jordan Williams, or was Jordan on as an expert?

  2. blue leopard (Get Lost GCSB Bill) 2
    21 March 2014 at 1:07 pm

    Finger pointing is National’s favourite pastime.

    This is because they don’t take responsibility for their lack of governing skills and poor discipline.

    It is time that those percieving Key as the ‘preferred PM’ woke up to the fact that Key and his government are incompetent bunglers.

    Key’s National continue to spend a huge amount of time in parliament blaming Labour – apparently regardless that Labour haven’t been in power for 6 years. It is always someone else’s fault with Key’s National – it is pathetic.

  3. ghostwhowalksnz 3
    21 March 2014 at 1:08 pm

    There is nothing wrong with having a company structure .

    Its there to protect the Trust from commercial mistakes which do happen. Of course the Trust should have given permission to allow the auditors to go through the accounts as well. Parata should have twisted the arm of the Trust to do this. But of course the Maori party would have prevented this happening

  4. red blooded 4
    21 March 2014 at 6:37 pm

    The trust structure might not be illegal, but I would be surprised if it was a common device for educational bodies which are publicly funded. Besides, my understanding (which may be incomplete) is that the worry was about personal costs being charged to Te Kohunga Reo. I don’t see that it matters whether they were charged directly to Te Kohunga or to Te Pataka Ohunga – personal costs should not be paid for from money intended for funding the education of kids. I don’t see that it’s racist to point this out. If funds were being diverted from my school, I would want to know and to stop it.

  5. greywarbler 5
    21 March 2014 at 8:40 pm

    Usually charities are expected to make efforts to get part of their money from sources other than the government. The head organisation is still responsible for whatever add ons they create. Government is usually interested in knowing what money you can riase for yourselves.

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