Minister buys time to clean up bad news

new-zealand-national-party

Thu Dec 07 2006 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Minister buys time to clean up bad news

Thursday, 7 December 2006, 1:11 pm
Press Release: New Zealand National Party

Sandra Goudie MP
National Party Internal Affairs Spokeswoman

7 December 2006

Minister buys time to clean up bad news report on gambling

National Party Internal Affairs spokeswoman Sandra Goudie says Damien O'Connor should drop the cynical delaying tactics he's employing to limit scrutiny of a damning report on the provision of problem gambling services.

"This report will be bad news for Mr O'Connor and his Ministry. It will show they've known about overpayments and under-delivery for some time, but done nothing."

Ms Goudie is commenting on Mr O'Connor's statement yesterday that a report into problem gambling won't be released until next year, after he promised it in November. He has also admitted he already has the document and the Ministry has more work to do.

"I suspect that Mr O'Connor is buying himself some time to try to sweep the serious problems within his department under the carpet.

"He wants to be able to tell the public he's fixed the problem, knowing full well that potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars was being spent on services with few clients.

"It's inevitable this report will show an appalling lack of financial oversight and contract planning by his ministry." Ms Goudie says.

"Damien O'Connor should release the report now and face the music."

ENDS

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

a.supporter:hover {background:#EC4438!important;} @media screen and (max-width: 480px) { #byline-block div.byline-block {padding-right:16px;}}

Using Scoop for work?

Scoop is free for personal use, but you’ll need a licence for work use. This is part of our Ethical Paywall and how we fund Scoop. Join today with plans starting from less than $3 per week, plus gain access to exclusive Pro features.

Join Pro Individual Find out more

Find more from New Zealand National Party on InfoPages.