Foss denies he knew about proposed Kura

Labour Tukituki MP Craig Foss

Labour says Tukituki MP Craig Foss spent a month sitting on information about a new kura kaupapa planned for Havelock North before claiming to be caught "on the hop" by his own government over the planned location for the Maori school.

But Mr Foss yesterday dismissed the allegation as "simply wrong".

The Ministry of Education is planning to relocate an existing Hastings school, Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Te Wananga Whare Tapere o Takitimu, to the site of the former Arataki Motor Camp in Havelock North.

The ministry purchased the Arataki Rd site in 2009 and it was previously earmarked to become a new primary school.

Plans for a "new" kura kaupapa in Hastings were announced by Education Minister Hekia Parata and Associate Minister Nikki Kaye on April 14, although no details were provided at the time.

Mr Foss told Hawke's Bay Today on May 13 he had been caught "on the hop" by revelations that a kura would be built on the Arataki site and later said ministry officials had "dropped the ball" by not discussing the proposal with him.

But Labour's Ikaroa-Rawhiti MP, Meka Whaitiri, and the party's Tukituki spokeswoman, Anna Lorck, said yesterday Ms Parata's version of events showed Mr Foss had "sat on the government's decision" to build a kura at Arataki for a month.

Ms Whaitiri asked Ms Parata a series of written questions about the Havelock North kura proposal, and yesterday released the answers she received from the minister.

Asked when she advised Mr Foss that a new kura was to be built in Havelock North, Ms Parata said the MP was informed of the plans to relocate the Hastings kura on April 14 - the same day as the public announcement and also the same day the kura was officially informed.

In a text message to Hawke's Bay Today yesterday, Mr Foss said he was unable to immediately provide a full response to Labour's allegations because he was on a family holiday but the party's claims were "simply wrong".

Hastings District councillor Malcolm Dixon agreed Ms Parata's reply indicated Mr Foss knew of the Havelock North plans for a month before making any public comment.

Given the new school would be an $8 million to $12 million development in the electorate, "I would have thought he'd have been celebrating it," Mr Dixon said.

Ministers Parata and Kaye's April 14 announcement was made in a pre-budget press release where they said the government was providing $244 million of funding over four years for new schools, additional classrooms and expansions of existing schools.

In her answers to Ms Whaitiri's questions, Ms Parata said the day before the announcement was made and Mr Foss was informed, she took a paper to Cabinet seeking capital funding for new schools and school expansions, including the relocation of the Hastings kura.