The Government and the Public Service Association have accused Act MP Muriel Newman of being ridiculous and misleading by claiming that confidential payouts were extravagant golden handshakes.
Dr Newman has revealed that a total of $4,173,577 was paid out to 330 public service employees since the Labour-led Government came to power.
She
said Labour was hypocritical because it had whipped up concern about secret golden handshakes before the last election and had campaigned on a promise to enforce greater control and transparency.
Prime Minister Helen Clark said Dr Newman had made a "song and dance" about what in effect was an average payment of $11,000, "which is hardly unusual with redundancy and personal grievance settlements".
This sum paled into insignificance when compared with payouts made under National, including the $6 million TVNZ paid newsreader John Hawkesby; the more than $800,000 paid to two Tourism Board members and a chief executive; the more than $800,000 paid to former Fire Service Commission chairman Roger Estall and four other senior Fire Service chiefs; and the more than $200,000 given to a former Qualifications Authority boss.
All employers faced personal grievance and redundancy costs from time to time and meeting them in an appropriate way was not what the Labour Party denounced when it campaigned against National's "culture of extravagance", Helen Clark said.
State Services Minister Trevor Mallard said Dr Newman was blowing the issue out of proportion.
"In Opposition we campaigned against extravagant payments made in the public sector like the $579,000 to former Tourism Board chief executive Paul Winter and the $340,000 to two Tourism Board members because of former tourism minister Murray McCully's inappropriate interferences in board matters."
PSA national secretary Richard Wagstaff said the term "golden handshake" was misleading.
"These are legitimate payments made as part of employment settlements, for example in severance, redundancy or personal grievance cases."
- NZPA
