Minister treads carefully over latest claims against wananga

Education Minister Trevor Mallard is critical of the latest claims about Te Wananga o Aotearoa - over property ownership and using foreign consultants - and officials worked overtime at the weekend to advise him on what options were open to the Government.

He is expected to report verbally to the Cabinet today, but cautioned last night that any action would have to be on the basis of evidence, not just claims by newspapers and Opposition MPs.

And he implied that any inquiry separate to that being undertaken by the Auditor General would be a "slap in the face" for the office.

Key among Mr Mallard's concerns was the possible ownership of assets by the trusts associated with the wananga, which would be out of the purview of the Auditor General.

"If serious assets are being built up outside the wananga, that would be of immediate concern as opposed to something that needs to be looked into."

The Herald reported at the weekend that the wananga had bought the Glenview International Hotel and that it owned the Te Rapa Tavern, part of a much larger parcel of land.

Mr Mallard said he was not alarmed at the acquisition of a hotel to convert it to educational use or even for accommodation - Otago University had something similar.

He also said that the wananga showed "lack of judgment" to bring consultants from the United States in a $60,000 contract to advise its Porirua campus how to save on energy costs, as reported in the Sunday Star-Times - if it was proven.

The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority and the Electricity Commission undertook that work in New Zealand.

The office of the Auditor General had investigated concerns over conflicts of interest since August, and Mr Mallard said he was "frustrated" by the amount of time it was taking.

But he dismissed a suggestion that he might set up another inquiry to fast-track the process, saying it would be unclear what powers it would have.

The Government has four appointees on the wananga council and two vacancies are likely to be filled in the next fortnight - critical appointments for the Government.

Mr Mallard said he had a file over a foot thick of reports previously conducted on the wananga and he was critical of the quality of information the council has received and its lack of action.

"It is clear from the reports that I have had that the council of the wananga does not get high-quality reports and has not been involved in the decision-making it should have been involved in."

Mr Mallard said the standards of ethics and independence and proper process should apply to wananga as they applied to universities and polytechnics.

"There must be transparency, decisions must be properly made. If there is any suggestion of any conflict it has got to be recorded. But there are some things that are just such bad conflicts that they shouldn't occur."

Under law he is unable to replace the council with a commissioner unless the institution is financially at risk and that is not the case.

"In fact, they've got almost the opposite problem. They've got too much money," Mr Mallard said.

Act MP Ken Shirley yesterday called for Mr Mallard to appoint a High Court judge to run a ministerial inquiry.

He said the fact that funding for the wananga had gone from $4 million five years ago to $239 million in the past year was an example of "how the treaty gravy train under Labour has become a whole railway network". Thousands of young Maori had been conned into believing they were at a university and the Government continued to fund it - and the advertisements calling it a university.

He said the wananga had "real political power" and was run by a small cabal of influential Tainui families.

Council chairman Craig Coxhead issued several statements last night responding to some of the claims.

"The council has been assured that no one in management siphoned off any money for TWOA to 'line their pockets'."

He said the wananga did not own any limousines; the Greenlight literacy programme was developed by the wananga in collaboration with IPLAC, a Latin American and Caribbean institute based in Cuba.

"It has not been purchased from any person or organisation."

Mr Coxhead also said: "We are in the process of collating relevant information in respect of all allegations and this will be released in due course."

The statement said the allegations had "damaged our good name and reputation".

"We want to reassure our approximately 60,000 students and 2000 staff - and their whanau - throughout Aotearoa New Zealand that it is business as usual at TWOA and we urge them to focus on their studies."

Attempts to clarify the property ownership details and the claim about the consultants with the wananga were unsuccessful.

The claims

* Wananga's fleet of 350 cars groomed by company owned by partner of deputy chief executive.

* Wananga enrolled students and staff in a Cuban literacy and numeracy course.

* Continues to call itself a university even though it is not entitled to.

* Bought Glenview International Hotel and Te Rapa Tavern.

* United States consultants flown to Porirua in $60,000 contract to make it more energy-efficient.