Wananga chief pledges to open books to any inquiry

The chief executive of the country's largest tertiary institution, Te Awamutu-based Te Wananga O Aotearoa, today pledged to open the books to any inquiry following claims of financial disaster and a culture of extravagance at the institution.

Act MP Ken Shirley yesterday released an email from Government-appointed trouble shooter Graeme McNally, warning that the institution's expected financial outcome for 2004 was "nothing less than a disaster".

Mr McNally, appointed in 2003 to sort out management and financial issues at the wananga, said in the leaked December 20 email that senior managers at the wananga accepted no responsibility to live within budgets and that they had a "culture of non-accountability and extravagance".

Education Minister Trevor Mallard yesterday admitted that he was not convinced the taxpayer was getting value for money from the wananga, which Parliament was told received $239 million from the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) in 2003-04.

His comments were echoed by Prime Minister Helen Clark, who added that there was "an issue to be examined".

Mr Shirley said he would be releasing more details about the financial affairs at the wananga in Parliament today.

But wananga chief executive Rongo Wetere today told National Radio misinformation was being spread about the wananga.

He said the $239m figure was not right.

"If in fact $239m had been paid to wananga Aotearoa last year then they would be right in saying that probably the expenditure was excessive. The actual true figure is $161m. So they're talking about a third more than actual."

Because he did not have the figures in front of him, he could not say whether operating expenses were $15m above the budget forecast for the 2004 year although he said there had been "an increase in budget expenditure".

Capital expenditure was about $9m above the budget forecast because development was required to support the number of students at the wananga, Mr Wetere said.

Mr McNally had been on the council for two years but had never raised his concerns with the chief executive or the council, he said.

He "certainly" was prepared to open the books to any inquiry, he said.

If an inquiry found financial management problems, "I would accept responsibility," he said, adding there was also a council that also had responsibilities.

If there was extravagance at the wananga, it was in providing free courses to students, good resources to students and giving students the opportunity to minimise their student loans, Mr Wetere said.

"The wananga's very proud of what it's achieved."

- NZPA