Te Puni Kōkiri

The boss of Te Puni Kokiri is refund his missus airfares…only coz he got caught:

In a statement released this afternoon, TPK said Comer would be repaying the money charged for his wife to travel.

“Mr Comer is very mindful that any expenses he incurs are subject to public scrutiny. He is constantly applying a critical eye to expenditure that is incurred for all ministry business, especially his own,” the statement said.

“While he believes there was justification for the travel to be paid for TPK at the time, he now accepts the perception it was not good use of tax-payer funding and rather than go through a protracted debate on the matter, he will reimburse the amount involved.”

Only now? Up until he got busted rorting the taxpayer at the TPK trough he thought it was perfectly fine to charge up airfares and accommodation for the missus.

At least he wasn’t having a tweet war at midnight from the toilets of the same awards like Labour’s brilliant campaign strategist was.

via the tipline:

Garrick Tremain at his best.

About 50 back-end bureaucrats bro-racrats are to be cut loose in a shake up at Te Puni Kokiri:

Redundancies at Te Puni Kokiri have been slammed by Mana MP Hone Harawira.

Staff at the ministry, which advises the Government on Maori issues and development, are believed to have been told that about 50 of their number will lose their jobs.

Maori Affairs Minister Dr Pita Sharples this afternoon confirmed  Te Puni Kokiri staff had been briefed by its chief executive on “efficiency” measures today.

“How the Ministry manages their fiscal pressures and efficiency dividend is of course an operational matter for management. I expect to be consulted on the chief executive’s proposals for how Te Puni Kokiri continues to deliver the most effective services to the public, within the budget they have been allocated,” he said.

Fifty is a good start. Perhaps Tony Ryall could have a word with Pita Sharples and explain how he must try harder.

The governing arrangements are largely complete now with the Maori Party signing a confidence and supply agreement with the John Key led National government.

John Key has proved once again his willingness to be inclusive rather than marginalising:

Developing Whanau Ora, a Ministerial Committee on Poverty and a new focus for Te Puni Kokiri are the centre-pieces of the National Party-Maori Party confidence and supply agreement.

It also allows the Maori Party to vote for legislation on a policy-by-policy basis, meaning it is free to oppose National’s policy to partially sell state assets.

The announcement was made in Wellington this afternoon, and follows confidence and supply arrangements between National and Act, and National and United Future.

With the support of Act and United Future, the National-led coalition holds a majority of 61 seats in a 121-seat Parliament.

It does not need the Maori Party to form a Government, but the agreement gives National an extra buffer of three seats for confidence and supply.

Prime Minister John Key, in announcing the “Relationship Accord” and confidence and supply arrangement, said he looked forward to continuing to work constructively with the Maori Party.

The agreement means the Maori Party will support confidence and supply, but differs with the arrangements with Act and United Future in that the Maori Party is allowed to vote on a case-by-case basis.

The Maori party has clearly decided that it is better to be inside the tent than outside in order to deliver for their constituency. This is something the Greens are yet to learn.