Cullen calls for wananga head to quit

Rongo Wetere. Picture / Paul Estcourt

Michael Cullen today called for Te Wananga o Aotearoa chief executive Rongo Wetere to resign.

The Deputy Prime Minister's comments came as the Auditor-General's report on the wananga was officially released today, a day after Mr Wetere broke the embargo and released the report himself.

"I believe it would be in the best interests of the wananga if Rongo Wetere listened to some of those closest to him and stood aside as chief executive," Dr Cullen, who is also Tertiary Education Minister, said.

An inquiry was launched into the wananga - the country's largest tertiary education provider and the recipient of $239 million in taxpayer funds last year - after a range of claims that funds had been misused and that relatives of executives have benefited.

Dr Cullen said the issues raised by the Auditor-General in the investigation were serious and highlighted concerns the Government had been pursuing with the wananga for some time.

"The poor management of perceived conflicts of interest in the awarding of contracts to family members; the lax accounting for credit card and international travel expenses; and the frequent failure to prepare proper business cases for property development and purchase decisions are completely unacceptable in a public sector organisation," Dr Cullen said.

However, a number of steps had been taken by the wananga since August 2004 when the audit was initiated, to strengthen its financial and internal governance structures and to safeguard the interests of the student population, he said.

Mr Wetere had continued to defend himself today against allegations of wrong-doing, after he jumped the gun yesterday.

Speaking on National Radio, Mr Wetere denied claims of nepotism, saying of 17 people employed at the wananga since 1989 and cited in the report as being related to Mr Wetere, only one or two were now employed at the institution.

Furthermore, most of those appointments were not made by him.

His son had been hired to a senior management role in about 2002 by the chair of the wananga's council, not by Mr Wetere himself.

"Our family don't believe in nepotism, I can say that straight up and down. People get appointed for their ability and their expertise."

As the wananga was growing quickly, he had not had time to be involved in all job appointments.

He also defended his decision to spend thousands of dollars travelling first class to the United States and Cuba.

"The difference between first class and business in terms of comfort is quite substantial and the difference amounted to about $1800 on a long trip."

Wananga chairman Craig Coxhead said the report documented serious failings of management.

"The council of Te Wananga o Aotearoa understands that the behaviour depicted in the report will shock," Mr Coxhead said.

The report clearly identified Mr Wetere as primarily responsible for the behaviour that led to those findings and the former council as providing inadequate governance during the period covered by the report, he said.

The council was downsized from 14 to five members in June this year and began its own inquiries into the behaviour of Mr Wetere -- placing him on paid leave pending the outcome of those inquiries.

Mr Wetere, who challenged that process, and the council are waiting for an appeal before the Employment Court, which is expected to be heard before Christmas.

Mr Coxhead said: "The result of this reform process is that Te Wananga o Aotearoa is today a substantially different organisation to that depicted in the report to the Auditor-General."

- NZPA