Government pushes for wananga audit

The Government is nudging the Auditor-General to finish a report on the controversial Te Wananga o Aotearoa as soon as possible.

Prime Minister Helen Clark yesterday said Education Minister Trevor Mallard was seeking answers from the Auditor-General over when the report into allegations of conflict of interest at the tertiary institute would be ready.

The Auditor-General has been investigating the matter for the past seven months.

Mr Mallard has expressed serious concern about the institution, which has become the focus of allegations of financial extravagance and misuse of taxpayers' money.

However, it is understood he feels limited on what further action he can take until the Auditor-General reports back.

Helen Clark said there were "clearly governance" issues at the wananga which received $239 million of taxpayers' money last year, and did not rule out a law change making it possible for the Government to intervene in the troubled institute.

She said the institute - New Zealand's largest tertiary education provider - had experienced rapid growth.

"Maybe the growth has outgrown the capacity to have proper governance," she said. "If so it needs to be addressed very, very urgently."

She said she had been concerned about the tertiary institute for some time and said some of those concerns had prompted the referral to the Auditor-General last August.

She said other concerns, over the institute falsely representing itself as a university, led Mr Mallard to take up the matter with the Registrar of Companies.

Helen Clark said the Government was now examining its options to intervene in the running of the wananga if the allegations were found to have basis and taxpayers' money was suspected of being misspent.

The options included appointing a Crown observer, changing the wananga's charter, and a legal procedure for replacing the council with a commissioner.

But she said the replacement criteria were "tight" and she was not sure if they applied to this situation.

She said Mr Mallard was trying to find out when the Audit Office report would be finished.

Mr Mallard has implied that any inquiry separate to the Auditor-General's would be a "slap in the face" for the office.

Assistant Auditor-General Wendy Venter, who is investigating the wananga, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Mr Mallard has said he is taking the allegations "very seriously".

Yesterday, Act Party MP Ken Shirley, who first raised the numerous allegations about the wananga in Parliament last week, said he was disgusted the Government had taken no firm action to get to the bottom of the matter.

"We're talking about unprecedented allegations and a quarter of a billion dollars of taxpayers' money, but Mr Mallard is more worried about offending the Auditor-General if the Government was to launch a separate inquiry."

Mr Shirley said a High Court judge should be appointed to hold a public inquiry. "Waiting around for the Auditor-General to try to produce some evidence from his very limited powers is a cop-out."

The Herald has learned that Graeme McNally, the Crown-appointed adviser to the wananga's council, has resigned.

Last week, Mr Shirley tabled in Parliament a leaked email from Mr McNally that criticised financial controls and spending and raised serious questions about the institution's position for the 2004 financial year.

Mr McNally, a partner with Deloitte, said he resigned from his position because of a conflict of interest and his resignation had nothing to do with the leaked email.

He said Deloitte was also the nominated auditor in the Auditor-General's inquiry and it was considered inappropriate for him to continue advising the wananga.