KEY POINTS:
The National Party is questioning why taxpayer funding is being used to train coal miners in China on safety issues.
The party's industrial relations spokeswoman, Kate Wilkinson, said Labour Department officials confirmed to MPs on Parliament's transport and industrial relations select committee that $84,711 had been granted to the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) for "safety training for safety representatives in Chinese coal mines".
China has one of the poorest safety records in the world regarding mine deaths.
The funding came from the Government's contestable Growth and Innovation Fund.
Ms Wilkinson said officials described the grant as a "type of aid project".
She said it appeared as if the Government was effectively subsidising the Chinese coal industry. "How does that square with Labour's position on carbon neutrality and greenhouse gases?"
She said the money would be better spent on workplace safety issues in New Zealand.
The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), which represents New Zealand miners, said the National Party's criticism demonstrated its lack of commitment to decent labour standards.
EPMU national secretary Andrew Little said his union had taken a strong role in helping Chinese miners improve their health and safety.
"Chinese miners work under appalling conditions that led to the death of nearly 5000 miners in the last year alone," he said.
"The EPMU helps Chinese miners because we value human life.
"National's criticism of this is astonishingly short-sighted and petty."
CTU secretary Carol Beaumont said the contribution was small, and National's complaint was "small-minded and miserable". She said other governments were involved in similar projects.
"It is disappointing in the extreme that the National Party thinks that this international contribution is something they can have a cheap shot at."
- NZPA
