Maharey's Embarrassing CEG U-Turn

Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey's humiliating announcement, that CEG will be dis-established and its main roles re-established within the Ministry of Social Development, is an indictment upon his stewardship, ACT New Zealand Deputy Leader and Social Welfare Spokesman Dr Muriel Newman said today.

"This is the same Minister who, only a few years ago, slammed CEG's transfer into WINZ and - despite warnings from both Treasury and the State Services Commission - placed it back into the Labour Department at a cost of over $2 million," Dr Newman said.

"To make matters worse, he then required CEG to implement some of the most high-risk programmes ever created - grants to `Social Entrepreneurs' being just one of them.

"Mr Maharey's inept stewardship has cost huge amounts of taxpayers' money but, typically, he places the blame for his incompetence on CEG.

"The Minister inherited an organisation that had been moved with the times into a more appropriate structure, but he chose to dis-establish it - a move that has failed spectacularly. Mr Maharey should have the courage to front up, take this on the chin and accept that the buck stops with him," Dr Newman said.

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