Lockwood Smith
National Commerce Spokesperson

Monday 14 August 2000

Select committee confirms Jim's job's machine has no substance

A Parliamentary select committee report released today confirms major gaps in the Deputy Prime Minister's understanding of the cost of his so-called jobs machine, National's Commerce spokesperson Lockwood Smith said today.

"Jim Anderton fumbled and fudged questioning at Parliament's Commerce Select Committee looking into the budget for Industry New Zealand. He had no idea where the tens of millions of dollars would go.

"The select committee has today presented its report on Vote: Industry New Zealand to Parliament - but the report has big holes in it because Jim Anderton couldn't explain how or where the Industry NZ money would be spent.

"We've demanded more answers from the Deputy Prime Minister to fill in the gaps, and the committee has called for him to provide them before Parliament debates the Industry New Zealand estimates.

"It is almost without precedent for a select committee to report to Parliament with recommendations that have strings attached requiring the responsible Minister to front up with better answers.

"There needs to be some accountability for the tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer funding going into Industry New Zealand and at the moment Jim Anderton can't even tell us how much will even go into the bureaucracy."

Ends

© Scoop Media