Novopay, Where the Buck Really Stops!

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I thought I would support the great editorial in the Southland Times that suggested that the Minister's responsible for the Novopay debacle should be held to account.

Dear Sir

I thought the Editorial (6 June) was spot on when it suggested that the Novopay inquiry should have been called the "Anyone But The Minister Inquiry".

This National led Government has had an appalling history in its governance of education:
  • It was this Government that arbitrarily cut the funding of the Ministry of Education by $25 million and oversaw the gutting of experienced staff members.
  • It was this Government that employed a CEO from the UK to lead the Ministry, with no experience of our systems or culture (but knowledge of Charter Schools).
  • It was this Government that instigated a review of all Ministries to find that Education was the worst performing, yet did little to rectify it.
  • It was this Government that did not learn from past mistakes when implementing other non trialed systems that failed.
  • It is this Government that has repeatedly shown, through judicial review and Ombudsman findings, that good process is not being followed.
  • It was Ministers in this Government that decided to trust the judgements of a struggling Ministry (with a history of incompetence) and implement a system without a trial and over 100 identified faults.  
Every good businessman knows that if their business fails because of the incompetence of the staff beneath them it is their fault for not ensuring that they had employed the right people and had good systems in place. This Government has (through its own actions) set up the Ministry of Education for probable failure and, when it has inevitably occurred, has denied any responsibility.

Appalling!

Yours sincerely

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