Political Roundup: Have billions been incorrectly paid out in the wage subsidy scheme?
12 May, 2021 05:30 AM
7 minutes to read
The Auditor General s report is highly critical about the lack of checks and balances on a scheme that has doled out $14bn to businesses. Photo / 123RF
The Auditor General s report is highly critical about the lack of checks and balances on a scheme that has doled out $14bn to businesses. Photo / 123RF
OPINION:
The Government s wage subsidy scheme may have incorrectly paid out billions of dollars to ineligible businesses, and this is not being audited.
That s the conclusion to be taken from the Auditor General s report, released yesterday. It is highly critical about the lack of checks and balances on a scheme that has doled out $14bn to businesses.
The Auditor-General s office launched an inquiry last year into how the scheme was being managed.
The report released today has praised some efforts to keep businesses from taking money.
The Auditor-General s Office said MSD s so-called audits of companies that received payments needed to go further.
The government spent more on the wage subsidy scheme than any other part of its Covid-19 response. At one point $1.8b was paid out in a single day with 70,000 applications in 24 hours.
Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni said the department was operating under a high-trust model which needed to be rolled out with speed.
And for the most part that has worked: unemployment remained lower than the daunting forecasts of last year s lockdowns.
Moo Chews NZ is now looking for a new manufacturer for milk bites previously made at Gloriavale after concerns were raised about employment practices. The calcium-based children’s snack has been exported to Australia, Britain, India, China and Hong Kong and carries the government-endorsed FernMark label. Where the money comes from As a registered charity Gloriavale’s Christian Church Community Trust is obliged to file annual financial statements with Charities Services, and they show its annual income has increased fivefold from just over $4m a decade ago. Farming has been a mainstay of Gloriavale since it was established near Christchurch in 1969 by Neville Cooper, known as Hopeful Christian, before moving in 1991 to Haupiri on the West Coast where it owns dairy farms carrying 3126 cows, and one of the largest deer farms in the country.