● The Trusts Charitable Foundation (TTCF Inc) ● The Trusts Community Foundation Ltd (TTCF Ltd) ● Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU) ● Professional Rugby ● Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport ● Harness Racing ● Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) ● Gambling Commission ● Pokies ● Rorts ● Organised Crime ● Serious Fraud ● Political Interference
On the subjects of RUGBY and POKIE TRUSTS (with respect to evolving evidence of organised white collar crime and serious fraud), we note the very troubling lack of accountability and transparency demonstrated by the top brass of Department of Internal Affairs, Serious Fraud Office, Office of the Auditor-General, Office of the Ombudsmen, and New Zealand Police. And indeed government ministers who, practised in the art of political interference, obfuscation and worse, see themselves as entirely above the law.
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### radionz.co.nz 23 February 2014
Radio New Zealand National
Sunday Morning with Richard Langston
http://www.radionz.co.nz/sunday
8:12 Insight: The Public Service – will it survive reforms?
In the last month, the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister have both confirmed that the drive under the “Better Public Services” banner will continue. The programme is one of the government’s four priorities and includes a cap on core administrative positions. The State Services Commission say the key to doing more with less lies in productivity, innovation, and increased agility to provide services. But, as Philippa Tolley has been finding out, others say public servants are now too wary to offer free and frank advice and that their democratic role is being undermined.
Audio | Download: Ogg MP3 (27:51)
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“The system needs to be overhauled. New Zealand’s got a lot of serious problems that it’s going to have to face up to in the future and those problems require the best-quality governance that we can possibly have – and the public service is a vital part of that.”
### radionz.co.nz Updated at 9:45 am today
RNZ News
‘Total overhaul’ of state sector sought
The former prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer is calling for a royal commission of inquiry into the public sector, saying it needs a complete overhaul. Sir Geoffrey says many departments and ministries do not cooperate with one another and lack the capacity to be effective. He says morale in the public sector is low, and too little attention is given to the appointment of chief executives.
Sir Geoffrey says a royal commission is needed to establish some clear principles for the public service to adhere to.
Read more
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
What if? Dunedin... 
See comment and link provided by Martin Legge at another thread.
https://dunedinstadium.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/leave-otago-white-collar-criminals-alone-and-other-unfairness/#comment-45639
A fish rots from the head first. While a state sector overhaul is desperately needed it won’t solve the problem of the undue political influence being both applied and tolerated. The now very highly remunerated non performing senior bureaucrats all know which side their bread is buttered on.
They whakapapa back to the Vicar of Bray on one side and the Modern Major General on the other.
Which is to say: Government ministers and parliamentarians (as noted at the post).
Sir Geoffrey Palmer: “too little attention is given to the appointment of chief executives.”
Mistaken or charitable, Sir Geoffrey?
I’d have said considerable attention was given to appointing capable but not TOO capable, amenable, loyal (to their patrons, and to NZ if this does not conflict with their patrons’ interests), non-boat-rocking candidates. “Our kind” of chaps / chapesses, who’ll fit into the “culture” of the organisation and its plausible deniability hands-off masters.
Until the people complain about taxes and rates as C. Northcote Parkinson said:
“taxes will rise until the customer complains”
Whilst a large percentage of kiwis believe that taxation is right and justifiable, there will be plenty of pigs racing en masse towards the trough.
The justification for world dominance by the UN is that climate change requires considerable CASH, and contributions to saving the planet must be made by all of us to ever authoritarian governments lead by …..
Our ex-fearless leader.
Ms Clark was always one for Setting a Good Example to the rest of the world. Like the school prefect who wouldn’t go off school grounds without cap/hat worn properly, not a scrunched article at a rebellious angle, and socks pulled way up.
Never missed an opportunity for NZ to be among the first to sign up to any Great Cause. Like Kyoto. That worked out well, right.
Excuse my attitude, I didn’t get to be a prefect. Something about my attitude back then aye.
### radionz.co.nz Monday 24 February 2014
Radio NZ National
Morning Report with Geoff Robinson & Simon Mercep
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport
08:15 Govt spending on contractors skyrockets over five years
The Government is spending tens of millions of dollars more on contractors than it did five years ago – in the case of one ministry, five times as much.
Audio | Download: Ogg MP3 ( 2′ 54″ )
Dear God.
### NZ Herald 5:55 PM Tuesday Feb 25, 2014
CEO steps down after fake degree exposed
By Jared Savage
The chief executive of a legal firm stepped down soon after it was discovered he did not have the law degree he claimed to have. Michael Vukcevic left Auckland firm Baldwins, which specialises in intellectual property law, for “personal reasons”according to a press release in November.
A Herald investigation can reveal that Mr Vukcevic does not have a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) as stated on the curriculum vitae he submitted for the job two years earlier. APNZ
Read more
Good on the Herald for uncovering this scandal through investigative journalism. A real paper doing its business without fear or favour.
“Dedicated to promote transparency, accountability and integrity in Government and civil society” – OK, I see how he could be out of his depth regarding the civil society part of the job. But where will they find anyone better suited to the Government’s relationship with transparency, accountability and integrity? A match made in heaven, I’d have called it. And now it’s all broken, how sad.
DIA privacy slip…
About 400 people applying online for passports were sent an email this week… each recipient could see the email addresses of all the other applicants the message was sent to.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11214671
Link received.
After two days last week of someone rifling through the What if? website for posts and comments on DIA, pokie trusts and whistleblowers, we read:
### NZ Herald Online 5:00 AM Saturday Oct 4, 2014
Probe into charities’ use of pokie-machine cash
By Jared Savage – Weekend Herald
Several charitable trusts linked to an Auckland family which distribute millions of dollars in pokie money for community events are being probed by a Government agency with “serious concerns” about where the money has gone. Thousands of people have attended Diwali, Bollywood and other free community events organised by the South Trust, which receives hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from gaming societies. But the Weekend Herald has obtained a letter that reveals that the Department of Internal Affairs is investigating grants from pokie machine trusts. “At this point in time, the department has serious concerns with regards to the legitimacy of the use of some of the monies paid,” Geoff Lawry, team leader of gambling compliance, wrote on September 10. He said the investigation had “not yet arrived at any conclusion” but warned all funders of the South Trust “to take extreme caution when considering funding this entity, so as to minimise any risk of any future grant monies being misused”.
Read more
● Jared Savage is the New Zealand Herald’s investigations editor.