The Editorial in today's Independent Financial Review is a must read. Unfortunately it is not available on line. It contains a savage attack on the best foreign Minister since Talboys - Winston Peters, over his management of the NZAID component of his Foreign Affairs portfolio.
The Editorial begins
The Auditor-General's 43 page performance audit of NZAID is one of the most damning reports released about financial mismanagement by a Government department.
What does The Independent think about Winston Peters' response to this report?
This is a cop out.
Peters is the Minister of Foreign Affairs. As such it's his job to find out about NZAID's administration and investigate how the inefficient management of one of his own departments arose in the first place.
And
If Peters did not spend so much time junketeering around the world - 14 countries in the past six months alone - he might have a bit more time to delve into serious flaws that happened under his nose.
And
To say the audit report didn't suggest any aid funding had been misspent or misappropriated, or that its project were in any way compromised, is a whitewash.
Peters is the Minister responsible for the millions handed over to NZAID each year.
And
We've already seen Peters sweep the oil-for -food fiasco under the carpet.
And it ends
This is not good enough.
Peters must make sure his own house is in order before gallivanting around overseas to look at others.
