Fundraiser ‘hypocritical’
A Givealittle fundraiser for staff and students affected by the liquidation of one of the country’s biggest agricultural training facilities has been labelled hypocritical by a National MP.
Wairarapa-based Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre went into interim liquidation with a $23 million debt before Christmas and was unable to pay wages. National’s spokesman for agriculture, Nathan Guy, criticised Wairarapa-based MP Kieran McAnulty’s fundraising efforts saying it was his Labour-led Government which let the institution fail.
McAnulty, along with Wairarapa’s three mayors, set up the Givealittle page this week ‘‘to help out those that have been caught up in the liquidation of Taratahi’’. He said Guy’s comments were a sad example of him playing politics when all the Wairarapa leaders were trying to do was help.
‘‘Ultimately there is a dispute here about how Taratahi got to this point.
‘‘I’ve deliberately left the fingerpointing out of it and just focused on trying to ensure we save the home farm and get training continued in Wairarapa in the future.’’
The Givealittle initiative was a practical way they could help people during the liquidation process. Suspended staff may face five weeks without pay before creditors are paid.
‘‘Wairarapa’s a really caring community,’’ McAnulty said. ‘‘We’ve got staff that are facing a wage suspension and if we can do something to give the community an avenue in which they can donate some money to help them out, even if it’s just a small amount to pay for a food package, then it just goes to show that the community is thinking of them.’’
Guy said ‘‘passing the begging bowl around’’ was effectively asking the public to stump up when the Government could have funded Taratahi to bridge the shortfall in cashflow.
McAnulty said the Government was resolved to fix the long-term sustainability of agricultural training.
Balclutha farm training organisation Telford in Southland was also hit by Taratahi’s collapse. Clutha mayor Bryan Cadogan and NZ First MP Mark Patterson have also organised a Givealittle page for those affected.