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Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples is rejecting charges he could have done more to stop the problems embroiling Te Kohanga Reo National Trust.
Spending and systems at the trust are being audited after allegations of credit card abuse by the head of its commercial arm and one of its trustees.
Labour’s Maori spokesperson Shane Jones says the minister has been asleep at the wheel.
But Dr Sharples says his focus has been the negotiations that came after Kohanga Reo’s Waitangi Tribunal claim over its relationship with the Education Ministry.
"I don’t have a responsibility for the putea or any funding at all of Te Kohanga Reo Trust. It's clearly an educational matter and they deal with it. However I do have responsibilities for te reo Maori and that's why I want them to operate really well. So that's why I'm right there beside (Education Minister) Hekia (Parata) working with Michael Cullen to settle those board matters what happened at the tribunal and so on," he says.
Dr Sharples hopes some good can come out of the controversy, with clearer lines about how Kohanga Reo operates to foster and grow te reo Maori.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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