Thursday, 29 May 2014 09:06

Report ‘justifies lolly scramble’

Written by Pamela Tipa

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A NEW REPORT into the Government's Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) programme is a desperate attempt by Minister Nathan Guy to justify his lolly scramble ahead of an investigation by the Auditor-General, Labour's Primary Industries spokesperson Damien O'Connor says.

"The NZIER report claims the PGP has the potential to add $11.1 billion to the economy per annum in 2025, but only if all the research and development runs flawlessly, the aspirational stretch of its programmes are achieved and the innovations taken up widely.

"That is a tall order.

"The PGP aims to foster primary-sector innovation and investment in joint partnership with industries. It has now committed more than $700 million of taxpayer and farmer money to a range of projects. This is the National Government's method of reaching its goal of doubling exports.

"The problem is there are no quantifiable results as to how these programmes will actually achieve this.

"Labour is not alone with its concerns about the PGP. The Auditor-General has also decided to take a closer look at how the money for these programmes is allocated and, more importantly, how it is accounted for."

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