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A leaked video of last week’s Green Party crisis call shows James Shaw claimed the controversial Green School funding was given “verbal sign-off” by Minister of Education Chris Hipkins.
The comments contradict Hipkins who’s repeatedly stated he did not back the proposal.
RNZ has been sent footage of the Friday night Zoom meeting in which Shaw sought to assuage party members who were furious at his advocacy for a nearly $12 million funding package for the private Green School in Taranaki.
In the video clip, Shaw tells members that Hipkins “wasn’t intimately involved in the decision” but gave it tacit approval in a conversation.
“He did, sort of, give at least a verbal sign-off to the project,” Shaw said.
“He did say that – assuming everything else being equal – as long as the funding partner is the [New Plymouth District] Council, which it is, that he was okay with it.”
Minister of Education Chris Hipkins is disputing a claim from Greens co-leader James Shaw he gave “verbal sign-off” for the Green School proposal, describing it as a mischaracterisation.
Chris Hipkins and James Shaw.Photo: RNZ
A leaked video shows Shaw telling party members he got the okay from Hipkins in a conversation they had before the controversial bid was signed off.
Shaw’s been in damage control since infuriating party supporters, schools and unions with his strong advocacy for the nearly $12 million application for the private school.
The expansion project was approved by a group of wider ministers under a $3 billion infrastructure fund – they say Shaw should take full responsibility as the sole advocate for the bid.
That advocacy extended to threatening to block at least 44 projects, earmarked for $600m of funding, unless it was given the green light.
While Hipkins had no involvement in the ministerial approval, in the video, Shaw says he gave him “verbal sign-off”.
Hipkins told reporters today he did talk to Shaw about the Green School bid and told him “it was not a priority for education funding… but of course I’m not one of the ministers involved in decisions around the ‘shovel ready’ projects, so it was not a matter for me to sign off, or otherwise”.
When asked if he had provided “verbal sign-off”, Hipkins said “no, I think that would mischaracterise the conversation”.
Jane Patterson, Political Editor
[email protected]
Source: rnz.co.nz Republished by arrangement.