Unpaid scheme in Labour’s name

A group of 85 Labour Party interns flew to New Zealand from around the world expecting lectures from Helen Clark and real-world campaign experience.

They arrived to a cramped dormitory, no pay, no lectures, and a broken shower.

Labour head office has had to take over the Auckland-run scheme and in some cases help pay for the students to return home.

The scheme was run by former Labour Auckland head Matt McCarten, who left his job in mid-May.

He took the scheme with him, renaming it ‘‘Campaign for Change’’. While not run out of the Labour Party Auckland office, it was still supported by it.

The students arrived several weeks ago and problems were apparent immediately - with some of them returning home on the first day.

The problems mostly concerned their accommodation at Awataha Marae in Northcote.

‘‘I got taken to the marae, and that was probably the most shocking part there. I was under the impression there were going to be like 30 people there. I got there and there are probably more like 80,’’ 21-year-old Emily Dunne said.

‘‘We were staying in this huge warehouse with little cubicles made of posterboard. Some people had real mattresses but I had just a little foam insert.’’

Labour leader Andrew Little admitted it was ‘‘embarrassing’’ for the party.

McCarten said the scheme was oversubscribed and the scale became ‘‘greater than I can manage’’.

General Secretary of the Labour Party Andrew Kirton heard about the problems with the scheme late last week and flew up on Monday to sort things out.

‘‘A few days ago I was alerted to some issues with Matt McCarten’s programme. They were basically related to capacity and Matt’s capacity to run the programme.’’

The students will now be billeted around the country to help with campaigns or helped with the costs of changing their flights home.

Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse said there was possibly a breach of visa conditions.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment had received no complaints and was not investigating the situation.