Labour intern docs were just a ‘wishlist’

Leaked documents say unions were going to pay for Labour’s botched intern scheme - but they disagree.

A group of 85 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 and no lectures.

The scheme has been described as ‘‘slave labour’’ and has forced Labour leader Andrew Little into apologising.

A project summary, obtained by Newshub, confirmed that 87 interns were expected.

The documents said the project would be managed in partnership with the Labour Party, the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) and the Auckland University Students’ Association.

But Labour’s general secretary, the CTU, and the two main unions listed said the documents were new to them, and looked more like a wishlist.

‘‘It appears to be wishful thinking and getting some thoughts down on paper,’’ Labour general secretary Andrew Kirton told Radio New Zealand.

Kirton flew Auckland on Monday to sort out the scheme, which was formally separated from Labour in mid-May when

"I've never seen these documents before." Unite Union's Gerard Herir

organiser Matt McCarten left his taking the programme with him.

The students will now be billeted around the country or helped with the costs of flying home.

CTU general secretary Sam Huggard said the union was pitched to about the scheme by McCarten but it had never agreed to help. ‘‘I think this was a wishlist.’’ The document appeared to have been produced in late-May - after McCarten had left Labour but before interns started arriving on June 1.

The documents listed the CTU as one of the main organisers, along with Labour.

Kirton said he had known about the scheme for months but was not aware of its scale or problems until last weekend.

Despite the interns arriving the ‘‘next week’’, the funding of the scheme was not nailed down when the document was produced.

First and Unite unions were listed as contributing about $100,000, with the caveat that this was ‘‘under discussion’’. Both unions say they had not gotten anywhere job, near contributing money.

‘‘We had some discussions on the scheme, but absolutely no commitments of any funding,’’ Gerard Hehir, general secretary of Unite Union, said.

‘‘I’ve never seen these documents before. Describing the funding as ‘under discussion’ is an understatement.’’

Prime Minister Bill English said yesterday that Labour may have broken the law.

‘‘They’ve got to explain it all. It’s a Labour Party project designed to use unpaid migrant workers to get them reelected and they have to explain to the authorities what they’ve done and how.’’

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said on Thursday it had received no complaints and was not investigating.

English said National recruited volunteers in ‘‘their hundreds’’ but not from overseas.

‘‘I can understand why New Zealanders don’t want to campaign for the Labour Party, so they’ve had to go overseas to get people.’’

McCarten said the programme was supported by the Labour Party, but he led and managed it.

‘‘The scale of the programme is now greater than I can manage, and I am aware of issues that this has caused.’’

Unhappy interns, Opinion C4