Education Secretary should resign

The announcement by the Education Ministry that it will have an independent inquiry into the Novopay fiasco (Nov 29) is a farce and further waste of taxpayers’ money.

A $100 million project of this size and complexity should have had a comprehensive risk-analysis completed to identify how to minimise the risks of mistakes when introducing a payroll system with 10,000 combinations of conditions and allowances.

One option that wasn’t adopted would have been to introduce Novopay to a small geographical area to ‘‘iron out the bugs’’ before going nationwide. To add insult to injury in the middle of thousands of pay errors, the ministry announced (then retracted) that a significant number of payroll staff would be made redundant when these same staff were under extreme pressure to resolve Novopay mistakes.

Education Secretary Lesley Longstone now says that, were she doing this project again, she’d do it differently. Well, with her megasalary, teachers and the public expect her to do the job properly the first time. There won’t be a second time – it’s time she resigned. Her TV interviews indicate her ego obviously exceeds her ability to make major decisions correctly. ALEX GRAY

Brooklyn accident. In attempting to clear Davies, who was obviously trying to impede him, Hore caught Davies on the jaw with a swinging arm. When Davies fell, Hore accidentally caught his head with his knee. In my view, that’s what put Davies out of the game.

To label this an unprovoked assault is malicious and can compare in no way with Martin Johnson’s assault on Jonah Lomu or Danny Grewcock kicking a Welsh player earlier this season. Neither does the incident compare with the Dean Greyling assault on All Blacks captain Richie McCaw. That was clear assault.

As for Reason’s insulting comment about All Blacks coach Steve Hansen’s police service, that was uncalled for and out of line. JIM WILSON

Gisborne