Bureaucrats schmooze fat cats on your dollar
Bureaucrats schmooze fat cats on your dollar
4 FEBRUARY 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has today released the full breakdown (available here) of Callaghan Innovation’s entertainment expenses for 2015/16.
Earlier this month, we revealed Callaghan spent $304,000 on ‘entertainment’ in 2015/16. We can now confirm this was mostly purchases at cafes, bars and restaurants, and we have obtained receipts and explanations for the biggest purchases, showing booze forms up to 40% of a typical Callaghan dinner bill.
Examples (GST excluded) include:
$5212 on 188 visits
to the Beer & Burger Joint, downstairs from
Callaghan’s Auckland office
$4298 on lunches
and dinners at Marvel Bar and Grill
$3290 at Mojo
coffeehouses
$2063 on a team dinner at a drag
queen cabaret bar (K Road’s Caluzzi)
$1719 on
lunches and dinners at The George Hotel
$1225 on dinners
for staff and clients at Da Vinci’s Italian
restaurant
$1,134 on one dinner with clients at
Dunedin’s No. 7 Balmac
$869 at a dinner the Kiwifruit
Innovation Symposium & Hayward Medal Dinner hosted by
Zespri
$861 at Empire Tavern on a staff induction
dinner
$817 on dinner for ‘customers’ at Grand
Century Chinese
$769 on a lunch and team building
function at The Conservatory
$508 (GST included) on a
dinner for seven at Dockside, including $201 of wine
(40% of the bill), plus a $50 tip.
"Much of this spending is justified as entertaining 'clients' – but that’s absurd considering this agency’s ‘clients’ are actually businesses receiving Callaghan’s taxpayer-funded handouts. These ‘clients’ are already getting taxpayer pork; boozy dinners and latte lunches are just the gravy on top."
"One dinner at Wellington’s Dockside came with a $50 tip. Tipping is rare in New Zealand, it’s something you do to flaunt your wealth. So why are bureaucrats tipping with public money?"
"Callaghan staff are trying to ingratiate themselves with the corporate culture of the businesses they give money to. That would be fine if they were using their own wages, but instead they’re using taxpayer-funded credit cards."
Callaghan's travel costs also
ballooning
The Taxpayers' Union has also learned that
over $1 million was spent on domestic airfares, and over
$400,000 on international airfares in
2015/16.
Taxpayers' Union Executive Director
Jordan Williams says, "Divided by 384 staff (as per their
2016 Annual Report), that’s $2,641 in domestic airfares
and $1,079 international per staffer – $3,720 per staffer
all up. This figure seems extraordinarily high. It's enough
money to fly every staffer to London and back, twice, in one
year."
"Where on earth is Callaghan flying? They already
have teams based in Auckland, Wellington, and
Christchurch."
"The international travel spend is just as
bad. Callaghan only operates in New Zealand, but still spent
$414,000 on overseas airfares in just a year."
"We
suspect part of this travel expenditure is for
‘customers’, i.e. businesses applying for grants. This
is absurd – these businesses are receiving taxpayer money,
now we discover we also pay for their flights,
accommodation, wining and
dining."
ENDS