The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal through an Official Information Act request that the Department of Internal Affairs have spent $375,048 on workshops provided by Te Kurahuna Limited.
These courses aim to help bureaucrats become “change agents” by “connecting through indigenous wisdom.” 92 staff attended this programme.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Spokesman James Ross said:

“Not long after news broke of DIA wasting more than sixty grand on courage lessons for staff, we learn they’ve chucked hundreds of thousands at yet another workshop provider no-one’s ever heard of. This time to become change agents.”

“Naturally, public servants leapt at the chance for more time away from doing their actual jobs, with 92 DIA staff spending at least 128 staff hours each on the course. At an average Public Service salary of $48.89 an hour, that's more than $575,000 in staff hours the taxpayer will never see again."

"That’s before even mentioning the $375,000 course costs - taking total costs to the taxpayer to about $950k. What's worse is DIA are far from the only culprits, with this workshop-over-work culture being rife across the public sector."

“If these bureaucrats want to be real change agents, then getting their heads down and doing some work might be a good start. Half these providers echo the same content anyway - how much value can they really be adding?”

"The public sector needs to reassess its priorities and end the workshop grift.”

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