Chris
HIPKINS
State Services Spokesperson

20 August 2012 MEDIA STATEMENT
Ad-hoc restructuring at its worst

Taxpayers have good reason to look askance at National’s latest state sector shuffle as figures reveal the organisations recently absorbed into National’s ‘mega ministry’ have spent $12 million on redundancy payments alone, says Labour’s State Services spokesperson Chris Hipkins.

“National’s lack of foresight has left taxpayers with an enormous bill, and no coherent plan for improving public services,” Chris Hipkins said.

“Steven Joyce’s admission today that the mergers – the first of which created the Ministry of Science and Innovation, the second, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MoBIE) - could have happened at once is hardly reassuring.

“We expect ministers to be forward thinking when it comes to spending taxpayer dollars. Over $1.6 million was spent on redundancies in agencies forming the Ministry of Science and Innovation, only for it to be restructured again.

“And the costs don’t stop there. The Ministry of Economic Development spent $4.5 million on redundancies over the past three years as it prepared to morph into MoBIE while its spending on consultants and contractors soared from $6.7 million to $19.2 million between 2008 and 2011.

“This process is as inefficient as they come. National’s public sector restructuring has been ad-hoc and motivated by empire building.

“The fact that the creation of MoBIE will mean a second or even third round of restructuring for some of the employees involved underscores National’s shambolic approach.

“Rather than shuffling people around and wasting money on slick PR campaigns, the Government should be focused on how it can deliver better public services to New Zealanders,” Chris Hipkins said.

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