Shane Jones needs to explain how his officials managed to spend more than $1 million taxpayer dollars on food, travel and other expenses while figuring out to distribute his political slush fund, National’s Regional Development spokesperson Chris Bishop says.

Figures supplied to National by the Minister’s office show officials from the Provincial Development Unit, which oversees the Provincial Growth Fund, spent $1.03m on travel accommodation, meals, and incidentals for the 2018/19 financial year.

The unit had 116 staff as at December 2019, equating to travel expenses of almost $9000 per person in just 12 months.

“I think most New Zealanders would find this outrageous at a time when the economy is slowing and Kiwis are struggling with the rising cost of living,” Mr Bishop says.

“Shane Jones and his staff splurged more than a million dollars in one year on fancy hotels, steak dinners and Koru Lounge memberships. Surely there’s a better use for that money.

“No one is going to begrudge officials for traveling – they can’t do everything from their desks – but these eye-watering expenses deserve an explanation from Shane Jones.

“The PGF has suffered from a lack of transparency since day one. It has taken endless questioning by National to penetrate the layers of Government obfuscation and find out what’s really going on.”

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