“The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has spent almost three times as much on an unnecessary rebrand as it did on a support package for under pressure fruit growers,” says ACT’s Primary Industries spokesperson Mark Cameron.

“The ACT Party can reveal through Written Parliamentary Questions that MPI splashed out a million bucks to rebrand its existing business units. Meanwhile, fruit growers who are facing dire skills shortages and have been affected by weather events received just $350,000.

“Jacinda Ardern has her priorities all wrong. How can stationery, templates, logos and vehicle signage for departments that already exist within MPI be more of a priority than fruit growers who are struggling because she won’t let a labour force in to help them?

“The rebranding was for New Zealand Food Safety, Fisheries New Zealand, Biosecurity New Zealand, and Te Uru Rākau - established within existing branches of MPI in April 2018.

“It cost a total of $959,688. Fruit growers who have watched their crops rotting on the ground will be shaking their heads in disbelief.

“When a branded pen is more important to the Government than an entire industry, you’ve really got to question what they’re thinking.”

Written Parliamentary Question:

Portfolio: Food Safety (Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall)
Question: How much money, if any, have agencies for which the Minister is responsible spent on rebranding over the last three financial years?
Reply: New Zealand Food Safety, Fisheries New Zealand, Biosecurity New Zealand, and Te Uru Rākau were established within existing branches of MPI on 30 April 2018. Visible branding at key sites was delivered on this date, with further updating of branding undertaken during 2018/19. The re-branding component of establishing the business units incurred one-off costs of $401,921 during 2017/18 and $557,761 in 2018/19. Web site content and design was reconfigured, and domain names secured to provide each business unit with a distinct presence within the one, existing, website (mpi.govt.nz). New stationery and templates for correspondence were created. Signs at offices, airports and ports were updated with new logos, along with computer applications. Some vehicles were rebranded (but for the most part, vehicles will be updated over time as they are replaced within the fleet). Fishery compliance vessels and education trailers were rebranded.

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