“A Government programme to carry out pest control of wallabies is costing taxpayers $685,000 per person hired,” says ACT’s Conservation spokesperson Nicole McKee.

“Budget documents released this week say the “cost is approximately $685,000 per job and considered low value economic stimulus. Associated natural capital benefits should be investigated further prior to reprioritisation decisions.”

“This Government loves to throw money at things without any care for whether they actually work.

“As a shooter myself, I can tell you that it shouldn’t be costing the Government more than half a million per job – that’s just ridiculous.

“And that’s not all, a Report of the Primary Production Committee show the Jobs for Nature programme is costing $200,000 per full time job.

“ACT values the work that hunters and trappers are doing for conservation in New Zealand but the way these programmes are set up are expensive failures.

“At a time when debt has ballooned Labour is happy to throw around taxpayers’ money without a care for the value it gets, or the impact on future generations.

“It’s time to give up on these expensive programme and start spending taxpayers’ money more responsibly.”

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