Te Pūkenga needs to find savings of nearly $500 million and the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union argues cutting out duplication of highly paid management roles is a great place to start. They are currently recruiting for regional co-leaders who will earn between $200,000 and $350,000 each while vital teaching and support staff worry about their future.

“Te Pūkenga has a serious spending problem in no small part caused by an ideological drive to create layer after layer of bureaucracy. It is no surprise to see that redundancies are on the table in order to find desperately needed savings of nearly half a billion dollars,” New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager Callum Purves says.

“Those who argue for centralisation of services in government inevitably claim improved efficiencies as a reason for this approach. Te Pūkenga is a stark example of how often centralisation is a recipe for doubling up and creating extra layers of middle management. Expensive extra layers due to more salaries and human resource cost.

“It is time for Minister Chris Hipkins to leave the sidelines and demand that the mega entity get its spending under control. Minister Hipkins has been missing in action as the embattled polytech giant has gone from trouble to trouble. Perhaps if the Prime Minister didn’t have him as her Mr Fix-It he would have the time to dedicate to Te Pūkenga.”

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