Hon John Luxton
National Economic & Regional Development Spokesperson
23 July 2001
Government under fire over consultants
The Government's excessive use of consultants is proving, once again, that it says one thing yet does exactly the
opposite, National's Economic and Regional Development spokesperson, John Luxton said today.
"The Commerce Select Committee's report on the activities of the Ministry of Economic Development and Industry, released
today, criticises the Deputy Prime Minister for the excessive use of consultants by his Ministry and its agencies.
"This is despite Jim Anderton's instruction last year to all government departments to cut back, and ultimately
eliminate, the use of consultants.
"In the last year, the Economic Development Ministry and its agencies have employed over 310 consultants on contracts of
more than $5000 each.
"The majority of Industry New Zealand regional development funding has, this year, been spent on Wellington-based
consultants, and Jim Anderton has himself admitted to the Select Committee that more than half of Industry New Zealand's
staff came from outside consultancies.
"But the Deputy Prime Minister continues to dodge the issue.
"Despite repeated requests for a copy of the plan to eliminate the use of consultants in his own Ministry, Mr Anderton
has failed to deliver - even though at the beginning of last year, he instructed all government departments to prepare
such a plan," Mr Luxton said.
Ends