After five years in office, Labour’s spending on expensive consultants is higher than ever despite promises to rein it in, National’s Public Service spokesperson Simeon Brown says.

“In 2018, Public Service Minister Chris Hipkins removed the cap on public servants, claiming that boosting in-house capability would reduce the need for contractors and consultants.

“Instead, not only has the number of bureaucrats blown out by 14,000, but spending on consultants has exploded to $1.2 billion in 2021/22 – a 30 per cent increase on the 2020/21 spend.

“This boils down to the fact that Labour is totally addicted to spending, has no regard for taxpayers’ money and consistently fails to deliver on its promises. 

“Even though the Government is taking more of taxpayers’ money to fund its spending addiction, Kiwis are actually getting worse outcomes from their public services.

“In health, hospitals are in crisis with dire staffing shortages and waiting times that have completely blown out. Nationwide data to June 2022 showed only 76 per cent of patients are being seen in emergency departments within six hours, compared to 91 per cent when National handed over in 2017.

“In education, just 46 per cent of kids are attending school regularly, and 100,000 are chronically absent from school. On top of that, just 2 per cent of students in decile one schools can pass a foundation writing test.

“In housing, the state housing wait list has exploded by 20,000 applicants, while the number of children living in cars is four times as many since Labour came to office.

“Labour shows no restraint in spending, yet outcomes for Kiwis are going backwards.”