Bob Edlin: ACT wants to ban working-time karakia in the public service....

..... but MBIE shows why more prayers might be a blessing

The Taxpayers’ Union has drawn attention to the cost of daily prayers and sing-songs in just a few of the country’s many state agencies.

Fair to say, the union’s figure – around $3.5 million – is a small drop of the $180 billion or so spent by the government in 2024/25.

But looked at another way, it could fund some 87 to 159 private hip replacements (private surgery can cost anywhere from $22,000 to $40,000, depending on where you go and the complexity of the procedure).

The Taxpayers’ Union has revealed

… that at least 9 public service agencies are running hours of waiata and karakia practice each week.

Using a conservative estimate that just ten percent of staff at each agency participate, and applying the average public service hourly salary of $49.66 over 8,680 hours per year, the cost of this paid staff time is estimated at $67,016.17 per week, or $3,484,840.84 per year.

The press statement from the union includes this table –


Click to view

The statement further notes that the ACT Party has announced policy to prohibit public service agencies from initiating or resourcing cultural or spiritual practices as part of the workplace unless there is a genuine occupational reason for doing so.

The ACT policy sets out five key changes to government operations:

• Abolish some employment rules: Repeal section 73 of the Public Service Act and its equivalent in the Crown Entities Act. Section 73, which outlines the principles of “a good employer”, requires department heads to consider, among other things, “the need for greater involvement of Māori in the public service”.
• Legally enforce service delivery by need: Amend the Public Service Act to turn an existing “need, not race” directive from the Government into a statutory duty, allowing decisions that breach the principle to be challenged through judicial review.
• Separate spiritual practices from public work: Prohibit public service employers from initiating or resourcing workplace cultural or spiritual practices, such as employer-led prayers or karakia, while continuing to allow personal religious practice in employees’ own time.
• Remove non-essential cultural criteria from jobs: Direct public service agencies via letter of expectations to remove cultural or spiritual requirements from position descriptions and job advertisements unless directly relevant to the role.
• Overhaul the Public Service Act: Pursue a wider rewrite of the Public Service Act to return the state sector to political neutrality, equal treatment, and accountability for results.

Taxpayers’ Union Investigative Lead Rhys Hurley, focusing on the karakia component of the policy package, said:

“The Public Service Association might be trying to pray David Seymour away, but with costs this high, something has got to change. This is only a snapshot of a widespread problem across the public service and worth millions more of salaried hours across government as a whole.

“Whether its stories of our health service incorporating karakia into the day, the Independent Children’s Monitors forced half-hour participation for all staff, or the countless public service tip-offs we received after exposing MBIE’s three-times-a-week sing-alongs, this clearly isn’t limited to one or two agencies.”

Hurley said public servants were paid to deliver value for taxpayers.

“Anything else – whether it’s waiata, karakia, or any other cultural activities – should be done in their own time, just like everyone else has to.”

Mind you, Hurley has put a figure on the costs but not the benefits.

Could there by some?

Let’s see…

We note that earlier this year, after revealing that Health New Zealand was holding compulsory “Karakia” sessions during work hours, the Taxpayers’ Union reported:

But now, our own research has uncovered something even more absurd, this time at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

While Kiwi businesses are facing economic uncertainty, the Ministry supposedly responsible for helping businesses has been spending our money on Workplace Waiata – i.e. staff singing sessions in their Wellington offices.

And this isn’t just a one-off thing: At their swanky Wellington offices, MBIE were hosting 30 minute sessions every work day, every week!

The Taxpayers Union said MBIE’s 5,892 bureaucrats literally were being paid to sing, clap, poi, and recite Māori proverbs and hymns.

MBIE bosses asked the staff to get back to work – but were rebuffed:

According to documents we’ve unearthed, last year, MBIE bosses attempted to reduce these sessions from daily 30-minute sing-alongs across various floors, to “just” 20 minutes, twice a week.

According to email correspondence (obtained under the Official Information Act) one of the reasons for the ‘cut back’ was concerns about the Workplace Waiata causing noise distraction for others in the office.

No kidding!

But here’s where it gets even more ridiculous…

The precious MBIE staffers weren’t having a bar of it!

They revolted at management for daring to cut back the entitlement.

MBIE’s CEO was forced into crisis meetings to literally negotiate the waiata schedule!

We’ve unearthed internal emails, chats, strategy documents, and even formal negotiations.

Staff wrote an eight page submission demanding that the waiata “entitlement” continue.

Staff described the sessions as “taonga” (treasure) and insisted they were essential for “wellbeing” and “capability building.” They produced lengthy documents arguing why three sessions per week was the “bare minimum”.

Their suggestion to the senior leadership? To carry on doing everything they were already doing:

ACT should brace for the bureaucrats to do what they did then, which is claim that management’s instruction to have the sessions held during unpaid breaks was “colonial” and “culturally insensitive“.

They said even “relocating to enclosed rooms” (in order to avoid disrupting other staff in the open offices) was “viewed as symbolic marginalisation” and “hiding the kaupapa”.

So MBIE’s leadership teams were forced to hold crisis meetings.

Yep. The Ministry responsible for making sure New Zealand’s economy works, from businesses and jobs to housing, immigration, and energy, spent months arguing about singing schedules.

Management ultimately agreed through a “cultural negotiation” that the 30-minute sing-along sessions would be reduced from five to three 30-minute sessions a week.

But here’s what should be considered if we bring the benefits into calculations.

We learned a few weeks back about the findings of an inquiry into a failed $33 million immigration technology project.

Those involved cycled through a dozen project managers, brushed aside warnings it wouldn’t deliver, and gave ministers misleading advice about its progress.

The seven-year project began in November 2018 and was meant to modernise Immigration NZ’s identity management system.

It was discontinued in November last year, having delivered no measurable benefits.

But let’s suppose all the staff involved had spent all of their time at the office on prayer and singing instead of on doing whatever they did to blow $33 million.

Wouldn’t that count as a benefit to be credited to the cultural carry-on which ACT intends to abolish?

Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.