Mike Hosking: Government wastage is totally out of control

A couple of good clues as to why we have such wastage of government spending and how the psychology behind it suggests it won't change under the current government.

We have had the revelations so far this week over the millions for consultants on Three Waters, it’s $20 million and counting.

The Zoom job fair that attracted next to no one yet cost a bit under a million to run with even the Minister acknowledging it didn’t take off the way they thought it would.

And now, a report into just how many jobs were supported by the wage subsidy scheme.

This, by the way, is a report from a ministry that along with every other ministry has more people working in it, given the Government has been on a hiring spree, with the broad belief, as outlined in the op-ed piece yesterday by Chris Hipkins, that more is always better.

Barry Soper: Why Kiwi taxpayers are paying Covid wage subsidy in Cook Islands

 

What's so special about businesses in the Cook Islands?

Well, they must have something worth preserving that our businesses here don't have. Their Prime Minister, Mark Brown, told Heather du Plessis-Allan on Newstalk ZB Drive last night that kind donors from this country are paying the Covid wage subsidy through until the end of March with support packages being planned by the Government there to go through until the end of June.

The kind donors are of course New Zealand taxpayers.