The Government’s reduction in consultants and contractors is set to save $800 million, while the public service workforce has shrunk by 4 percent to 62,968 FTEs.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Rhys Hurley said:

“Fewer consultants writing pointless reports and sucking up taxpayer dollars is good progress—but let’s not pretend this is some kind of fiscal detox. Back in 2017, the public service was a smaller beast at 47,252 FTEs.”

“That means we’re still paying for nearly 16,000 more mandarins to lap it up at the taxpayer buffet. These aren’t frontline workers like doctors or teachers—these are the back-office bureaucrats pulling the strings and doing the Ministers’ bidding.”

“The Government needs to go full cold turkey and ditch the extra public servants. Trimming a little off the top won’t cut it. Nicola must show she’s serious in Budget 2025 and bring staffing at least back to 2017 levels. New Zealand deserves a healthy fiscal future—not one weighed down by an overstuffed bureaucracy.”

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