$30k travel bill for new boss

Andrew Hampton says his arrival has coincided with a series of annual meetings on the GCSB calendar. Picture / Mark Mitchell

GCSB chief tables expenses two months into job alongside those of other public execs.

The GCSB director has racked up a travel bill of more than $30,000 after little more than two months in the job.

Andrew Hampton, along with other public service chief executives, has released his travel and hospitality expenses for the year ending June 30.

They have also outlined what gifts they received - including craft beer, apples, kiwifruit and mince pies, merino socks and tickets to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

And although one chief executive spent $5185 on taxis, Chai Chuah, the director-general of health, takes the Airbus from Auckland Airport.

The State Services Commission introduced a disclosure regime for chief executive expenses, gifts and hospitality in 2010.

Between his start date on April 26 and June 30, Hampton spent $29,000 on international travel and nearly $1000 on domestic trips.

"Every year there are a series of meetings between foreign intelligence agencies. My arrival at the GCSB coincided with these meetings, which I attended in Europe and the United States. These are annual meetings that previous directors have also attended," Hampton said.

"I also made a separate trip to Australia to meet with counterparts there. This amount of travel in such a short period is unusual.

"I anticipate that my annual travel expenditure will be in keeping with the spending of previous directors."

Leaders of public service departments spent an average of $34,206 on domestic and international travel and providing hospitality over the past year. Most of the spending was on travel.

Spending ranged from $6945 for Iona Holsted at the Education Review Office to $87,654 spent by Martin Matthews, former chief executive of the Ministry of Transport.

That bill included trips to the United States, Japan, UK, France, Australia and Germany, and $5185 on taxis abroad and in New Zealand.

Some executives at other Crown entities spent more than those heading departments. Scott Pickering at ACC spent nearly $90,000 on travel and close to $6000 on hospitality.

In terms of gifts received, David Smol at MBie was well fed - receiving eight apples (Pipfruit NZ), a box of kiwifruit (Zespri), Christmas mince pies (PwC) and Tuatara beer (Kea). The Te Hono Movement also gave him a pair of Icebreaker merino socks.

Martyn Dunne at the Ministry for Primary Industries (Air NZ) and Kevin Bowler at Tourism NZ (NZ Film Festival) scored tickets to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo performance in Wellington.

Expenses July 2015 to June 2016

• Martin Matthews - Ministry of Transport - $87,654
•Colin MacDonald - Department of Internal Affairs- $70,062
• Carolyn Tremain - New Zealand Customs Service - $64,272
•Brook Barrington - Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade - $58,830
• Julie Read - Serious Fraud Office - $55,630
• Lou Sanson - Department of Conservation - $54,591
• Gabriel Makhlouf - The Treasury - $51,643
• Helene Quilter - Ministry of Defence - $48,514
• Una Jagose (July 15-Feb 16) Lisa Fong (Feb 16-April 16) Andrew Hampton (April 16-June 16) - GCSB - $42,323
• Andrew Bridgman - Ministry of Justice - $37,606
• Martyn Dunne - Ministry for Primary Industries - $35,886
• Chai Chuah - Ministry of Health - $33,663
• Brendan Boyle - Ministry of Social Development - $30,105
• Andrew Kibblewhite - Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet - $28,221
• Peter Mersi - Land Information New Zealand - $26,295
• Liz MacPherson - Statistics New Zealand - $25,372
• Naomi Ferguson - Inland Revenue - $22,173
• Pauline Winter - Ministry for Pacific Peoples - $21,646
• David Smol - Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment - $21,421
• Jo Cribb - Ministry for Women - $20,878
• Vicky Robertson - Ministry for the Environment - $19,199
• Peter Hughes - Ministry of Education - $16,861
• David Collins - Crown Law Office - $15,501
• Paul James - Ministry for Culture and Heritage - $13,946
• Ray Smith - Department of Corrections - $13,667
• Iona Holsted - Education Review Office - $6,945
• Iain Rennie - State Services Commission - $659
• Michelle Hippolite - Te Puni Kokiri - N/A
• Total - $923,563