By AUDREY YOUNG political reporter
Jim Anderton's new Economic Development Ministry has spent almost $2 million on consultants in just four months.
National is calling it "a binge" by the Alliance leader, who promised earlier this year to cut down on the use of consultants and eventually to eliminate it.
Figures on the
expenditure for 116 consultancies were provided to National by the ministry itself including:
* $90,949 to a company called Capiche for work on the ministry's new logo.
* $127,000 to a business development specialist company, Burleigh Evatt, to provide immediate support to Mr Anderton and to assist the ministry in establishing a group to provide him with on-going advice.
* $125 an hour for a Paris-based consultant, Pamela Wilkinson, to represent the ministry at a meeting of the International Energy Agency in Paris - although this is the domain of the Minister of Energy, Pete Hodgson, not Mr Anderton.
Mr Anderton said he had been faced with a dilemma - "either wait until the public service was rejuvenated and do nothing on economic development, or hire in help from the public sector."
He claimed that spending on consultants was less under this Government than for a comparable period under National.
The ministry had faced start-up expenses and the cost of two industry reviews - electricity and telecommunications, he said.
National's industry and regional development spokesman, John Luxton, said the Deputy Prime Minister's use of consultants was "a clear case of Mr Anderton saying one thing in Opposition and doing the opposite in power."
Finance Minister Michael Cullen, speaking on behalf of Mr Anderton, who was away, told Parliament that eliminating the use of consultants was not Government policy.
Mr Anderton later issued a statement and papers explaining that the $90,000 logo costs included fees for internet redevelopment, signage, and setting up templates for new stationery.
The design aspect of the logo work actually cost $19,910, which compared favourably to design work commissioned under National: $85,000 for Inland Revenue, $90,000 for Work and Income NZ and $110,000 for Te Papa.
