The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has uncovered another case of government waste, revealing that the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) spent close to $950,000 on workshops designed to turn public servants into “change agents” by “connecting through indigenous wisdom.”
An Official Information Act (OIA) request revealed that DIA spent $375,048 on workshops run by Te Kurahuna Limited, attended by 92 staff members. But the costs don’t stop there—when factoring in the 128 staff hours per participant at an average Public Service salary of $48.89 an hour, the taxpayer has effectively lost over $575,000 in staff time, bringing the total cost of these workshops to around $950,000.
James Ross, spokesperson for the Taxpayers’ Union, slammed the spending as part of a growing public sector trend of prioritising workshops over actual work.
“Not long after news broke of DIA wasting more than sixty grand on ‘courage lessons’ for staff, we learn they’ve chucked hundreds of thousands at yet another workshop provider no one’s ever heard of. This time, to become ‘change agents,’” Ross said.
“Public servants jumped at the chance for more time away from their actual jobs, with 92 DIA staff spending at least 128 hours each on this course. The taxpayer will never see that money again.”
Ross also questioned whether these workshops actually provide any real value: “Half these providers echo the same content anyway—how much value can they really be adding?”
The revelations come amid growing frustration over government waste, particularly within the public sector. DIA is just the latest agency exposed for spending taxpayer dollars on vague, ideology-driven training instead of delivering public services efficiently.
“If these bureaucrats want to be real change agents, then getting their heads down and doing some work might be a good start,” Ross said.
REVEALED: DIA caught wasting $950k workshopping instead of working
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal through an Official Information Act request that the Department of Internal Affairs have spent $375,048 on workshops provided by Te Kurahuna Limited.
These courses aim…— New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union (@TaxpayersUnion) February 3, 2025
There is an urgent need for change in government in New Zealand. Its wasteful, incompetent, lazy and in some cases I’d argue, downright corrupt. Much of the legislation we are seeing appears to be pandering to foreign interests, at the expense of our own people and our sovereignty. That’s in no shape or form the role of public servants, including politicians who, I suspect, like to think they are somehow not included in this category.
I’m not sure how this can be stopped short of people rising up and demanding change, in one emphatic voice. Voting feels increasingly like an affirmation for more the same.
Well said 👍
“Change Agent” is a term used by the Bolsheviks who were trained to brainwash the masses into Talmudic Communism.
Here’s a prime example of ‘Change Agents’..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnpATXvwWrI
Those ‘Change Agents’ are also gathering information on you to pass on to the government(s).
Here, we see that ‘Privacy’ died 100 years ago…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozpct8zUA_U
Yes, New Zealand is now full of these corporate state “change agents” doing their bit to convert the weak minded into believing its Aotearoa and co-governance with veto now, and that voting left will bring this utopia to fruition quicker than voting right. It’s like its some sort of Zionist corporate agenda going on!
And yet, we have children on one meal a day, homeless families sleeping in cars or garages, and the over 65’s watching hyper inflation erode their GRI while the shopping trolleys get lighter and lighter!
new zealand has followed the USA Democrat ideology closely because they’re all the same puppet – the global trade unions here in NZ have been a huge part of it. New Unionism – the private chat that ensures that NZ follow the same antifa style program to make NZ china!
The same wasteful, incompetent, lazy and downright corrupt culture is playing out in our local governments.