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The money spent by the public service on hiring consultants has risen by 37.4 per cent in just three years, according to a Herald on Sunday survey.
It has brought fresh accusations of government bloat and of taxpayer money being wasted, with Act MP Rodney Hide urging the public to support his "taxpayers' Bill of Rights" legislation which aims to increase accountability.
The Herald on Sunday selected 25 government departments at random and studied the amount of money the public service spent hiring private help. Of the departments surveyed, the amount spent increased from about $131 million to $180m between the 2003-2004 financial years and the 2005-2006 financial years.
The increase appears to clash with Labour's campaign against the use of consultants when it came to power in 1999, and has brought a warning from Prime Minister Helen Clark that her office will inquire into any "questionable expenditure".
Those questions have already been raised by opposition politicians, with Hide focusing on the hiring by Te Puni Kokiri of former Cabinet minister John Tamihere for $30,000 just days after he was voted out.
The deal meant he was receiving two pay cheques from the taxpayer at once - his three months' leaving pay as a departing MP and his pay as a business development adviser to TPK chief executive Leith Comer.
Hide said: "We shouldn't be surprised about Mr Tamihere and the Labour government. He has a history of taking the golden koha."
The comment was a crack at the $195,000 Tamihere accepted from the Waipareira Trust - a payment he had earlier claimed to have refused in keeping with the Government's 1999 election campaign against golden handshakes.
Tamihere did not return calls about the consultancy, which began on October 1, 2005, according to documents released under the Official Information Act.
In a statement from TPK, a spokesman said the contract was authorised by Comer and ran until May 31, 2006. "John Tamihere provided advice to the Chief Executive of Te Puni Kokiri on Maori Economic Development including advice on assisting the growth of small to medium-sized Maori enterprises. The contract was under the $50,000 threshold requirement for tendering."
TPK also expressed disappointment that CDs of waiata it had spent $3260 to give to staff were now being sold on TradeMe.
Among other payments to the private sector, the Herald on Sunday found Tourism New Zealand had paid $28,000 to Amazing Race TV star Phil Keoghan for speaking engagements, talking about New Zealand on the Oprah Winfrey show and for bringing his television shows here. Keoghan said he would have brought his shows here and gone on Oprah for nothing.
Hide said the 37.4 per cent increase identified by the Herald on Sunday should be a sign of "massive reform" in government departments.
"That's what you would be expecting but we have had all this expenditure and all these consultants and nothing has changed.
"The MO of Helen Clark and her ministers is that if a government department underperforms - throw money at it."
In a written statement, the Prime Minister sent a reminder to the public sector that it was to use consultants and contractors for short-term projects only. "The Government expectation is that departments will build capacity, so are not routinely hiring contractors for their core functions.
"If there is questionable expenditure by departments, the PM's Office will be making further inquiries."
