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The Human Rights Commission has defended its spending record today, after questions about management trips to Europe and the United States which came despite significant staff cuts.
Chief human rights commissioner Ros Noonan said it had made drastic cuts to its expenditure in 2006, including the loss of 10 positions.
"In terms of staffing, we believe we're at the absolutely minimum within which we could function effectively," Ms Noonan said.
Staff cuts had been unavoidable, as the commission was under increasing financial strain due to a lack of funding.
National MP Chris Finlayson queried a number of overseas trips by the commission's director of human rights proceedings, Robert Hesketh, in the same period that jobs were being sacrificed.
Mr Hesketh had recently travelled to the US, Prague and Barcelona to attend meetings of the International Bar Association.
Ms Noonan said the reason Mr Hesketh went to so many meetings was because he was on the IBA's organisational committee, and at most of them he had been asked to present papers on human rights issues in New Zealand.
She said she had backed Mr Hesketh's trips because they were his only real opportunities for professional development, and brought new perspectives to the commission's work.
Mr Finlayson, a lawyer, said in his experience as a member of the American Bar Association, such conferences were very generalised and "really just an excuse for a jaunt".
But equal employment commissioner Judy McGregor said established criteria were met before staff travel was approved.
She added the Human Rights Commission was "perhaps the most parsimonious, back-of-the-bus" organisation she had been with, in 45 years in the workforce.
Attempts to minimise travel expenses had often come at the cost of staff well-being, Ms McGregor said.
- NZPA
