(From left): Parliament buildings Bowen House, the Beehive and Parliament House in Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell
(From left): Parliament buildings Bowen House, the Beehive and Parliament House in Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Government departments are spending tens of thousands of dollars on high-end couches, phone booths, meeting pods and video conferencing booths in offices across the country.
New figures compiled from hundreds of pages of documents from dozens of government departments’ annual review documents show last year, the Government spent $108 million on office renovations, refurbishments and redecorations.
That includes hundreds of pieces of office furniture, such as $16,700 for a seating booth at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment; $14,200 for a wardrobe unit and $22,700 for a bookcase, both at the Ministry of Justice.
The Public Service Commission spent $35,700 on a “four-person meeting pod”.
The spending has caught the irk of National’s Simeon Brown, who said it was a significant amount of money for the Government to be spending during a cost of living crisis.
“Ultimately, decisions around operational spending are matters for the chief executives of government departments.”
Public Service Minister Andrew Little. Photo / Marty Melville
But he pointed out the total spend has actually been trending down since 2018.
Last year’s $108m was up from $86m in the 2020/21 financial year, and $106m the year prior.
The total was also well down on the $161m spent in 2018/19.
The biggest-spending government department last year was Statistics New Zealand, which billed taxpayers $26m for renovations, refurbishments and redecorations.
But much of that spending was due to the department moving into a new building over that period.
Some $34,000 at Stats NZ was spent on a “six-person meeting pod” - a further $12,000 was forked out for an “acoustic phone booth”.
A spokesperson for Stats NZ said the acoustic phone booth is a soundproof booth that provides complete privacy for “sensitive conversations”.
“Much of the Stats NZ day-to-day work is market sensitive and we work in an open plan environment.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Women spent $18,825 on a sound booth – that is, a four-person private sound booth that has a table and a bench for private meetings.
“Staff at the ministry work in an open plan office and therefore require private meeting room space,” a spokesperson said.
“An alternative to installing the sound booth would have been to lease more office space.”
The Public Service Commission itself is singing a similar tune when asked about its $35,700 four-person meeting pod.
“The raw numbers don’t tell the full story,” a spokesman said.
“Including the use of single phone booths and four-person meeting pods in our overall workplace model means we have fewer fixed rooms and can accommodate more people on the floor.
“The Commission otherwise would need to lease another floor, which, based on our current rent, would cost an estimated $440,000 per year.”
According to the figures, the Ministry of Justice has spent more than $150m since the 2017/18 financial year on office renovations, refurbishments and redecorations.
Deputy secretary of corporate and digital services Tina Wakefield said the ministry occupies about 100 buildings around the country, including courthouses, call centres, its national office and offices for functions like coronial services.
“The buildings house around 4500 people, including both ministry staff and the judiciary.
“The ministry’s property portfolio requires ongoing renovation, refurbishment and redecoration as part of a substantial regular work programme.”
She noted that the $14,200 wardrobe was purchased from an “authorised furniture and equipment catalogue” for Auckland District Court in early 2022.
According to the figures, close to $580m has been spent on office renovations, refurbishments and redecorations since 2017/18.
