KEY POINTS:
The number of government communications staff has ballooned by 114 per cent in the past six years - sparking huge salary increases.
Figures released by National MP Gerry Brownlee show there were 510 staff and contributors on July 1.
They were earning $39.2 million - which was an average of almost $77,000 and a salary rise of almost 29 per cent on the previous year.
The figures cover government ministries and other agencies, including the Inland Revenue Department, the police and Transit New Zealand.
The biggest staffing increase was at the Ministry of Education, where the communications team more than trebled in size from 10 to 35 in the six years to July 1.
The increase has prompted a total salary hike of more than 430 per cent in the final 12 months for the period to July 1.
The next biggest salary increase was at IRD, where a 175 per cent increase in staff during the same six-year span was reflected in a doubling of salaries in the final 12 months.
Brownlee, the Opposition's spokesman for state-owned enterprises, said the National Party wanted a "cap" on employment in the core bureaucracy but stopped short of guaranteeing future redundancies.
"I don't think that ministers are going to be happy with chief executives who collectively say we need 500 or more different spokespeople. We will be asking chief executives if all of that is necessary. We won't be saying you've got to get rid of these people."
State Services Minister David Parker said National's "constant attacks on 'bureaucracy' and 'spin doctors' were an attempt to soften the public up for cuts to the public service".
He said that when Labour came to power in 1999, the public sector was run down and had to be rebuilt.
The job was "largely complete" and the Government did not foresee the need for further big job increases.
Parker said the numbers were skewed by a new coding system that meant some jobs were listed as communications roles, even though that may only be part of the work.
He said of the 61.4 people listed as working in communications at the Ministry of Social Development, only five dealt with the media. The rest worked on websites and publications.
The Ministry of Education's deputy secretary for people and business capability, Kristine Kilkelly, said 16 fulltime staff were employed in the corporate communications unit to advise on publications, web content, events, speech writing, stakeholder communication, media relations and other related issues.
She said the figure released by Brownlee for the number of employees at July 1, was a "head count" only and did not decipher between full and part-time staff.
"Some of the people in these roles were working on short-term projects and contracts, were working part-time, or were not engaged for the year."
An IRD spokeswoman said its rise in staff was linked to workers from other departments being transferred to the KiwiSaver project.
