Beehive staffing levels up 13%

There’s been a huge increase in the number of staff employed in Ministerial (and Under-Secretary) offices.

In 2008, there were a total of 286 staff in the last year of the Clark administration.

In 2017, there were 275 staff in the last year of the Key/English Government.

In 2018, the number of staff has grown to 312, a 13% increase.

I’ve divided staff up into five categories. They are:

1. Managers (Chiefs of Staff, Senior Private Secretaries)
2. Comms (Press Secretaries, media, comms staff)
3. Political (Advisors)
4. Portfolio (Portfolio Private Secretaries)
5. Admin (Private Secretaries, Exec Assistants)

So how has any category changed since 2017:

1. Political staff up 13 from 38 to 51, a 34% increase
2. Managers up 6 from 28 to 34, a 21% increase
3. Portfolio staff up 22 from 122 to 144, an 18% increase
4. Comms staff up 2 from 40 to 42, a 5% increase
5. Admin staff down 6 from 47 to 41, a 13% decrease

So the biggest percentage increase has been political staffers, all paid for by the taxpayer. I’m of course not against political advisors in ministerial offices. But I am against a 34% increase in them.

The biggest offices are:

1. Prime Minister, 34 staff
2. Twyford and Hipkins, 15 staff each
3. Parker, 14 staff
4. Clark, 13 staff
5. Peters, Sepuloni, Nash, Martin and Shaw, 12 staff each