$221,000 to organise a two hour ceremony!

Readers may recall that the Government spent $336,000 on the opening ceremony for Transmission Gully – an outrageous amount of money. A reader sent in an OIA asking for details of the spending, and the breakdown is below.

The He Waka Eke Noa Charitable Trust got paid $221,000 for planning and organising for a two hour opening ceremoney.

Even if you were charging $100 an hour for staff involved that is 2,200 staff hours to organise a two hour event.

And what is this charitable trust? Is it the one that appears to be based in Auckland and trades as “Ugly Shakespeare Company, Kete Aronui”?

Who are the trustees of it?