Max Salmon: NZ Initiative Researcher on the study comparing the size of New Zealand's government to similar countries

The Mike Hosking Breakfast

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1M ago 2:44

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The New Zealand Government seems to be a bit bloated.

A study from New Zealand Initiative shows New Zealand has 44% more ministers, and one and a half times as many departments as similar sized Parliaments.

Researcher Max Salmon told Mike Hosking that it’s all politics, as having extra portfolios can be useful for coalition negotiations and securing allies.

He suspects that the number of departments and ministers is contributing to the productivity issues this country faces.

While Salmon doesn’t know if there’s a magic number of ministers, similar countries only have about 20 cabinet ministers total.

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