Exemption for Mfat on budget cuts 'isn't acceptable' – Taxpayers' Union

Christopher Luxon (left, with Winston Peters and Judith Collins) says he's 'very comfortable' with savings the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has delivered. (Image: BusinessDesk)

Dileepa Fonseka

Tue, 28 May 2024

The Taxpayers’ Union says the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade should not be exempt from a government-wide cost-cutting drive until it fixes issues around how costs were managed on a $33 million cloud-computing project initially budgeted at $13.84m.But prime minister Christopher Luxon has said he is "very comfortable" with the level of savings the ministry (Mfat) has been able to deliver, even though these have not met public service cost-saving targets of 6.5% of baseline expenditure.'Slush fund'BusinessDesk report...

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