REVEALED: $218,000 Reo App Free-for-All Across Government

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal through Official Information request that seven government departments and councils have spent $218,012 developing their own separate Māori language and cultural training apps despite the existence of a national Māori Language Commission and multiple taxpayer-funded training programmes already in place.

Taxpayers’ Union Investigations Coordinator, Rhys Hurley, said:

“We’ve got a Māori Language Commission, we’ve got staff training programmes, we’ve got online learning tools - so why is every agency now building its own apps?”

“This is a perfect example of bureaucratic duplication. Every department wants its own badge, its own brand, its own slice of the cultural competency pie, all funded by the public purse.”

“Some of these apps cost more than $35,000 and reached fewer than 2,000 people. Waikato Regional Council knew other apps already existed before building its own. That’s not helping Māori, it’s just self-indulgence.”

"With this many apps found via tips alone, imagine how many more exist. A centralised, shared platform for the public service instead of this wasteful agency-by-agency approach is needed."

"We don’t need seven apps, we just need one that works."