REVEALED: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Caught With Its Tabs Down

The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union can reveal, through an Official Information Act response that over eleven months the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) recorded 24 instances of staff attempting to access adult entertainment websites on government devices.

The response confirms the incidents occurred across multiple months in 2024, with a particularly high concentration in May (5), June (4), and July (7) — suggesting a consistent pattern of misuse rather than one-off mistakes.

Taxpayers’ Union Investigations Coordinator, Rhys Hurley said:

“Taxpayers expect their public servants to be focused on the job, not trying to access porn at work. If the Department supporting the Prime Minister can’t even keep its staff off x-rated sites, what hope is there for the rest of the bureaucracy?”

“This isn’t a case of a single slip-up. The pattern here is showing that for months on end, some staff in our most high-profile government agencies are trying to access inappropriate content while on the clock.”

“The Department says it’s reminded staff about IT rules—but won’t say if anyone was actually held accountable. Tellingly, they wouldn’t even publish this OIA response on their website.”

“This isn’t just about smut on work time — it’s a symptom of a bloated public service with too much time on its hands and too little accountability. This year’s Budget must get staffing back to 2017 levels and restore some discipline to the public sector.”