After promising to answer questions by the end of Monday, Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche has still not addressed basic questions about his controversial decision to keep the Parliamentary liar Nic Blakeley as the boss at MBIE.

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director Jordan Williams said, “In an email on Friday Sir Brian committed to answering questions by the end of Monday. His office even asked us to communicate this commitment to transparency and publish it as an update on our website.

"We did so. But the deadline has come and gone.

"Roche's answers are bit like Blakeley's accountability: missing in action.

"The decision to keep Blakeley in his job has astounded political commentators with people rightly asking whether something is fishy. It is only proper for the Taxpayers' Union to ask for the timeline of events.

"This is now turning into a story about Sir Brian's judgement as much as Blakeley's fibs. And Sir Brian going to ground is not helping.

On Friday the Taxpayers’ Union asked Sir Brian to provide:

• the date and time at which Blakeley's resignation was offered;
• the date and time at which Sir Brian first became aware of the offer;
• the date and time at which Sir Brian decided not to accept it; and
• the date and time that decision was communicated to Mr Blakeley.

Shortly afterwards, Sir Brian emailed that he would respond 'on Monday'.

The letter to Sir Brian is available at https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/ltr_ssc_blakeley_deal.

The Taxpayers’ Union says next week’s planned strike by nearly 10,000 public servants will be the real test of whether Fleur Fitzsimons can actually put bums on seats.

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director Jordan Williams said:

“Last time MBIE had a strike — dubbed as as ‘huge’ by the Public Service Association, we turned up to it. The office, and the picket line, was empty —  apparently the revolution was being run from home."

"So this time, with Ms Fitzsimons saying 10,000 people will supposedly go on strike, the question is: will anyone actually show up? Logging off to make a cuppa isn’t exactly a revolution.”

“As New Zealand's largest union, the Taxpayers' Union can bring a crowd. But Fleur might not love what they have to say.”

"According to Public Service Commssion data, Public servants are now paid $17,600 more a year than people in the private sector, and every single government department has a higher average salary than private-sector New Zealanders."

"It's not the PSA that needs to go on strike, it's taxpayers — for the Government's failure to get the costs under control."

The Taxpayers’ Union is demanding Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche front up over Nic Blakeley’s rejected resignation, after widespread speculation that Nic Blakeley offered his resignation knowing that it would not be accepted.

The Union has today written to Sir Brian seeking the communications and timeline surrounding Mr Blakeley’s offer to resign and Sir Brian’s decision not to accept it.

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director Jordan Williams said:

“We have reason to believe that, before Nic Blakeley tendered his resignation, it was communicated to him that it would not be accepted.

“We are calling on Sir Brian to clarify the situation and put the matter to bed.

“If Blakeley knew his resignation was going to be rejected before he offered it, then the whole thing was theatre.

“It would mean New Zealanders were presented with a carefully choreographed show of accountability when the outcome had already been stitched up.

“That would be nothing short of a ruse on taxpayers and the public.

“But there is a bigger question here too.

“How can New Zealanders have confidence in Sir Brian Roche to stand up for honesty and integrity across the public service when, faced with a chief executive who was party to Parliament being deliberately misled, he lets him off?

“If everything was above board, there should be no difficulty for Sir Brian fronting up and telling New Zealanders exactly what happened."

UPDATE:

Sir Brian Roche has responded with the following comments: 

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Government to ban settlement payouts across councils and government agencies following the Chatham Islands Council’s $100,000 payment to disgraced former Chief Executive Paul Eagle.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesman, Rhys Hurley, said:

“How on Earth can someone whose conduct prompted their employer to write to the Serious Fraud Office walk away with over 10 cents in every dollar from the Chathams’ rates bills?"

“Minister van Velden’s reforms were meant to crack down on golden handshakes for public sector bosses earning more than $200,000, but the opt-out clause leaves the back door wide open for exactly this sort of payout to continue.”

“Taxpayers and ratepayers should not be forced to reward failure. The Government needs to shut the loopholes and end public sector golden handshakes for good.”

Public Service Association National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons’ claims that the Opportunity’s plans to remove 2,000 bureaucrats would ‘harm public services for generations’.

Responding, Taxpayers’ Union Spokesman James Ross said:

“Between June 2025 and March 2026, the public service grew by 1,881 bureaucrats. There are still 17,284 more bureaucrats today than before the last Labour Government.”

“Does Fleur Fitzsimons seriously expect taxpayers to believe that unwinding just over nine months of bureaucratic bloat would somehow be the catastrophe the public service’s union mates are claiming?"

The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that at least 9 public service agencies are running hours of waiata and karakia practice each week.

Using a conservative estimate that just ten percent of staff at each agency participate, and applying the average public service hourly salary of $49.66 over 8,680 hours per year, the cost of this paid staff time is estimated at $67,016.17 per week, or $3,484,840.84 per year.

Which bureaucrats are taking the most bed-days?

Public servants are taking more sick leave every year. The average bureaucrat took 26 percent more sick days in 2025 than in 2021, rising from 8.14 to 10.26 days.

Unless bureaucrats are getting sicker by the year, that points to a system with too little scrutiny and too much trust.

Every missed day costs taxpayers. Search the leaderboard to see which departments are taking the most sickies.

Figures are taken from the Public Service Commission’s data drilldown available here.

 Responding to MBIE uncovering a further $6 million in costs associated with its failed Biometric Capability Upgrade, Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director Jordan Williams said:

“Finding another $6 million down the back of the couch is not a rounding error. It exposes a shocking lack of financial control and system failure within MBIE."

“This project ran for seven years, across successive chief executives, yet MBIE still cannot say what it actually cost. Nic Blakeley needs to be held accountable, but so too must the senior leadership responsible for financial controls."

“Carolyn Tremain presided over MBIE for almost the entire life of this project and has since received a gong for services to the Public Service. That's a slap in the face for taxpayers, and case in point of failure being rewarded in the public sector.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the Ministry for Regulation’s new report The State of New Zealand’s Regulatory Systems, saying it confirms what taxpayers and businesses have long suspected: New Zealand’s public service has become an tangle of regulators, legislation, and bureaucracy.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson, Tory Relf, said:

“The challenge now is whether the Government act on it under their plans for the public service, or whether this becomes just another report gathering dust.”

“Having at least 267 organisations involved in regulation is an obscene number for a country of New Zealand’s size, and shows just how far the Wellington bureaucracy has been allowed to sprawl. Even ministerial oversight has become absurd, with Simeon Brown alone responsible for 32 regulatory organisations across his portfolios. ”

“The creation of MCERT must learn from the mistakes of MBIE. Mergers should eliminate duplication, simplify legislation, have clear Ministerial responsibility and reduce staffing numbers - not simply create even larger bureaucratic empires.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ target to reduce the public service to 55,000, saying it is a win for taxpayers – but that next week’s Budget must keep the same pressure.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson Tory Relf said:

“Cutting the public service headcount is a big win for taxpayers. At long last, Minister Willis is putting some backbone into the books.

“But 55,000 must be the halfway mark, not the finish line. When National left office in 2017, the public service sat at around 47,000 FTEs - if that was enough then, it should be enough now.”

“The proof of the pudding will be in the eating: public service numbers must actually fall. But between last week’s decision to scrap Fees Free and today’s target to shrink the public service, it’s clear Minister Willis has been reading A Pathway to Surplus.”

“This is a step toward surplus, but taxpayers should not have to wait until the end of the decade for the books to balance. Next week’s Budget needs to go further and cut harder across the board to bring the books back to black.”