New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries is being called out for having a warped sense of priority after it spent close to $1 million on an internal rebrand recently. Critics say it should be spending more money on helping Covid-hit fruit growers. The Ministry spent $959,700 on redoing its website, buying new stationery and designing new logos in 2018 and 2019.
ACT New Zealand Primary Industries Spokesman Mark Cameron said rebrand cost almost three times as much as a recent $350,000 support package to struggling fruit growers. Nzherald.co.nz quoted him as saying: “We’ve got fruit rotting on the ground; we’ve got difficulties getting staff into New Zealand because of Covid; we’ve got real mental illness problems across the provinces… and here [they] are spending a million dollars on rebranding.”
“How can stationery, templates, logos and vehicle signage for departments that already exist within MPI be more of a priority than fruit growers who are struggling because she won’t let a labor force in to help them?”
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has pushed back on the implication the Ministry has left the industry high and dry. “The government has put a big focus on support our horticulture sector to succeed.”