Quality of Govt Expenditure

One of the problems of just throwing more money at portfolios, is the more money being spent, the lower the quality of expenditure.

A classic example of this comes from Sandra Goudie today. She reveals what has happened with the money for problem gambling:

* Pacific Peoples Addiction Service paid $143,160 for intervention services in the 2005/06 year and had only eight customers

* Te Whanau o Waipareira Trust paid $186,976 and had 13 users

* Te Rapuora Health Services in Nelson was paid $86,124 and had six people use its service

Also someone is counted as a client, even if they have just had a 16 minute phone conversation. So the Government is paying up to $18,000 for a 16-minute phone conversation or a single half-hour counselling session!!