Nice salaries at Waipareira Trust

Thomas Cranmer does an excellent article about the Waipareira Trust, and how this taxpayer funded charity has to try and claim back $385,000 it spent on John Tamihere’s campaigns. Read the entire thing, but it was this section that struck me:

And under the current Labour government, the Waipareira Trust has had a golden run. In its accounts for the year ended 30 June 2016, the trust had revenue from services of $21,891,765, and had cash or term deposits of $6,950,998.

In its most recent accounts for the year ended 30 June 2022, the trust had revenue from services of $69,544,616, and had cash or term deposits of $50,379,806.

Over that six year period, administrative costs have ballooned from $2,138,592 to $5,919,525. And although senior management headcount has only increased from 14 to 15.25, remuneration and benefits for senior management have increased from $2,013,194 to $4,390,413.

So this taxpayer funded “charity” has has had the average salary for senior management explode from $144,000 to $288,000. How many charities do you know that have 15 staff members earning almost $300,000 each?