Apparently clod hoppers can’t communicate
The perils of having a ham-fisted idiot minister…lots of extra costs for communications for the new ministry of clod hoppers.
The Ministry for Primary Industries has spent more than $220,000 on communications consultants since its creation last year.
Figures provided under the Official Information Act show Senate Communications has received $175,579, Catchphrase Communications $30,791 and Network Communication Group $13,794.
While the ministry, which was formed in April last year, has a communications team of at least 18, the consultants have been paid to write speeches, to write and edit website text and articles, and to field media queries.
PR company staff have also been seconded to government departments for as much as $175 an hour.
On one occasion, a Senate staff member was seconded to the ministry for 57 hours at a cost of $11,370 to the taxpayer.
Consultants were also paid to work on communications strategies for “major issues”, to liaise with staff about Facebook user restrictions, to help with document security and to proof-read emails. Read more »

As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news, he tends to be in it, with protagonists using the courts, media and social media to deliver financial as well as death threats.
They say that news is something that someone, somewhere, wants kept quiet. Cam Slater doesn’t do quiet and, as a result, he is a polarising, controversial but highly effective journalist who takes no prisoners.
He is fearless in his pursuit of a story.
Love him or loathe him, you can’t ignore him.
To read Cam’s previous articles click on his name in blue.