‘Load of Rubbish’: NZ Auditor General Excoriates Public Sector, Says Accountability Weak

New Zealand’s Auditor General John Ryan has excoriated the quality of reporting from government officials, saying they were producing “a load of rubbish.” Speaking to Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Select Committee, he said poor performance meant ministers and the public were unable to judge whether taxes were being well spent and what agencies were achieving. He said many agencies were “quite dismissive” of the potential to improve when the issue was raised with them, even as the public sector accounts for one-third of the New Zealand economy. Speaking after the hearing, he said: “There’s $160 billion of government spending in a year and the overall picture that I see is that the public doesn’t get enough information about what’s been achieved with that money....