An investigation from Central Otago news website Crux has found that the Queenstown Lakes District Council has spent three hundred and eighty eight million dollars on consultants and contractors over a three year period.
It's taken three years of requests for Crux to be able to publish this story and it raises questions around just how transparent local bodies in New Zealand are when it comes how they spend ratepayers money.
We speak with Dr Jean Drage, an adjunct Senior Professor at Lincoln University and editor of Local Government in New Zealand, Challenges and Choices
Photo: Unsplash / Jeff Finley
