Local councils' ballooning PR staff numbers

A Masterton councillor says ballooning public relations staff numbers are running defence for councils and putting voters off being interested in local politics. Brent Goodwin says councils' spending on PR shot up after a confidential nationwide survey six years ago revealed a lot of public dissatisfaction with local government. Figures from about 60 councils provided to RNZ show a 50 percent jump in PR staff numbers and wages costs since 2014. Mr Goodwin told Phil Pennington Masterton has gone from having hardly any PR to a team of two or three, with virtually all ratepayer and media calls going to them - and many times stopping with them.