24 Sep 2021

Covid-19: Thousands spent on MIQ for sports teams

From Morning Report, 7:23 am on 24 September 2021

Government figures suggest taxpayers paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to accommodate visiting sports teams last year.

Documents provided to RNZ show every member of a cricket team that stayed in MIQ was calculated to cost $15,000 more than the team actually paid.

Every member of a visiting rugby team was projected to cost $10,000 more than the agreed fee.

Last month, the freebies ended and the government started charging sports teams the full cost of their MIQ stay.

MIQ reporter Katie Todd has the details.