Leaked figures targeting the country's overseas-based diplomats suggest some staff are receiving more than $300,000 a year in salaries and allowances.
Some are getting hundreds of thousands of dollars more in school fee and rental subsidies.
The figures were seen yesterday by The Dominion Post. The Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry refused to comment and would not confirm their authenticity.
But their circulation comes as a war both within MFAT and between the department and Foreign Minister Murray McCully over radical plans to restructure the ministry turns increasingly ugly.
There has been a concentrated campaign of leaks from top-level diplomats warning against MFAT chief executive John Allen's plans. The backlash has been so damaging the Government has distanced itself from the proposals.
But there now appears to be a counter campaign. The figures seen by The Dominion Post were provided by a source who suggested lower-level MFAT staff supported Mr Allen's plans, which would see some overseas-based diplomats take a big pay cut and pay packets for staff back home boosted.
One well-placed source said the figures appeared genuine, suggesting deep divisions over the restructuring plan.
The leaked figures suggest that taxpayers are stumping up as much as $440,000 a year for rental accommodation in cities such as Hong Kong. The cost of paying for schooling for overseas diplomats' children can cost as much as $213,000 a family.
Allowances are also hefty, totalling well over $100,000 in many cases.
Remuneration has become the most divisive issue in MFAT's restructuring plans. The Government has back-pedalled over the issue, telling Mr Allen it believes he has gone too far. Some diplomats are expected to lose as much as $60,000 a year.
In a highly critical letter to Mr Allen this week, Mr McCully put the Government's displeasure on record. Both Mr McCully and Prime Minister John Key have suggested the plans to scale back remuneration are too harsh.
Mr Allen has also been told to drop plans for outsourcing consular services – which the Government sees as risky and a highly questionable way to cut costs.
Mr Allen is reportedly unhappy at the Government's intervention and there have been meetings with Treasury, the State Services Commission and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and Mr McCully this week.
There is said to be anger within MFAT, however, that Mr Allen has been hung out to dry after the heat got too much for the Government. Meanwhile, in a bridge-building exercise, senior diplomats are being summoned back to Wellington from around the world next month at a cost of $200,000 to hear about alternatives.
The fallout over the MFAT restructuring is the most visible sign yet of a public service kickback against the Government putting the squeeze on budgets and demanding cuts of $1 billion over the next few years.
But more high-profile fights are in the wind, with the Government expected to move to tackle pay and conditions in the police force next.
Meanwhile, the MFAT leaks continued unabated yesterday. Labour MP Phil Goff, the former foreign minister, said he had documents showing 33 people were working in MFAT's "change management" office and a further 18 consultants employed to manage a process that had turned into a "giant stuff-up".
- © Fairfax NZ News
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