Regulation Minister David Seymour is continuing to defend the above-average salaries in the 13-month-old ministry. Photo: RNZ / Calvin Samuel
A year on from the Ministry for Regulation's creation, the average salary for its staff continues to top $150,000 - well above the sector-wide average of just over $100,000.
New figures, as of 28 March, record an average annual salary at the agency of $150,320 across 70 permanent staff and 17 fixed-term staff.
That compares to a figure of $152,034 reported in August last year - which at the time prompted outrage from opposition parties and the Taxpayers' Union.
Back then, Regulation Minister David Seymour defended the pay packets as "good value for money" but said he expected they would drop as the ministry became more established and temporary roles were replaced with permanent ones.
In a fresh statement to RNZ, Seymour maintained the position.
"I note the average salary has gone down slightly, and I expect this will continue as the agency is bedded in," Seymour said.
"The Ministry for Regulation staff make up 0.14 per cent of the public sector. When you look at the job they have improving and preventing unnecessary regulations, that's 0.14 per cent of the public service trying to control the other 99.86 per cent."
The latest salary figures were released in answers to written Parliamentary questions from the Labour Party.
Labour's regulation spokesperson Duncan Webb said the anti-red tape department had been bedding in for more than a year now and, despite the minister's assurances, salaries had barely budged.
"I've got no problem with top quality public servants being paid well, but what we've got here is a vanity ministry for David Seymour which is basically full of clipboard-holders who are checking on other public servants.
"It's absolutely hypocritical for the government to be saying we need to get rid of back office people when they've created a whole back office ministry."
In the year to June 2024, the average salary across the public sector was $101,700, the first time it had reached six figures.
The top-paying public sector agency was the Public Service Commission, with an average salary of $155,000, followed by the Social Investment Agency, with $149,200.
The Ministry for Regulation was set up in March 2024 after being secured by the ACT Party during coalition negotiations the year before.
It is tasked with assessing red-tape across a range of sectors and driving a "culture shift" across government, Seymour has said.
Opposition parties have criticised the new department since its creation, claiming a double standard for Seymour at a time the coalition is slashing back-office spending across the public sector.
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