The $63,000 Toronto trip isn’t the only costly ministerial journey
Tuesday, 30 June 2026
From Paris to Cameroon, Munich, India and across Latin America, ministers’ overseas trips are racking up big bills — with Shane Jones being far from an outlier with his $63,000 Toronto visit, new analysis by The Post’s Harriet Laughton shows.
ANALYSIS: A trip to Toronto to an annual mining conference that came in at $63,000 - $30,000 over budget - drew highly publicised criticism of Shane Jones’ spending, but other ministerial trips also have hefty bills, new analysis by The Post shows.
An analysis by The Post of MPs overseas tax-payer funded trips in the first quarter of this year found estimates of several overseas visits came to be significantly more than Jones' trip.
The figures are based largely on Cabinet-approved travel estimates, which are proactively released by Government departments, compared with the number of engagements each minister had.
Some are based on final figures following the trip, provided by ministerial offices: Shane Jones, Todd McClay and Chris Bishop.
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The data remains incomplete, with final costs taking months to be published and accessible only through the Official Information Act. The Post sought final costs from ministers' offices where possible, but most were unavailable.
Some proactive releases lacked any estimates at all and had to be sourced from ministers’ offices, while other provide detailed breakdowns.
Long-haul flights accounted for the largest share of most trips, with airfares alone often exceeding $25,000.
There is no perfect metric for how effective an overseas trip is, but The Post asked ministers how many engagements or meetings they had on the trip as a rough proxy.
Winston Peters, Nicole McKee, Carmel Sepuloni, Tim van de Molen and Damien O’Connor in Latin America: $126,264
An estimated $126,264 was spent to send five MPs to Latin America.
The estimations include $22,029 spent on accommodation for seven rooms for five MPs plus two ministerial staff. The budget included $5180 for two nights in Buenos Aires, $2975 for one night in Montevideo, $4970 for two nights in Brazil, $3500 for one night in Santiago.
The most expensive stay was estimated at $5404 for one night in Tahiti, $772 per person. This is quite a shift from the accommodation limits for ministers travelling in New Zealand, which are capped at $350 a night, excluding Queenstown.
Ground transportation was estimated at $17,496.67 while hospitality was $47,493, $20,928 of which would be spent in Brazil. Meals were budgeted at $150 per person per day, which worked out to be $6300 while hiring interpreters cost $6920 and nearly $5000 was set aside for gifts. Airfare estimations were not included.
The nine-day trip was the first trip to the continent by a foreign minister in 20 years.
It included 23 engagements including separate meetings with the president of Argentina and Uruguay, as well as meeting the foreign affairs ministers from Chile, Argentina and Brazil.
Cost per engagement: $5489.
Todd McClay and Damien O’Connor in Cameroon: $122,015
One of the only final costings we were able to access, provided by his office, was Trade Minister Todd McClay and Labour spokesperson for trade Damien O’Connor’s trip to Cameroon for the 14th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation in March this year.
It was $45,349 over budget.
McClay’s office said the US and Iran conflict blew booking and flight prices out, and where the original Cabinet-approved trip amount was $76,666, it cost $122,015 across three travellers - McClay,O’Connor and a ministerial staff member.
McClay’s trip to Cameroon took 47 hours of flight, flying from Rotorua to Christchurch, then Sydney, Dubai, Istanbul and then finally to Cameroon.
McClay said there was a cost that came with New Zealand being a small country, a long way away from the rest of the world and while flights were expensive, it was important they could attend.
“We use a range of airlines that gets us there as quickly as we can. Sometimes we look at cost, other times we don't. This is about the matter of doing our job,” he said.
He undertook 45 engagements across his visit, including vice chairing the conference and being a head negotiator, holding bilateral meetings with ministers and representatives of 17 countries including the United States, India, China, European Union, Singapore, Korea, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Cost per engagement: $2711.
Shane Jones in Toronto: $63,000
Jones’ one-week trip to Toronto in March 2025 to attend an annual mining conference cost $63,000, nearly double the $33,068 first approved.
Stuff reported the accommodation bill came in at $13,397.52 nearly $4000 more than budgeted while meals for two for five days totalled only $301.09, when $2200 was budgeted.
Ground transport included the hiring of a limousine, with the driver kept on standby for 24 hours across three days, costing C$3791.15, far more than the $500 budget.
Jones undertook around 51 engagements while in Toronto, including meetings with five Canadian ministers, and seven meetings with industry chief executives and investors. He went to three networking events, attended a product launch and visited the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada trade floor.
Cost per engagement: $1235
Judith Collins in Munich: $52,185
A five-day trip former Defence Minister Judith Collins took in February this year to attend the Munich Security Council as defence minister came in at an estimated $52,185.
Accompanied by one of her staff, the estimations included $29,000 for airfares, $14,000 for accommodation, $900 for meals, $5500 for surface travel, $300 for gifts and $2485 for contingency.
She undertook 11 engagements while away, including meeting with the defence ministers of Canada, Finland, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Singapore, Ukraine, Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte, Nato chairperson of the military committee admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone and UK State Secretary for Defence John Healey.
Cost per engagement: $4744
Casey Costello in Vienna, Geneva and London: $37,725
Associate Minister of Police Casey Costello travelled to Vienna and London to attend the Global Fraud Summit from March 15 to March 21.
Airfares were $28,245, accommodation was $5384, transportation $1000, gifts $400, other expenses $900 and contingency $1796.
She met with the UK’s national crime agency, serious fraud office, regional organised crime unit, border force and action on smoking and health. She was accompanied by one of her advisers.
Her office said the trip ultimately cost several thousand dollars less than the approved budget, despite higher airfare costs after the itinerary was changed to route through Los Angeles and Heathrow on the way to Vienna instead of Dubai.
She had 10 engagements in Vienna, four engagements in Geneva and four in London
Cost per engagement: $2095
Shane Reti in India: $34,946
An eight-day trip for then Minister for Science and Technology Shane Reti to India for the AI Impact Summit and to meet with science and education counterparts cost $34,946.
He had 22 engagements while there, including a visit to the Taj Mahal, meeting with New Zealand’s High Commissioner to India and EU’s Commissioner for Tech Sovereignty.
We were unable to calculate the cost per engagement as six of the engagements recorded in his diary had not been confirmed. The Department of Internal Affairs, which manages the finances of former ministers finances, was unable to confirm by deadline if they took place.
Simon Watts in Paris: $30,146
Then Energy Minister Simon Watts travelled to Paris to attend the International Energy Agency meeting, a four-day trip that cost an estimated $30,146, accompanied by a ministerial staff member.
Airfares were budgeted at $26,000, accommodation at $1200, ground travel was $1100, meals $400 and contingency 5% was $1436.
During the trip, Watts had seven engagements, meeting with senior IEA officials, IEA executive director Dr Fatih Birol, Canadian Minister of energy and natural resources Tim Hodgson and briefly meeting with US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright.
As well as attending the event itself, Watts spoke at a breakfast event and attended women in energy reception side event hosted by Netherlands deputy PM.
Cost per engagement: $4036
Chris Bishop in India: $24,982.86
Then Associate Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop’s trip to India to lead sports diplomacy delegations and watch the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Final came in $21,165.14 under budget, with The Post able to obtain final cost details through an OIA.
The eight-day trip was originally estimated to cost $46,148 and the final amount was $24,982.86.
Savings were mostly made through accommodation, with $14,000 budgeted but only $2735.92 spent.
A spokesperson for the minister said potential increases in airfare and accommodation costs due to the trip coinciding with the cricket final were factored into the budget but the cost increases did not materialise.
Food for the entire trip only cost $60.74, with all other food covered by Sports NZ (there was no initial estimation on how much food might cost for comparison).
Breakfast was included as part of the accommodation and many other meals were provided as part of official engagements or were shared with members of the wider delegation.
While there, he travelled to three cities: Ahmedabad, Delhi and Mumbai. Most of his engagements while on the trip was redacted, but his office noted he had 19 engagements while away.
Cost per engagement: $1314
Erica Stanford in Australia: $11,000
Education Minister Erica Stanford’s three-day trip to New South Wales to lead an education delegation in Australia came to an estimated $11,000.
She had 11 engagements while there, including dinner with the NZ principles delegation, breakfast with Dr Brian Poncy, and an afternoon tea with Australian school leaders.
Cost per engagement: $1000