Average overseas ministerial trip under-budget by $11k, while 18 went over-budget
Wednesday, 8 July 2026
New data shows Shane Jones was far from alone in over-spending on his trip to Toronto, with 18 ministerial trips over-budget since the election.
But the same data confirms this is generally quite rare - representing just 7% of the 248 overseas trips taken by ministers since 2023.
In total, the extra costs incurred were about $144,000.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon revealed the data in a written parliamentary question answer to Labour leader Chris Hipkins. The Post was pointed to the data after filing an Official Information Act request for a similar dataset.
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His answer reveals that the average trip was actually under-budget by $10,900.
Ministers ask Cabinet for permission to travel overseas and generally set budgets to do so. When trips go over-budget they generally have to explain this to the Prime Minister’s Office.
The 18 trips that went over-budget included:
Trade Minister Todd McClay’s trip with a delegation of MPs to Cameroon for a World Trade Organisation meeting, which was taken off course by conflict and cost $45,000 more than expected.
Jones’ Toronto trip which cost $30,000 more than expected.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters’ trip to the Middle East and North Asia in February of 2025 which cost $13,000 more than expected.
Peters’ trip to the Middle East and Europe in March of 2024 that cost $12,000 more than expected.
Customs Minister Casey Costello’s trip to Europe in March of 2026 that cost $11,000 more than expected.
Luxon noted in his answer that the over-spends were generally due to unforeseen circumstances, such as the Defence Force plane he uses for short trips breaking down on a trip to Australia in 2024 - which resulted in the trip costing $8000 more than expected.
“In other instances, changes to meeting programmes or weather events have resulted in additional costs beyond initially approved budgets,” Luxon said.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said a bit of over-spend was understandable, but some of the costs “raise eyebrows”.
“Christopher Luxon talks about running this country like a business, but any business owner would be asking serious questions if costs kept blowing out without accountability.”
McClay told media in June the trip to Cameroon, which had also featured Labour MP Damien O’Connor, had blown out due to the war.
“There is a cost to being a small country, a long way from everywhere,” McClay said.