Cabinet approval wasn’t sought before Winston Peters offered for New Zealand to host Pacific Islands Forum
New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters committed the country to hosting the 2027 Pacific Islands Forum without prior Cabinet approval. Treasury documents indicate this lack of oversight made it difficult to assess the strategic value and budget requirements of the event.
Why it matters
This highlights concerns regarding government transparency and the proper allocation of public funds for international diplomatic commitments.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters made the offer while in Fiji last year. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Cabinet approval wasn’t sought before Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters offered New Zealand to host next year’s Pacific Islands Forum.
According to a Treasury document released this week, that made it “difficult to assess the strategic alignment of this initiative” and the “value for money” of allocating Budget money was “not clear”.
The original Budget bid was for $30 million to cover the organisation and hosting of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in 2027; an event expected to bring together about 1500 delegates from the region and beyond, including 17 Pacific leaders.
Treasury only wanted to give $10m, the inflation-adjusted cost of New Zealand hosting in 2011.
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