Seymour says taxpayers, RNZ staff and audience are victims of $11.8m loss

Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has said that taxpayers, staff and the audience of Radio New Zealand (RNZ), the public broadcaster, are the victims of its budget blowout. The overspend led to a loss of $11.8 million for the year to June, which RNZ reported as almost a $12 million deficit.

RNZ had expected to lose $470,000 over the same year. The actual loss was more than 25 times that expected figure.

Seymour is the minister who represents the government as a shareholder in RNZ. He told RNZ's Morning Report that an "illusion of calm" had been maintained by poor financial reporting at the broadcaster. He described the news of the deficit as a shock. 1News reported that he called RNZ's financial woes disastrous.

Stuff reported that Seymour hinted the RNZ boss should leave early.

RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson, who is departing at the end of the year, took responsibility for the financial result. He said internal reports had given an inaccurate picture of RNZ's finances, and that the scale of the loss only became clear in October.

RNZ's former chief financial officer, Hilary Parker, resigned unexpectedly in early October.

RNZ plans to cut 58 full-time-equivalent jobs, meaning up to 58 staff could lose their jobs, 1News reported.

The RNZ board has said it will commission an independent review into what went wrong with the budget.