Taxpayers fork out $754,000 for NSW government branding

The NSW Government is splashing hundreds of thousands of dollars on a rebrand which includes style guides, templates and a font change.

Taxpayers have spent more than $754,000 over two years on NSW government branding, including style guides, templates, and even a change to the official font used by government departments.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that in the current financial year, $412,000 has been committed to the NSW government’s “visual identity,” described as “the primary branding for all NSW Government agencies,” included changing the font used by bureaucrats.

That comes on top of almost $342,000 spent on the project in 2020-21.

The project, paid for out of the NSW Government Brand and Campaign team budget, involved an external agency brought on to help develop the new style guide.

The “visual identity” outlines how government communications and documents should be presented — including a change to the font used for government communications.

Despite the cost of the new style guide, the government argues the project — including adopting the free “public sans” typeface — will ultimately save money.

A Department of Customer Service spokeswoman said that streamlining the government’s “visual identity” would save “up to $5 million across five years,” she said.

The NSW Government is arguing the changes will help save money in the future. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

The savings will come by reducing costs including “duplication of font licensing, templates, creative assets and style guide production,” the spokeswoman said.

“Strong, consistent NSW Government branding provides multiple benefits to the people of NSW.”

But Labor MP Rose Jackson seized on the spending to accuse the government of having the wrong priorities.

“After over 10 years in government the NSW Liberals and Nationals have mastered the art of political spin but not much else,” Upper House Labor MP Rose Jackson said.

“They should be less concerned with fonts and more concerned with cost of living for struggling NSW families,” she said.

NSW Labor’s Rose Jackson has slammed the spend. Picture: AAP

Meanwhile, it can also be revealed that a government department has built its own “media studio” staffed by two full-time employees.

The $113,000 studio will be operated full time by two public servants, hired at a pay scale of around $100,000 per year.

A DPE spokesman said building a media studio would save the department more than $1 million per year by reducing the reliance on external contractors.

“The DPE media studio will develop engaging video and digital content which is easy for the community and stakeholders to view, understand and respond to,” he said.

“Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on new fonts, in-house media studios and social media consultants are the priorities of a tired government who have given up on governing,” Ms Jackson said.