NSW Government spent $163k to test Waratah logo on focus groups
Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello has come under fire for wasting more than $163,000 on testing the state government’s Waratah logo when there are “absolutely no plans” to change the emblem.
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Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello has come under fire for wasting more than $163,000 on testing the state government’s waratah logo when there are “absolutely no plans” to change the floral red emblem.
The research work was officially commissioned by the new Brand, Digital and Communications unit – which sits within Mr Dominello’s Customer Service portfolio – and involved a survey of 2000 people.
The unit was only formed in July and has an extraordinary annual budget of $28.1 million.
A Customer Service spokesman confirmed a company named Kantar Public was engaged at a cost of $163,460 to increase the profile of the waratah emblem.
It held focus groups in Sydney, Parramatta, Wagga Wagga and Griffith between July 29 and August 1. The waratah is the floral emblem of NSW and is also used in the state government’s logo (pictured below).
But the spokesman said: “There are absolutely no plans to change the waratah logo.”
It comes as the Customer Service department spent almost $8 million on advertising in the 2018-19 financial year, according to Budget Estimates figures obtained by the opposition.
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Labor’s spokeswoman for better public services Sophie Cotsis said Mr Dominello should be “focused on providing important services rather than running a taxpayer-funded PR wing for the Liberals”.
“In a very short space of time this Liberal minister has been responsible for delays, bureaucracy blowouts and wasteful spending of taxpayer money,” Ms Cotsis said.
Mr Dominello said the focus group research could “save taxpayers millions of dollars in the long term” by reducing the number of alternative logos and brands used across government.
Regarding the advertising spend, he said: “We don’t apologise for raising awareness of important social issues to save lives – such as quad bike safety, responsible gambling, and workplace safety – as well as dozens of NSW government cost-of-living programs that have collectively saved NSW households $1.6 billion.”
Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance director of policy Satya Marar said it wasn’t the first time a government had “wasted a significant amount of taxpayer money on ridiculous branding exercises”.
“Instead of splurging the budget surplus NSW possesses on unnecessary focus groups and other projects that appeal to bureaucratic aficionados with OCD, the government should spend that money on improving infrastructure and services which are currently strained,” Mr Marar said.
Meanwhile, the spend by Customer Service on advertising over the most recent financial year is up from the $5.921 million spent over the previous year.
While some of the money went towards health and safety campaigns, the government also used taxpayer dollars to spruik its own products, including green slips and the digital driver’s licence, the rollout of which has been delayed.
Service NSW – another agency Mr Dominello oversees – has also spent almost $164,000 on purchasing a million branded pens for customers to use at service centres.
The Daily Telegraph has previously revealed Service NSW spent $595,000 on 90 copies of a self-help book and a program to decipher its messages for staff.
Originally published as NSW Government spent $163k to test Waratah logo on focus groups