A NSW government department has outraged public sector workers by spending over a million dollars on indoor plants.

The Department of Planning’s new offices in Parramatta will feature a ‘green wall’ of tropical plants, the three-year contract for which is priced at $1.246 million.

Public Service Association General Secretary Stewart Little told Ray Hadley the splurge “beggars belief”, especially at the same time the NSW government is fighting to freeze public sector wages.

“To make matters worse … this was signed off in April of this year.

“[It’s] bad enough we’ve just got through the bushfires, bad enough we’re entering a pandemic … and obviously we’re being told to tighten our belts.

“If this sort of thing goes through, well what else is going on?”

Ray was astounded by the story.

“The hypocrisy of government sometimes is breathtaking.”

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview

NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes has now backflipped on the spend.

“In no way do I support this amount of public money being spent on indoor plants – particularly during an economic crisis,” Mr Stokes said in a statement.

“I’ve directed the Secretary to fix this immediately so the money can be redirected to supporting jobs and the economy.”

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