A union for public servants is telling the Housing Minister the age of state servants who prepare advice for the Government is irrelevant after Phil Twyford slammed some working at the Treasury as "kids".
The Minister is unhappy the Government's lead economic and financial adviser downgraded its forecast over how much extra housing investment Kiwibuild will deliver to the economy.
Late last year, Treasury said the programme to build affordable homes for first home buyers would result in $5.4 billion of extra residential investment by 2022.
But now it has slashed that number in half, in light of a shortage of builders, saying some of that investment won't happen as quickly.
"I just think some of these kids in Treasury are just fresh out of university and they're completely disconnected from reality," Mr Twyford said.
Public Service Association national secretary Glenn Barclay says the PSA is disappointed that the Minister of Housing has chosen to make personalised comments in this way.
"It is public servants' job to give free, frank and fearless advice to politicians," Mr Barclay said.
"Sometimes, this will involve giving those politicians advice they do not like - but that is their role in ensuring an open and transparent democracy," he said.
"The age of the public servants who prepared this advice is irrelevant, as their work is endorsed by their department - in this case, Treasury," Mr Barclay said.
"We would hope the Minister reflects on this incident and chooses not to take this tack in the future," he said.
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