The Government has paid $11.4 million for a swanky apartment close to the United Nations in New York for New Zealand's ambassador to the UN which Labour has criticised as evidence of a culture of extravagance.
The 244sq m apartment is in the 44-floor Zeckendorf tower at 50 UN Plaza, just across the road from the UN.
News of the Government purchase appeared to be by way of a correction on an Australian website when it wrongly reported that the apartment had been bought by the Queen because of the wording in the sale and purchase agreement.
The apartment has three bedrooms and three bathrooms and overlooks the East River.
The ambassador, formally known as the Permanent Representative, is career diplomat Gerard van Bohemen, who will sit in the chair of the UN Security Council next week when New Zealand takes over the presidency of the Security Council for a month.
Former ambassador Jim McLay and his wife Marcy lived in an apartment overlooking the East River.
Labour's foreign affairs spokesman, David Shearer, said the price was extravagant in anyone's language.
"Foreign Minister Murray McCully is completely out of touch with the lives of real people."
He said the spending had come to light two years after Mr McCully had gutted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to save money.
"He is now splashing those savings on a flash pad for our man in New York."
The apartment block was designed by British architect Lord Norman Foster.
The cheapest apartment is reportedly priced at $3.6 million and the most expensive being the three storied penthouse at $145 million.
