The Government is facing criticism over the cost of its Justice Summit held last month, after it blew its budget.
1 NEWS can reveal the summit, aimed at overhauling the country's prison system, cost a staggering $1.5 million - more than twice the amount budgeted.
National Party's Mark Mitchell is calling it a waste of taxpayers' money.
"Really what it was, was a bunch of ministers getting up and talking at people," he says.
The two-day summit boasted around 600 attendees and was supposed to cost $700,000.
While a full breakdown of spending is due later this week, Mark Mitchell says the catering was extravagant.
"The type of catering that you'd expect at a Hollywood movie or a major corporate event. Not at a Government run event that's being paid for by the taxpayer," he says.
But the Justice Minister, Andrew Little, is defending the summit, and the cost.
"You do the best of what you know at the time. And then the more you get into it and do the detailed planning, sometimes you find it costed a little more than expected," he says.
Andrew Little is confident the money is being well spent, saying, "you have to invest in new ideas and it does cost a bit when you're drawing on people, including people who haven't been heard for many, many years".
Jarrod Gilbert, who's on the Government's Justice Advisory Group, says the cost of the summit pales in comparison to the price of keeping people in prison.
"Frankly when we're starting to bicker about catering, we're getting a bit petty," he says.
"It costs around $100,000 to have a single person in prison every year. So, you know, if you keep 15 people out for one year, then that cost [of the summit] disappears."
Plans are now underway for more summits including one focussing on victims, and while the costs for those haven't been finalised, Andrew Little is confident the money is being well spent.
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