A former Niue cabinet minister, Toke Talagi, says there is a need for more support staff for the four members of cabinet.
His comments follow criticism from the opposition over a proposal from the premier, Young Vivian, to increase the number of cabinet ministers from four to six.
Mr Talagi says not only is there too much work to do but there isn't the appropriate support staff available to ensure it can be done.
And, he says a review should be undertaken of the workload by ministers who are required to be across several portfolios.
"Clearly, I found it sometimes very hard to devote as much time as I should have on many of these portfolios, and tended to concentrate on the more important priority things than trying to cover the whole spectrum of the things that I needed to do in all portfolios."
