Three months on from the closure of the last MIQ facilities, officials are still waiting for just over 28 million dollars in fees to be paid.

On June 27, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment announced the last three facilities - Auckland's Holiday Inn, Jet Park and Waipuna hotels - had closed.

Data up to September 25 shows invoices worth more than $210 million had been issued for MIQ stays.

Of that, $185.3 million has been paid, $27.9 million is now due, and $400,000 is not yet due.

Invoices worth $17.5 million dollars are now more than 90 days overdue.

Returnees who arrived before August 20 last year, and are liable for MIQ fees, have 90 days from the date their invoice is issued to pay the bill.

Those in the same situation who returned after that date have 30 days to pay.

Act Leader David Seymour says it's just another waste of taxpayers' money.

"Sadly, the mistake was made two years ago when they decided not to take payment up-front, every hotel in the world demands payment up-front before you stay for obvious reasons."

Seymour says if you start converting that $28 million dollars into the number of nurses or doctors or lifesaving drugs that could be bought, it's serious money to everyone but the Government.

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"Why they didn't require payment up front like every other hotel and airline in the world that offers travel services, I do not know."

He says the Government has washed its hands of the situation by passing the debts to debt collectors.

Seymour says they will get some more back but it will be a diminishing amount returned, as the really hard cases come up.

"It's hard to say 'I told you so', but that's the only answer."

He says the taxpayer is the loser again because the Government doesn't do basic, practical things that every business must do to avoid going broke.

"The best we can be is a government that takes the best practices from the private sector and runs itself like a business - they haven't done that and $28 million has just gone down the drain."