A rookie SNP minister is advertising for an artist-in-residence to create works about her political opinions.

Public finance minister Hannah Mary Goodlad is spending £11,000 of taxpayers’ cash on a painter, sculptor or musician for her Shetland constituency office to spend four months ‘exploring [her] policy areas of priority’.

The successful candidate will ‘produce materials that convey [Ms Goodlad’s] aims to the general public and media’ as well as local schools.

Max Bannerman, Reform MSP for the Highlands and Islands, said: ‘Barely in the job and Hannah Mary Goodlad is already finding creative ways to splurge public money.

‘The minister in charge of Scotland’s finances wants £11,000 of taxpayers’ cash to paint over SNP failure with propaganda art.

’She should scrap the advert and deal with the gaping £5billion black hole at the heart of Scotland’s finances instead.’

Hannah Mary Goodlad is advertising for an artist in residence to help with messaging

The advert which sets out the responsibilities and requirements for the applicant

An arts industry source told the Mail: ‘I have never seen anything like this in my life – she is essentially advertising for a propagandist.

‘I’ve been reading over the job advert in genuine astonishment. No artist worth their salt would do something like this, but it also feels like misuse of taxpayers’ money.’

Ms Goodlad was only elected to Holyrood in May yet was instantly made a minister by John Swinney.

In her role as guardian of the public finances, she has pledged to ’take a responsible approach… prioritising investment in frontline services’.

Now, though, she is hiring the full-time artist to join her constituency team in Lerwick, welcoming applications from Shetland-based creators ‘of any discipline, including but not limited to visual art, textiles and music’.

The role is to ‘deliver projects exploring policy areas of priority to the MSP through your own artistic practice’ and ’support the MSP’s engagement with local schools and community groups’.

The job is said to require an in-depth knowledge of the Shetland constituency

Meanwhile, the four-month contract comes with a salary equivalent to £33,000 a year.

She’s also advertising for a part-time member of staff to translate her press releases into the Shetland dialect – earning £12,800 per year.

Ms Goodlad recently admitted that, as a minister, she would have to find £1.5billion of efficiencies through ‘workforce reform… and changes to how services are delivered’.

But last month she joined in the latest wave of SNP rhetoric around a fresh push for independence claiming Scotland’s cash crisis is the fault of Westminster.

She said: ‘Since becoming an MSP and a minister, my belief in self-governance has grown even stronger.

‘As my colleagues and I work to improve the lives of the people of Scotland, whether it be in energy, immigration, the ability to borrow, the ability to invest in capital projects, tax reform and employment law, we find our hands tied due to these powers being retained by the Westminster government.’

The SNP’s bloated benefits bill is set to bulge to £9.2billion by 2030 – up 24 per cent from the current £7.4billion – by which time there will be a forecasted £5billionn black hole in the nation’s finances.

Scottish Conservative culture and public service reform spokesman Murdo Fraser said: ‘Shetland families are being hammered by rising fuel bills and the cost of living, yet Hannah Mary Goodlad thinks this is a good use of public money. The SNP are completely out of touch.’

Benjamin Elks, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance campaign group said: ‘Taxpayers will think it beyond parody. This looks like little more than taxpayer-funded political self-indulgence.’

Ms Goodlad said: ‘The arts, our language and culture are important to me as Shetland’s MSP.

‘A vital role of an MSP is to communicate effectively and inclusively with constituents.

‘There are many ways in which to fulfil that role beyond traditional expectations.’