Taxpayers shouldn’t be made to foot the bill for fringe activism

The Taxpayers’ Union had called for the Government to stop allowing taxpayer dollars to be spent on funding fringe activism. The call comes after a stage show called ‘The Savage Coloniser’ received $107,280.

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said:

“People will have different views on the value of arts funding. You can make a case for it being used to widen access to the arts or support cultural projects that might not otherwise be viable.

“But what it certainly shouldn’t be used for is to fund fringe activism of which this ‘The Savage Coloniser’ stage show about murdering James Cook and white people is a particularly extreme example. Many New Zealanders will see this as funding an overtly political project that will likely offend and which should not be supported by taxpayer money.

“The Government needs to withdraw this funding immediately and introduce new guidance for arts funding agencies to prevent such misuse of taxpayer dollars in the future.”