REVEALED: DOC’s $157,000 Payout to EDS Eco-Lobbyists

The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal through an Official Information Act response that the Environmental Defence Society (EDS) received $157,000 from the Department of Conservation in the 2023/24 financial year to produce two reports at $560.71 per page.

This follows earlier revelations that payment to the EDS had been made of $377,743 from the Ministry for the Environment, totalling more than half a million dollars in total taxpayer funding to the group since 2023.

Taxpayers’ Union Investigations Coordinator Rhys Hurley said:

“It’s utterly unacceptable that the public are forced to bankroll lobbyists, especially those like the Environmental Defence Society which dedicate their resources to driving up costs to the taxpayer through expensive legal challenges at every turn.”

“DOC’s staff ballooned by 37 percent between 2017 and 2023, and even then they’ve been outsourcing research to activist groups. Why are taxpayers paying twice to get stuck with lobby groups’ own spin?”

“From environmental lobbyists to politically-aligned unions, these groups should have to prove they have widespread public support by raising their own funds rather than relying on handouts. This isn’t environmental stewardship - it’s taxpayer-funded political activism.”