How much does a kumara patch cost?

Remember last year when we blew the whistle on the $4 million of taxpayer money being spent on recording, remixing, and playing whale music to kauri trees to (apparently) 'soothe and cure' kauri dieback?

Well, if that made your blood boil, you're not going to like this email...

After a year-long investigation, this is the first in a new series where we lift the lid on how millions of dollars of "science" funding have been wasted in projects that are nothing short of rorts and grift.

Of course, because it touches on Te Ao Māori, the media refuse to touch it - or hold anyone to account. 

That's why I am so determined that the Taxpayers' Union keep digging, keep up the pressure, and why I'm asking supporters like you to donate, fund this research work, and ultimately put an end to this nonsense and affront to taxpayers (and genuine science).

Recap: the National Science Challenges

Based on re-interpretations of the Treaty of Waitangi adopted by the Chris Hipkins/Jacinda Ardern Government, officials were instructed by Ministers to give Te Ao Māori (the Māori world view) equivalent status to "colonialist science".

As a result, money allocated for the "National Science Challenges" – which had the purpose of bringing together "the country's top scientists" and using "the best science to address the Challenge[s]" – was spent to cure Kauri dieback by playing music to trees.

After one of our young researchers snuffed out the $4 million whale song spending, I instructed the Research Team to keep digging.

I tasked them to find where every single dollar of the $63.7 million spent on this particular "science challenge" ended up.

Normally, these things take weeks or months. But, officials have dug their heels in hard – it's taken nearly a year to get answers to basic questions.

A year long investigation: whale song is just the tip of the iceberg 

The rort of the whale song story was not a one-off. What the team has uncovered suggests widespread rot and a total lack of accountability.

We've found the issues spread much wider than just Wellington or officials at MBIE. The following examples, relate to money allocated to our leading 'research' universities!

The first in a new series focuses on a project called "Mobilising for Action" – another $4 million within the $63.7 million "Science Challenge" to save New Zealand's iconic trees.

Indigenous Science: Mobilising for Action

I'll let the official documents set it out: (my emphasis):

National Science Challenges were created [...] to answer some of Aotearoa New Zealand’s biggest science questions. The Challenges bring together the country’s top scientists to work collaboratively across disciplines, institutions and borders to achieve their objectives.

So what is the "Mobilising for Action" project?

Our research focuses on the human dimensions of ngahere/forest health. We seek to understand the meaning people attach to te taiao (the environment), ngahere (forest), and taonga (treasured) species, to explore people’s connection and how this can be fostered and supported, to empower them to make a difference now and in the future so te taiao, ngahere, and taonga species flourish.

What does this look like in practice?

The first project was a Massey University initiative. $156,132 was spent on a scientific research project titled "Māra Tautāne".

Although Māra Tautāne translates to "garden for men", the project's purpose was, in fact, "Revitalisation of traditional hapū practices".

The Research Brief states:

The purpose of this project is to observe and record the deep cultural and spiritual significance that cultural practices connected with the natural world hold for tāngata Māori.  Specifically, the project involves recording the revitalisation of the Māra Tautāne in a hapū of Tūhoe, located in Ruātoki, in the northern Te Urewera. [...] 

The project also elevates the importance of the role of wāhine [woman] in the preservation and maintenance of cultural practices associated with māra [the garden]. [...] 

The Māra Tautāne acts as a symbolic icon to enable a connection between the spiritual world and the physical world.  It is a symbol of Māori connectedness and inseparability from the natural world. 

According to one of the researchers, kūmara were chosen for the garden because it is the "garden of the gods" and only kūmara can be given to the gods.

Who are we to argue with these government scientists? 👀

Funded by: Mobilising for Action theme, of the Ngā Rākau Taketake stream of the Biological Heritage National Science Challenge Amount Awarded: $156,132 Project Team: Whaea Teina Boasa-Dean, Leela Uatuku, Huka Williams, Dr Natasha Tassell-Matamua, Dr Marie McEntee, Merekaraka Te Whitu, Lightshift Productions

I swear we're not making this up.

The research outcomes included:

• a "story book"
  
  
• a 20 minute cultural video; and
  
  
• growing kūmara to offer to the sky gods.

Science for the sky gods: "Only the best foods will be offered"

This is taken word-for-word from the project's description:

Māra Tautane

Māra tautāne are small gardens often nestled in an isolated area of a larger māra kai, which were established in recognition of the essence of the atua associated with the mãra and enabled the mãra to flourish.

Historically, Māori would plant a mãra tautāne at the annual heliacal rising of Matariki - a ritual with deeply spiritual connotations that reinforced the connection between people, the environment, and the wider cosmos.

All produce grown within te māra tautane were offered to Rongo, the Māori atua of cultivation, and to atua representing stars in the constellation of Matariki. A kumara, for example, might be offered to Tupuānuku, and a kereru or another bird from the forest offered to Tupuārangi. Likewise an eel or freshwater fish would represent Waiti, and some form of shellfish or sea life would be chosen for Waita. Only the best foods would be offered.

So how much does a kūmara garden cost? 

Your humble Taxpayers' Union wanted to see a breakdown of the $156,132 spending, and a picture of the kūmara patch.

And we knew we were onto something when Massey dragged the chain on our Official Information Act requests...

But, I can now give you the breakdown.

Personnel costs amounted to $111,132. It's an important research project involving "the country's top scientists" (apparently), so I guess we can't complain, right?

Participant koha: $5,000. At the Taxpayers' Union we think taxpayer money should never be used for koha gifts. But that's not the view of Massey University. 

Additional equipment: $10,000. Gardens are expensive. $10,000 at Mitre 10 doesn't go far nowadays...

Team travel costs: $25,000. A Marae 20km south of Whakatāne was chosen to locate the kūmara garden. Presumably a lot of trips from Massey University were required?

Story map development: $5,000

Grand total = $156,132.

Before you scroll down, remember that this kūmara garden cost taxpayers $156,132.

That's nine years of the income tax paid by the average Kiwi worker...

You might expect something like a scientific research facility, irrigation systems, and monitoring equipment.

Maybe even a greenhouse.

Instead, we got this:

And from above:

 

$156k is a lot of money, but the true cost here is real science.

It's an entire year of salary for two new-grad scientists actually working in a laboratory on plant disease and biosecurity research.

It could fund thousands of laboratory tests to detect invasive pests threatening our forests or scientific equipment to study this. 

But instead, it funded… a kūmara patch.

Even the $10,000 for "additional equipment" for something so small is mind blowing.

This is the sort of spending that happens when bureaucrats know no one is watching.

It is why we fight the War on Waste, and are asking for your support.

Will you give us the spades, so the Taxpayers' Union can keep digging?

It's fair to say Massey University isn't giving the Taxpayers' Union a $10,000 Mitre10 voucher to dig up wasteful spending.

We rely on the generosity of supporters like you who join us to demand accountability.

In the coming weeks, we'll be shining even more light on "science" funding.

From your money going to develop "Decolonising Flip Cards" (funded through Landcare Research), to "Saving Trees with Primary School Art" (Auckland University) – in the weeks to come, we'll rattle cages, and demand transparency.

But we can only do this if we have your support.

Thank you for standing with us,

Jordan Williams  Executive Director  New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Ps. Based on the death threats (and a legal threat) we received for exposing the whale song/kauri tree story last year, I know this is going to cause a stir and some will no doubt scream 'racism'.

But government waste isn't about skin colour – and with the media not doing their job, only the Taxpayers' Union is willing to call out the nonsense.

Your support means we can keep at it - and return public *science* money back to, well, science.

Thank you for making the work possible.