Taxpayer Update: Pay Gap exposed: Bureaucrats cash in 🤑 | $116k council logo rip-off 🎨 | 'Everything is awesome' podcast 🎙️
Hi,
We’re straight into it this week with the latest Taxpayers’ Union-Curia Poll.
NEW POLL: NZ First support surges with best-ever Taxpayers’ Union-Curia Poll result ⬆︎⬆︎⬆︎
The Government has seen a significant increase in support according to the first public poll taken since the announcement of the Government’s Fuel Security Plan. NZ First surges to a record high which propels the Government bloc back to a majority in April's Taxpayers’ Union-Curia Poll.
Compared to last month’s results, Labour is down 1.0 points to 33.4 percent, while National is up 1.4 points to 29.8 percent. New Zealand First is up 3.9 points to 13.6 percent, while ACT is up 1.5 points to 9.0 percent.
The Greens are down 2.7 points to 7.8 percent, while Te Pāti Māori is down 0.6 points to 2.6 percent.
Converted into seats in Parliament, Labour would be the biggest party on 42 seats (down 2 from last month), with National up 1 to 37 seats.
New Zealand First gains 4 seats from last month to 17, while ACT gains 1 to 11. The Greens drop 3 to 10 seats, while Te Pāti Māori lose 1 on 3 seats.
The combined projected seats for the Government parties bloc is up 6 seats to 65.
The combined seats for the Opposition parties bloc is down 6 to 55.
On these numbers, the current three parties of Government would be able to form a Government.
NZ First remain kingmakers 👑
The left bloc (Labour plus the Greens) remain stronger on 52 seats (down 5) compared to the right bloc (National plus ACT) which are on 48 seats this month (up 2 seats).
The last time either bloc commanded a majority without needing a support partner (NZ First or Te Pāti Māori) to be able to form a government was December 2024.
Winston Peters will be flying high as he jets off to Washington DC this week, fresh off his party’s best-ever Taxpayers’ Union-Curia Poll result. With a projected 17 seats, he could again hold the balance of power between a Centre-Left and Centre-Right government come November 7.
On these numbers, both National and Labour would need Winston Peters to form a government...
A more detailed breakdown of the results is available on our website - and if you want to receive the full polling report, join our Taxpayer Caucus for exclusive access.
Oh, and if you'd like to hear about how polling actually works, Peter Williams recently sat down with our pollster David Farrar to discuss for a Taxpayer Talk podcast.
PAY GAP EXPOSED: Public sector workers paid an average of $17,600 more than private sector colleagues 💸👨💼
While most households are tightening their belts, Wellington’s bureaucrat class have a much larger cushion.
We’ve crunched the numbers and published the Bureaucrat Salary Leaderboard – showing that despite what the public sector unions would have you think, there's nothing modest about public service pay packets!
On average, bureaucrats are now paid $17,600 more per year than workers in the private sector.
With six-figure salaries across the board, the Bureaucrat Salary Leaderboard has exposed that every single government department has a higher average salary than New Zealanders working in the private-sector (i.e. the taxpayers!).
...and Sir Humphrey's Pay Gap is getting even larger 🤯
Public sector workers enjoyed an average hike to their salary of 21.37 percent between 2020 and 2025, almost fifty percent more than the 14.49 percent wage growth in the private sector over the same period.
Now, no one’s saying public sector staff shouldn’t be paid fairly.
And with the Government borrowing $48 million per day just to keep the lights on, these hikes show that the politicians haven't yet got to grips with keeping a lid on the costs of Government.
Yes, Minister indeed!
Which departments are raking it in? 💰🥸
There are a few standouts on the leaderboard.
Take the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, where average salaries have jumped a staggering 31.64 percent since 2020 to $129,400.
According to the Ministry's website, the Ministry's job is to:
"enrich the lives of all New Zealanders by supporting many of the country’s arts, media, heritage and sports organisations. We advise government on cultural matters and provide research and resources for everyone to access."
Well, on $130k each, they're certainly 'enriching' something - but I'm not sure it's 'all New Zealanders'...
Not far behind is the Ministry of Health at 31.62 percent where the average salary has jumped from $105,000 to $138,200 — that’s more than $33,000 extra per staffer. Across a large department, that adds up very quickly.
And remember, we're talking about the Ministry of Health not Health New Zealand/Te Whatu Ora. The Ministry doesn't deliver health services.
The $138,200 average salary isn't for doctors, surgeons, nurses, or specialist carers. It's literally the 'back office' policy advisors and armies of 'health managers'.
Meanwhile, the Ministry for Women (again, solely a policy advisory, rather than an actual service delivery agency) sees its staff take home a cool $143,300 on average.
When departments say they’re under pressure and need more funding, it’s fair to ask why the pay packets inside those departments keep growing so much faster than those of the people paying their salary.
$116k for a logo? No wonder Whanganui District Council hid the cost 🎨
New documents uncovered by investigations team show Whanganui District Council’s January rebrand didn’t cost the $61,800 ratepayers were originally told. No – it actually came in at a whopping $116,899 – $55,000 more than what was publicly presented.
To justify the spend, officials claimed the Council was juggling around 20 different logos and that it was all too hard to manage. 🤨
But in reality, many of those belong to individual facilities (things like the opera house or pools). In other words, the “problem” being solved doesn’t look nearly as dramatic as it was made out to be.
And here’s where their excuses really start to unravel.
Public feedback wasn’t exactly crying out for change. Around half of submissions either supported keeping the existing coat of arms or said the rebrand shouldn’t go ahead if it cost money.
Yet here we are.
Councillors didn’t even sign off on the decision. Instead, it appears to have been driven by council staff in another example of unelected officials pushing through costly changes without clear democratic backing.
If councils want to change something as fundamental as a city’s identity, it should be done transparently, with elected representatives making the call, not quietly pushed through by a self-promoting CEO.
Why are we paying millions for new logos? 💰
It’s becoming a familiar story: government agency decides it needs a fresh “look”… and taxpayers are left footing the bill.
Last month, Investigations Coordinator Rhys wrote to Public Service Minister Judith Collins raising concerns about the growing cost of public sector rebranding.
The examples speak for themselves. NZQA’s rebrand blew out to $2.9 million, new Crown Research Institutes spent $270,000, and Callaghan Innovation dropped another $170,000 on its own overhaul.
And for what? A new logo, a new website, and a new set of 'branding guidelines'.
But the problem isn’t just the spending, it’s the system behind it.
Back in 2021, the Government introduced Identity Policy and Guidelines intended to standardise branding across agencies using the New Zealand Coat of Arms, improving transparency and consistency. Yet in practice, those rules have been interpreted so loosely that agencies are still running their own branding exercises anyway, duplicating design work, refreshing websites, and racking up ongoing costs.
Other countries have already solved this. The UK and Australia use consistent, standardised government branding.
So we put a simple proposal to the Minister: tighten the rules. Limit branding exceptions to clearly defined cases where there’s a genuine operational or cultural need. No more free-for-all rebrands on the taxpayer dime.
To her credit, Minister Collins has asked officials to review the guidelines and assess where costs can be reduced, including lessons from recent blowouts.
That’s a good start. But let’s be honest, this shouldn’t require a review - just an instruction from the Cabinet Office.
Spending millions on logos isn’t just wasteful, it’s tone deaf given the financial climate.
But until the rules are tightened, don’t be surprised if the next rebrand bill lands in your payslip.
Gore’s 11 percent rates hike - public excluded 🚨
Whanganui City Council aren’t the only council on the naughty list this week.
Gore District Council has approved an 11 percent rates increase, without any public consultation!
That’s on top of the staggering 46.6 percent cumulative rates hike Gore ratepayers have faced over the past three years.
As our Local Government spokesman Josh put it, hiking rates without even consulting ratepayers is an outright affront to local democracy - and exactly why a rates cap is urgently needed. Now.
But don’t just listen to us. Gore native and Newstalk ZB Senior Political Correspondent Barry Soper certainly had something to say about the decision too, have a listen here.
Barry called our report 103 Ways to Save Money in Local Government “required reading” for local councillors and, without tooting our own horn, it’s not hard to see why.
It’s packed with practical, no-nonsense ideas to cut costs and take pressure off ratepayers, from trimming bloated comms teams to putting a stop to nice-to-have spending like rebrands, events, and consultancy blowouts.
The team have posted a hard copy of the report for every council in the country. Each councillor will also receive their own PDF version too - so there’s no room for excuses on missing this required reading.
If councillors can’t wait for their copy to arrive, you can read 103 Ways online now.
New Taxpayer Talk: Is the world... actually getting better? 🌈🎙️
Now, I know what you’re thinking. This is a bit rich coming from a newsletter that spends most of its time exposing government waste and bureaucratic nonsense.
But what if all the doom and gloom we’re constantly fed… just isn’t true?
In this week’s Taxpayer Talk, our Executive Director Jordan sits down with Cato Institute economist and HumanProgress.org founder Dr Marian Tupy to unpack the data behind global progress, and why so many people think things are getting worse when, in many ways, they’re improving.
From falling poverty and rising life expectancy to the real costs of Net Zero, housing affordability, and what AI means for the future of work, it’s a wide-ranging and surprisingly optimistic conversation.
I hope you all had a lovely Easter break - I had a great time in the Remutakas, getting some fresh air before Budget season hits.
Have a great week!
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Ps. Dashboards like the Bureaucrat Salary Leaderboard help us to keep the Wellington elites accountable. But we can’t do it without your support, so chip in now to contribute to our next one - the much-anticipated annual rates increase dash. 