REVEALED: Grant Robertson’s Rugby World Cup jaunt sets taxpayers back almost $40,000

The Taxpayers’ Union can today reveal that Grant Robertson’s attendance at the Rugby World Cup final in Paris cost taxpayers $39,605. Included in the cost was more than $32,000 in business class flights and more than $5000 in accommodation costs for the Minister and his staffer.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“After six years of frivolous spending, it seems Mr Robertson has taken one last ride on the taxpayer-funded gravy plane with a trip that amounts to nothing more than a lavish getaway for personal entertainment.

“Grant Robertson - and also Christopher Luxon who endorsed the travel - must front up to taxpayers and explain what value this trip created for New Zealand. Arguably it would’ve been better for New Zealand rugby to simply buy three rugby balls for every high school in the country, instead taxpayers spent $40,000 with nothing to show for it.

“Many families are struggling with the cost of living, yet politicians remain willing to blow the equivalent of more than five years of tax for a minimum wage worker on a holiday most of us could only dream of. All publicly-funded international travel must have increased scrutiny to ensure that value-for-money is actually being delivered, otherwise we are simply socialising the costs of ministers’ personal holidays.”

A breakdown of the travel costs can be found here.