All Flake and No Filling – Taxpayers’ Union Finds Mt. Messenger ‘Pieday Friday’ Scheme Half-Baked

Responding to reports that Waka Kotahi is estimated to be spending up to $500,000 on a ‘Pieday Friday’ scheme for workers on the Mount Messenger Bypass, Connor Molloy, Campaigns Manager at the Taxpayers’ Union, says:

“Waka Kotahi is yet again splashing taxpayers’ hard-earned cash as much as it pleases at a time when the government needs to be practicing fiscal responsibility. Local residents and businesses across the Taranaki region rely on State Highway 3 as a lifeline, but spend half their lives dodging scores of potholes. And yet rather than spending money fixing the roads, Waka Kotahi is clearing out bakery shelves buying pies on an industrial scale.

“With the cost of this bypass reaching $280 million over six years, and potentially more with an ongoing court case required to unlock the required land to build on, Waka Kotahi would be wise to target this scheme when it comes to trimming the fat – figuratively and literally. Government workers do not need a weekly pie party at the taxpayers’ expense, and it’s high time they looked to tighten their belts. Rather than the crust on these pies, it seems that Waka Kotahi’s books are the ones that are blind baked.”