As Central Government intervention in Wellington City Council seems to be getting more and more likely, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, warned commentators to “be careful what you wish for.”

“We’ve all seen this movie before. When commissioners stepped into Tauranga, the city carried on sliding into ruin. Replacing elected leaders with unaccountable bureaucrats isn’t some magic solution.”

“There’s a ready-made solution for getting rid of incompetent representatives: voting. The real problem is voters are only allowed a voice once every three years.”

“Recall elections would let Wellingtonians sling out their busted leadership without throwing democracy onto the sacrificial pyre. Central Government needs to step up, legalise democracy, and let Wellingtonians take their city back from the brink.”

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal through the Official Information Act that the New Zealand Film Commission has spent $145,354.81 for just four staff members to spend two weeks in France attending the Cannes Film Market.

Receipts showed $24,329.08 in accommodation, $24,525.36 in food and drink, and $21,704.54 on travel.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Last year, the Taxpayers’ Union called out the Film Commission for wasting $73,000 at the Cannes Film Festival. Taking that as a challenge, this year they’ve blown more than double that at the Cannes Film Market.”

“Bureaucrats are no strangers to jetting off having fun at the taxpayers’ expense, but Film Commission staffers blow through cash like it’s going out of fashion. Kiwis struggling to put bread and milk on the table shouldn’t be forced to stump up for champagne and caviar.”

“Bear in mind that this was the same agency that was criticised in July for having four staff office parties in less than a fortnight, costing over $16,000. Living the A-lister party lifestyle and not having to pay a penny out of pocket, not a bad gig if you can get it”

“Even if plying Hollywood big wigs with taxpayer-funded champagne was successful in attracting a film production to New Zealand, Kiwis would still be on the hook for millions of dollars of film subsidies. Either way, taxpayers lose.”

“This entire agency's purpose seems to be corporate welfare and popping corks. It’s time to roll credits on the Film Commission.” 

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on ASB Bank CEO Vittoria Shortt to put her money where her mouth is and make a donation to the Government given her call for New Zealanders to be taxed even more.

Stuff reports that Ms Shortt says “New Zealand has to collect more tax to invest in the infrastructure the country so desperately needs.”

“Ms Shortt needs to get out more,” says Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union. “The Infrastructure Commission reports that despite New Zealand spending a higher percentage of GDP on public infrastructure than Australia and the OECD median, we rank near the bottom of high-income countries for infrastructure efficiency.”

“Contrary to what the banker says, it’s not that we’re under-taxed or are under spending, rather it’s a productivity problem.”

“Since 2017 tax revenue to the Government increased by 59%.  Inflation over the same period was just 27%. The Government does not have a revenue problem – it already collects more than enough. The Government has a spending problem and has no metrics that it can use to evaluate the efficiency of the spending and whether it’s delivering value for money.“

“If Shortt is serious, we invite her to donate some of her reported $5million annual salary to the Government. Or did she only mean for her ASB customers to pay more?”

ASB Bank takes distinct position from Australian parent on bank excess profit tax

“We also note Shortt’s comments appear to contradict the views of her Australian bosses.” said Williams.

Six weeks ago the Commonwealth Bank chief executive, Matt Comyn, described a proposed excessive profits tax for Australian banks as “insidious populism” and labelled criticism of profitable businesses as “fact-free rhetoric” that is damaging trust in public institutions. (see https://www.theguardian.com/news/article/2024/aug/29/commonwealth-bank-ceo-labels-greens-tax-policy-insidious-populism-after-firms-98bn-profit)

“Is ASB saying that they support a tax on the extra-ordinary profits the Australian-owned banks are making on their New Zealand operations?  If not, why is what Shortt says is good for the goose, not good for the gander?” asked Williams.

The Taxpayers' Union is calling out Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger who admitted on TVNZ's Q&A that “I didn’t do what I promised” when asked about Christchurch’s recent rates hikes, but claimed, bizarrely, that it isn't a "broken promise".

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Communications Officer, Alex Emes, said:

"Does Mayor Mauger live on another planet?  Not fulfilling a promise is the definition of breaking a promise. That holds true even in local government-land."

"When you stand on a promise to cap rates at 3-4 percent but then ram a 9.4 percent hike down ratepayers’ throats, that’s a betrayal to the people who trusted him with their vote. To claim otherwise is nothing short of gaslighting."

"Mayor Phil's credibility on rates is shot. He's opted to rate $4000 from every Christchurch household for a lavish stadium. He should at least own the decision.”

Kāinga Ora was slammed yesterday following revelations it spent $1.2 million per apartment build, as part of its new Meadowbank complex.

“This appalling cost warrants urgent review across the organisation.” said a Taxpayers’ Union spokesman, Sam Warren.

“A Select Committee is needed to determine what went so wrong, with powers to compel witnesses under oath. Accountability needs to be shown.

“This is either an example of the former Labour Government’s ‘build-at-all costs’ philosophy that saw Kāinga Ora rack up $12 billion of debt in just 5-years, or something even more insidious is going on within the agency.

“These revelations come less than one week after former Board member, Philippa Howden-Chapman, criticised the Government’s review into Kāinga Ora in her resignation letter, claiming the scrutiny would further exacerbate homelessness.

“We cannot allow thinly veiled attempts to exonerate accountability and stop improvements. It's critical that Kāinga Ora is both effective and sustainable. If we find ways to do more with less, more homes would be built – plain and simple. But when KO builds lower spec’d homes at unacceptably higher costs than other developers, something must be done.”

Lowest support for National in 15 months; highest for Labour in 16 months; in latest Taxpayers’ Union-Curia Poll 
 
The latest Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll for October shows National down 4.1 points on September’s poll to 34.9%, and Labour up 3.6 points to 30.3%. This is the lowest result for National in 15 months and highest for Labour in 16 mounths. 

The Greens are down 0.6 points to 10.4%, while ACT rises 0.9 points to 9.7%. 
 
New Zealand First are up 0.8 points to 7.6%, while Te Pāti Māori are down 2.0 points to 3.0%. 
 
The full poll results can be found here on the Taxpayers' Union's website here at https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/oct2024_polling 
 
For the minor parties, TOP are on 2.5% (up 1.4 points), whilst the combined total for other parties is 1.6%. 
 
This month's results are compared to the last Taxpayers' Union – Curia poll conducted in September 2024, available at https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/poll_sept2024 
 
Based on these results, National are down four seats on the last poll to 44, while Labour gains five to 38 seats. 
 
The Greens are down one seat to 13 while ACT is up one to 12 seats. 
 
New Zealand First are up one seat to nine from the last poll, while Te Pāti Māori remains on six. 
 
The combined projected seats for the Centre-Right has fallen two from the last poll to 65. The combined seats for the Centre-Left is up four to 57. 
 
On these numbers, National and ACT would require the support of New Zealand First to form a government. This calculation assumes that all electorate seats are held.   

A summary of the results, including preferred Prime Minister scores, are available on our website here: https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/oct2024_polling 

Major Voting Issues – Appearance in Top Three 

For the first time, the Taxpayers’ Union is publicly releasing the results of the “Major Voting Issue – Top 3” – which suggests that voters are considering health an increasingly important issue.  

36.5% of respondents named the Cost of Living as one of their top three issues (up 0.5 points from last month), followed by Health at 35.5% (up 4.2 points), the Economy more generally 33.7% (up 3.6 points), Law and Order 16.5%, Poverty 16.3%, and Housing 12.1%. 

Get the full report – join the Taxpayer Caucus 

As part of the same poll, favourability data for party leaders and other notable politicians is collected monthly. This month, results were obtained for Labour’s Deputy Leader, Carmel Sepuloni, and Megan Woods as well as Labour’s Leader, the Prime Minister, and the coalition parties’ leaders. All of these results are detailed in the full Taxpayers’ Union-Curia Poll report made available exclusively to members of the Taxpayer Caucus. 

Huge Taxpayer Update today.

NEW POLL (not good news for Luxon); boat sinking (not good news for taxpayers); Government books even worse than feared (not good news for those who wanted Nicola Willis to tackle the last Government's wasteful spending).

We do have some good news for your Friday though: Jordan's been digging into the Government's proposed replacement for the Resource Management Act, and it's looking promising. He sat down and interviewed one of the two MPs driving the effort (video of the interview below).

State of the Government books is a serious wake-up call ⏰

Yesterday, Treasury released the Financial Statements of the Government for the Year Ended 30 June 2024. It had about as much good news as your council rates bill.

As soon as the report landed, our team compared the actual numbers with the projections that were released back in May as part of the Budget. Are we doing better or worse than expected?

Only the fiscal sadists left the Treasury lock-up smiling.

Despite the change of Government, government spending continues to grow faster than revenue.

Our in-house Economist, Ray Deacon, sent a note around the campaign team and interns last night. I couldn't have put it better:

To give some perspective on the situation, take a look at how key elements of the Core Crown account have changed since 2016/17. This is the part of government that covers the core policy ministries and operational departments but excludes crown entities, state-owned enterprises and mixed ownership entities.  Consumer price inflation over the period amounted to 27.2%.

Audited data doesn't lie. The Government does not have a revenue problem – it already extracts too much – it has an expenditure problem! Whilst the current Government cannot be held entirely accountable for the current state of the government accounts, it will be accountable for not quickly improving the situation going forward.  Only a much more rigorous examination of government expenditure and deletion of entire programmes (especially the corporate welfare handouts) can hope to achieve the strong fiscal consolidation that Sir Bill English achieved post the global financial crisis and which got New Zealand back into surplus.  Leaving it to officials to decide where to make cuts won’t work – Ministers must make these decisions and remove any obstacles in their way.

There endeth the sermon.

Ray also highlighted the issue with the deficit spending being "structural", according to Treasury officials. That means that even when the economy bounces back, the books are still not expected to return to surplus.

There needs to be a fundamental shift in fiscal policy if New Zealand is to avoid what happened in the mid-80s and then again in the early 90s: the government running out of money.

He's green, he's hungry, and he's now coming for the kids 👀

Nicola Willis is borrowing a million bucks an hour to keep New Zealand Wellington afloat.

That's even faster than the rate Grant Robertson borrowed.

The times of cheap money are over. This year interest payments will amount to more than $9.2 billion – that's $4,622 for your household (and every other household in New Zealand)!

That’s the same as what the Government will spend on primary schools, secondary schools and the Ministry of Justice combined.

So rather than paying for a scary movie this weekend, just head on over to the Official Debt Clock.

It's running hotter than ever.*

*note Debt Clock figures track government debt in real time rather than as at 30 June.

Job losses in Wellington? What job losses? 🤷

Remember how the Government was going to sack those 18,000 extra bureaucrats Labour hired in the last three years of its reign? Well, yesterday, there was another set of figures being released by the Public Service Commission (ironically, just across the road from the Treasury lock-up at No.1 The Terrace, in the Reserve Bank Building at No. 2, The Terrace).

Sir Humphrey reported as being 'safe and sound'... 😮‍💨

Despite all the crowing about "brutal" and "unfair" public service cuts in Wellington, we now know that there were still more bureaucrats in July 2024 than there were 12 months earlier!

There's a hell of a long way to go to sling out the extra 18,000 taken on under the last Government (see Connor's excellent visualisation that got us into trouble with Parliament's Speaker here).

And while the [taxpayer funded] spin doctors in Nicola Willis' Beehive office are keen to promote the 13 percent ($274 million) reduction in spending on contractors and consultants, the fact is the Government has cut less well paid (see below) pen pushers than Chris Hipkins hired in his last few months in office! Even the spin doctors couldn't omit the key figure: the Government has 421 more employees as at 30 June 2024 than 12 months earlier.

Nicola fought the blob, but the blob won?

...and rather well paid 🏝️

And buried in the Public Service Commission data:

Remuneration: The average annual salary for public servants was $101,700, a 4.6 percent increase on the previous year. Increases were higher at the lower and middle salary levels driven by the Public Service Pay Adjustment and incremental change. At the other end of the scale, there were more modest increases, with average salaries for tier 2 managers increasing 2.1 percent. Private sector average earnings increased 4.0 percent over the same period, according to Stats NZ's Quarterly Employment Survey.

For comparison, $83,824 is the average wage for the same year ended 30 June (Stats NZ).

New Zealand's longest "real" recession 😧

There was some celebration this week with the Reserve Bank cutting the official cash rate (the main driver of interest rates) down to 4.75%.

But if you think it'll be enough to fix the economic woes, I have an Interislander ferry to sell you. As James put it in his comments to the media:

“High interest rates have caused a bigger per-capita recession than the one experienced in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis, and the backsliding of Kiwis’ living standards doesn’t look set to stop any time soon.

“Growth is the only answer, and slashing interest rates could be the first step in the right direction. But the risk of long-term damage hasn’t gone away, and the Government needs to work to make sure this OCR cut pays off.

“Domestic inflation still hangs at 5.4% thanks to the reckless previous Government’s overspending. The current Government must double down on any efforts to cut wasteful expenditure, and any savings should be used to start chipping away at anti-growth tax policies like one of the highest corporate tax rates in the developed world.”

The media like to talk of "technical" recessions (that is, two successive quarters of negative growth). But the real number is always per capita growth. If the population grows faster than the economy, we're still getting poorer.

On that per person measure, New Zealand is in the longest recession since records began. Ouch.

From one shipwreck to the next... 🚢🤔

The HMNZS Manawanui went down this week, seemingly hitting a reef and sinking off the coast of Samoa. Thankfully, everyone escaped with their lives and only taxpayers were seriously injured ($100 million of Royal Naval taxpayer assets disappeared below the waves).

Quite rightly there will be a Court of Inquiry to work out what went so wrong. But a Court of Inquiry is not enough. Unlike civilian judicial proceedings, the public has no rights whatsoever to observe the Court of Inquiry or even know the findings.

It may not be about blame (the Taxpayers' Union is not interested in a pile-on against the Captain) but we say New Zealanders are entitled to know whether the Navy is incompetent or just cursed.

Courts of Inquiry operate in secret because much of their matters relate to national security and military discipline.

But let's get real, the Manawanui was fighting coral, not commies. It should be an open court process determining what went wrong.

Defence Minister Judith Collins should be ensuring taxpayers are not left in the dark so that we know for sure that this wasn't just an Interislander-style "left the autopilot on" SNAFU. 

New Taxpayers' Union-Curia Poll: lowest results for Nats in 15 months 📉📊

That's not the only bad news for the Government this week, as our hot-off-the-press poll revealed today.

National is down 4.1 points to 34.9 percent from last month while Labour is up 3.6 points to 30.3 percent.

That's National's lowest number in 15 months, and the highest Labour have been in the polls for 16 months.

The Greens are down 0.6 points to 10.4 percent, while ACT are up to 9.7 percent (+0.9 points). New Zealand First is up 0.8 points to 7.6 percent while Te Pāti Māori is down 2.0 points to 3.0 percent.

For the minor parties, TOP is on 2.5 percent (+1.4 points), and no other parties polled above 1.0 percent.

Translating these numbers into seats in Parliament, National is down four seats on last month to 44 while Labour is up five seats to 38.

The Greens are down one to 13 while ACT is up one on last month to 12 seats. New Zealand First is up one to nine while Te Pāti Māori is unchanged on six.

On these numbers, the current coalition would still be able to form a Government, holding 65 seats to the centre-left bloc's 57.

For the first time, we are also releasing data on "Major Voting Issues – Top 3" usually reserved for our "Very Important Taxpayers" who support the Taxpayers' Union most generously.

We've made it public because it shows what might be driving the changes in this month's poll: Health has seen a surge in voters' priorities (now second), and with the difficulties the Government has had with this portfolio, could it be this which is hitting the National Party's ratings?

36.5 percent of respondents named the Cost of Living as one of their top three issues, followed by Health at 35.5 percent, the Economy more generally on 33.7 percent, Law and Order on 16.5 percent, Poverty on 16.3 percent, and Housing on 12.1 percent.

MfE & MFAT climate change high flyers: Chucking taxpayer money onto the 'Bonn-fire' 🔥🇩🇪

Regular readers of Taxpayer Update will know that we like to follow those hard working big-spending officials who are selflessly fighting climate change one business class flight at a time. 🍾

One civic-minded public servant's tip-off to the Taxpayers' Union led us to go digging into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), the Ministry of Primary Industries, and Ministry for the Environment's joint jaunt work trip to Bonn, Germany, for the UN's latest Climate Change conference.

Over the course of just a few days, the New Zealand delegation managed to blow more than $150 grand catching-up with their equivalents from around the the world.

And that's just what MFAT would tell us! Officials refused to say how much was spent on entertainment, food or drink (and if anyone's familiar with diplomats' expenses, you'll know they're not afraid to pop a cork or two). Either there's so much it is in fact 'too hard', or they just don't want you to know. Sounds like quite the party...

Speaking to the Platform James said:

"You've got all these bureaucrats at the minute saying they can work from home just fine, and use Zoom to join their meetings."

"But they can't do the same when there's a free trip on offer."

[click to watch]

Bang on, James.

Some good news this Friday: RMA reform imminent 🎉

The Resource Management Act is New Zealand's largest regulatory tax. No other piece of legislation does more to keep New Zealand poor and our living standards down.

When the RMA was introduced in 1990 it was seen as "world leading".  We shouldn't have waited 34 years to get the hint when no one followed!

Last week I sat down with one of the two MPs who are shepherding the next generation of land-use, planning, and environmental management law.

ACT's Simon Court has been head-down with Minister Chris Bishop on what comes next. For those interested in RMA reform, their "joint speech" is well worth the read.

Credit where credit's due, these reforms are looking to be a huge win for New Zealand.

If what the Government announced earlier in the month holds firm, we are on the cusp of a huge win for New Zealand and our future living standards. Freeing up New Zealanders from the type of 'command and control' central planning model will likely be the biggest thing the Luxon Government is to be remembered for. It is akin to the removal of import licences back in the 1980s.

So after seeing the speech, I asked Simon Court to come into our office and discuss the Government's workstream on replacing the Resource Management Act. 

The Government has released its financial statements for fiscal year 2024 yesterday. Its financial statement saw a 1.8% increase in net core crown debt and interest charges (total charges more than $10 million dollars) despite higher tax revenue. They assert the higher levels of revenue were caused from ‘higher levels of inflation’.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Communications Officer, Alex Emes, said:

“This is not a good look for this government’s first financial statement. They were elected on a promise to deliver real tax relief during a cost of living crisis that hardworking Kiwis are facing every single day.

“The numbers show that, while everyday New Zealanders have been struggling to meet the new realities caused from inflation, this Government has profited more than $14 million dollars. This is proof that their July milk toast tax relief just wasn’t enough.

“During a time of increased profits on the backs of the working-class, the Government has increased spending even more than its predecessor. Instead of higher revenues, greater debt and more interest on the back of taxpayers, it’s time the Government turns the table and delivers meaningful tax relief.”

Councillors today voted not to sell the airport shares, in what Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, says “could be shaping up to be an incredible act of economic sabotage.”

“Wellington City Council has already breached its debt limit, and as the airport shares have not been sold, officers are now warning the debt ceiling might need to triple.”

“Wellington households are already paying more than $800 a year in interest on the council’s debt, not to mention more than four grand servicing central government debt. Now that bill is set to skyrocket even higher”

“The answer was clear. The airport shares had to be sold and the money used to pay down some of the massive debts on Wellington’s books.”

“It’s about time the council stopped treating ratepayers like an endless piggybank and made some big choices to start putting their finances first. Starting with selling the airport, then slashing wasteful spending on back-office staff and vanity projects like the ever-growing cycle network.”

Andrea Vance reports in The Post today on the horribly, messily complicated sale (or not) of Wellington City Council’s airport shares.

“Whilst the Council’s complete dysfunction is widely understood, these new developments, as reported by Vance, are deeply disturbing” said Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross.

“Vance reports that the two unelected mana whenua representatives, who do not sit on the full council where the vote will take place, are threatening to pull out of an iwi-council partnership over the vote. This is a blatant attempt to strong-arm elected representatives with the threat of feigned offence if the Council does not vote the ‘right’ way.

“But even worse, Vance reports that representative Holden Hohaia has a vested interest in the outcome as his iwi has aspirations in buying the shares. That should automatically disqualify him from having any input into the process or deliberations. It is therefore fortunate that he has no actual vote on the sale at the full Council. However, if Vance is correct, his threats are inappropriate and call into question the wisdom of having unelected representatives on councils or council committees.”

The Reserve Bank has today slashed the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 50 basis points, to 4.75%.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“High interest rates have caused a bigger per-capita recession than the one experienced in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis, and the backsliding of Kiwis’ living standards doesn’t look set to stop any time soon.

“Growth is the only answer, and slashing interest rates could be the first step in the right direction. But the risk of long-term damage hasn’t gone away, and the Government needs to work to make sure this OCR cut pays off.

“Domestic inflation still hangs at 5.4% thanks to the reckless previous Government’s overspending. The current Government must double down on any efforts to cut wasteful expenditure, and any savings should be used to start chipping away at anti-growth tax policies like one of the highest corporate tax rates in the developed world.”

Health NZ’s predicted deficit by June 2025 has grown to $1.76 billion, ballooning from $1.4 billion only a few months ago.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Communications Officer, Alex Emes, said:

“Overspending by $147 million a month is staggering. It’s clear the centralise-at-all-costs model has blown up in our faces, and serious decentralising reform is needed to keep our health system afloat.

“Our health system is in crisis, and the Government need to stop tinkering around the edges. Taxpayers need answers on how things went so wrong, but there’s no longer any choice except to try and find drastic savings.

“The new Commissioner needs to be ruthless about putting spin doctors and policy wonks on the chopping block, before the whole house of cards tumbles down.”

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal through an Official Information Act request that the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) has spent $9,957,895 co-funding EV chargers across the public service.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“EECA funding half the public service’s EV charger bill is as ridiculous as it is useless, and it’s time to pull the plug on this nonsense. Whether its departments themselves or EECA funding these projects, it’s still taxpayers getting slapped with the bill.

“Back in August, we revealed the $2.2 million cost of the Ministry of Education’s EV charger escapades. We now know shockingly that pales in comparison to Health New Zealand’s around $8 million.

“Under the Emissions Trading Scheme, the Government could spend its entire budget on EV chargers and it wouldn’t reduce emissions by a single gram. This is subsidising already well-off EV drivers, taking people’s hard-earned money to waste on subsidising luxury travel.”

The New Zealand Defence Force-led inquiry to determine the cause of the HMNZS Manawanui’s sinking may be kept secret from the public.

“The reasons for the demise of the HMNZS Manawanui must be made known” said a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union, Sam Warren.

“The vessel itself was a $100 million asset to New Zealand and her strategic defence. Determining the cause of its sinking sits entirely within the public’s interest.

“Promises made by the Minister for a ‘short-and-sharp’ inquiry are only as good as the transparency that follows.

“Conjecture is running rampant on what might have caused such a costly loss to New Zealand. She was a 20-year old ship performing presumably a low-risk exercise. Was there a technical problem? Issues of poor procurement? Or was there something else that resulted in such a significant loss to the country?

“The Defence Force must reveal as soon as practicable the cause of this disaster so that the public can have confidence this will not be repeated."

Following yesterday’s strategy meeting, TVNZ has proposed outsourcing its daily operations and shutting down the 1News website and app in an attempt to find $30 million dollars in savings.

Commenting on this, Taxpayer’s Union Communications Officer, Alex Emes, said:

“It’s nice that TVNZ is finally looking to cut costs and start showing an interest in cleaning up the financial boondoggle they have got themselves into.

“However, the timing of this announcement begs the question ‘why didn’t they decide to save $30 million earlier?’. Had they acted sooner, the public purse wouldn’t have needed to bear the brunt of TVNZ’s $85 million loss this year.

“This cut-cutting exercise is evidence they are running a failed business model. With the company burning through cash and now unable to deliver the services it is supposed to be providing New Zealanders, it’s time the government sells TVNZ before this fiasco gets even worse.”

Following news that Tasman District Council would remove a number of newly installed speed bumps after receiving backlash from locals, the Taxpayers Union can reveal through the LGOIMA  that the total cost of construction and deconstruction was $42,664.

"Councillors need to take a hard look at themselves when it come to this kind of waste” said Local Government Spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union, Sam Warren.

“It shouldn’t take immense public backlash for Council to decide that these speed bumps were a bad idea to begin with.

"Before starting work on moving kerbs to make space for more cycle lanes, Tasman Council needs to think about its mistake. The costly construction and ultimate removal of the speed bumps is an easily avoided blunder.

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal through the Official Information Act that the Ministry of Primary Industry (MPI), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFAT) and Ministry for the Environment (MFE) collectively spent more than $150,000 to send ten staffers to the Bonn Climate Conference. This cost covered travel, accommodation and meals amongst other spending.

With MFAT refusing to fully release costs due to time constraints, the cost to taxpayers will almost certainly be higher than this.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Bureaucrats will take any excuse to hop on a plane for a holiday. In this case, ten staff hopped off to Germany at a cost to the taxpayer of 15 grand each. It seems like some staff spend more time overseas than they do in the office these days.

“That’s without even touching on the irony of logging nearly 230,000 miles combined in air travel - including legs in business class - to talk about how other people should reduce their emissions. As always. it’s rules for me and not for thee.

“New Zealand already has a world-beating way of reducing our emissions through the Emissions Trading Scheme, although ironically international air travel is one of the few things not covered by the ETS. If these bureaucrats want to put their money where their mouths are, they need to put away their suitcases, attend by zoom and save the taxpayer some money whilst they’re at it.” 

The New Zealand Taxpayer’s Union can reveal through information obtained from an Official Information Request that ACC has spent more than $251,000 contracting The Research Agency (TRA) to administer a monthly survey tracking public engagement and trust.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Communications Officer, Alex Emes, said:

“ACC wasting over a quarter of a million dollars on a run-of-the-mill survey shows what happens when you give bureaucrats bottomless budgets to work with. There’s not a chance waste like this would be signed off in the private sector.

“Putting aside the fact that ‘monitoring external engagement’ has little to do with ACC’s actual job, they’re not even doing this well. For the sake of a survey targeting only around 6,900 over the space of a year, $250k that should have been spent on solving real health issues is now in the pockets of some very lucky consultants.

“Taxpayers don’t expect their hard-earned money to be blown on bureaucratic exercises that do nothing to reduce injury rates or improve services. ACC needs to focus on what it was created for, not frivolous projects that don’t serve the public.”

The NZ Herald has released a story regarding Health New Zealand’s recent $934 million deficit for fiscal year 2024.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Communications Officer, Alex Emes, said:
 
“These recent figures highlight the financial mismanagement that occurs at Health New Zealand. With news like this, taxpayers are absolutely in their right to demand answers.
 
“It’s not as if this $934 million deficit wasn’t preventable. Parts of this deficit include $193 million of expired Covid-19 stock, having almost 4400 staff over budget at a cost of $406 million, and finding $40 million ‘less’ in savings.
 
“These results demonstrate how major reform is needed at Health New Zealand. Their current trajectory of overspending more than $130 million per month is unsustainable. If this keeps up, they will be over $1.3 billion in the hole next year.
 
“While they may blame unreceived funding, the reality is that they aren’t providing a responsible, value-for-money service. It’s time for Health NZ show some respect to the people paying the bills and start to do a better job of balancing their books.”

Wellington City Council officials have provided figures suggesting that the council’s debt limit could triple if it does not sell its stake in Wellington International Airport.

“Doubling down on the city’s financial crisis is not the answer, and residents can’t take more punishment”, said James Ross, spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union.

“Last year, each household in Wellington paid over $800 just to finance their council’s spiralling debt. That’s on top of more than four grand they paid in interest on central government debt.”

“And with rates also tripling over the next decade, there’s no more money to wring out of ratepayers.”

“The only answer is to cut the council’s ludicrous spending on waste, start paying off the debt and lower the debt ceilings to stop this happening again. If selling off the airport shares is what it takes to do that then councillors need to step up and do the right thing.”

The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal through the Official Information Act that the Reserve Bank has spent more than $2 million on its digital cash programme so far. The ongoing project explores the introduction of an electronic currency, and has an approved total budget of $4.7 million.

“Someone needs to tell the Governor to stick to his knitting” said Policy & Public Affairs Manager for the Taxpayers’ Union, James Ross.

“Inflation has been outside the RBNZ’s target range for 40-months now, meanwhile Adrian Orr has been busy playing about with digital cash. 

“The Reserve Bank has failed to do its actual job for years. What about their performance has ever suggested that giving them millions of dollars to chuck away on pet projects would lead to a useable, secure and cost-effective outcome?

“More than $2 million dollars have been already spent on consultants, and not one person has thought to ask ‘how much will a digital cash actually cost New Zealand?’ or ‘has this worked anywhere else?’

“Even more concerning is that the true cost of the programme comes to a much higher figure when wages are included for RBNZ employees involved. While they would not provide us with specific salaries, we can work from the mid-point for their salary bands, which adds a further $1.3 million to the overall project cost so far.

“The Reserve Bank needs to quit playing around with expensive side-projects and return its core focus towards fighting inflation.”

From 2023, ACC started charging levies on Kiwis’ income who live overseas, sending 4,300 of these levy invoices in the 2023 tax year alone.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“If you’re living overseas and working overseas, you pay taxes on your income overseas. That’s how it works for most of the world, unless of course you’re a Kiwi where you could get the luxury of having two governments rifling through your pockets.

“Why should Kiwis living overseas be forced to stump up thousands of dollars a year for services they don’t use?

“In countries like the UK, tax residency means living in the country for over half the year. In New Zealand, you get stung if you so much as pop back into the country for a few weeks a year to see the family.

“Perhaps if ACC stopped wasting money on new-age, untested nonsense and got back to focusing on care that works they wouldn’t feel the need for this double-tax rort."

Andrea Vance’s reports in The Post on the latest ructions concerning the potential sale Wellington City Council’s shareholding in Wellington International Airport Limited, where council staff had been posting information supporting the sale on the council’s social media channels and website.

Council chief executive Barbara McKerrow finally ordered the posts to be removed, but not before past and present councillors accused officials of playing politics.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesman, James Ross, stated “officials wading into a highly-charged political debate by propagandising for one side is deeply concerning. This is a live issue that’s still in need of a vote by elected councillors to resolve.

“But worse than that, councillors are saying these posts are using financial information the councillors themselves have been denied access to. Once again, councillors are being expected to try and govern the city blind, whilst officers play puppet-master behind the scenes.

“This is beyond unacceptable, and serious questions need to be asked about who’s actually running Wellington City Council. Officers have no right to dictate to elected representatives what information they’re allowed to see and when, and they need bringing to heel before the city spins further down the pan. Wellington is not Barbara McKerrow’s personal fiefdom.”

The Taxpayers’ Union – along with a hundred or so local members and supporters – presented the Hastings District Council new council chambers today in the form of a “Bouncy Council” (bouncy castle) to reflect the Mayor and councillors who are acting like children in appointing teenagers as voting members of Council Committees.

“Councillors and the Mayor are acting like children at the very time Hastings needs some adults,” Jordan Williams, the Union’s executive director said. “This is a Council having to rebuild after Gabrielle and imposing a 19% rates hike this year alone.”

“Luckily for the adolescents on the Council, Sandra Hazlehurst has been blowing more than enough hot air to inflate the five metre-high bouncy castle, with plenty spare to keep the bubble machines going.”

“On the very slim chance the Mayor missed the giant pink unicorn bouncy castle, the hundred Hastings residents turning out in the middle of a workday (and on only a few hours’ notice), and the bubble machine, it serves as a warning shot that ratepayers are sick of being taken for a ride.”

“Councillors need to get back to business, send the kids back to school, and focus on delivering value for ratepayers’ money.”

“Unfortunately the Mayor refused to front. She was probably taking a nap, or didn’t want to disturb her play time.”

The Taxpayers Union can reveal through the LGOIMA that Stratford District Council has received $344,558 for two new crossings from NZTA – with $96,230 spent on traffic management alone, and further work is required, the overall cost is set to rise.

“When ratepayers say they are unhappy, elected members must start listening or face a very difficult election result" said Taxpayers' Union Local Government Campaigns Manager, Sam Warren.

"When the mayor says its 'now or never' and is met with calls of 'never' from the council gallery, there's a very big problem when it goes unheeded.

“The June 30 cut-off for NZTA’s 'low cost, low risk safety improvement' fund has resulted in a rushed money-grab by council. One Stratford Councillor made the suggestion for a delay, which was met with applause by locals.

“As the slush fund from the previous Labour government dries up, and the country's debt remains high, councils must focus on their core activities over expensive nice-to-haves.”

The Taxpayers' Union is telling Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst to 'grow up' after she used her casting vote to give committee voting rights, and a salary, to members of the Hastings District Youth Council: school-aged kids.

"We vote for a mayor and councillors to be adult decision makers and here they are literally outsourcing to kids," says Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers' Union.

“This move is either a sign of utter ineptitude or a cynical move to manipulate young people so that the political balance on the council is shifted. Either way, it is utterly disgraceful."

"It's bad enough being a so-called 'youth councillor'. These school age, clipboard-bearing loners are now going to be introduced to the ratepayer tit before they're even old enough to have paid rent on a flat, let alone seen a rates bill."

"Let's get real. It's a thinly-veiled move by left-leaning councillors to stack council committees with even more idealism and inexperience.  Using kids for political leverage needs to be called out for what it is."

“It's also undemocratic. These children have no democratic mandate or accountability. It's a blatant attempt to 'screw the scrum' by cynical politicians and grifters."

"Local government is in crisis and instead of the adults prevailing, Mayor Hazlehurst is inviting kids with, at best, year 10 business studies, to cast votes on governance matters of an organisation with total assets of nearly three billion." 

“And what are the parameters of the Mayor's anti-democratic logic? Surely the senile and bewildered sitting in Hastings' old folks' homes should be represented too. Perhaps Grey Power should get a seat at the table? It's nonsense."

“If the councillors that supported this masquerade had a shred of decency, they would have gone to a referendum – because residents have woken up to news that literal 15-year olds are making decisions on things they know nothing about."

"Will these well-paid kids front up and be accountable to ratepayers? Or is this just a charade of politicians using kids for political ends. Time will tell."

Disclosure: Jordan Williams is a former Hastings District Youth Councillor.

Stuff this morning reported that bureaucrats who may now need to show up to work due to Nicola Willis’ new working guidelines are feeling the pinch and complaining that the directive now puts them in a position of being financially worse off.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Communications Officer, Alex Emes, said:

“Bureaucrats complaining about having to show up to work exposes their double standard. The fact that many of them admit the need for people to be in the office yet are complaining about the need for them to have to show up is a classic example of ‘rules for thee but not for me’.

“Taxpayers don’t pay bureaucrats full-time salaries for part-time work, but that’s clearly what they’ve been getting over the last few years. Labour’s 18,000 extra hires still managed to deliver worse services across the board, and it’s no coincidence quality dropped like a stone when bureaucrats started spending their days sitting around in their dressing gowns.

“If they want to be called “public servants”, then they should understand that maximising their productivity is what the public need from them. Taxpayers shouldn’t have to fork out extra to fund bureaucrats’ lifestyle choices.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling out ANZ NZ CEO Antonia Watson for what appears to be calculated comments to promote a capital gains tax to benefit home lenders and fuel New Zealand’s residential property money wheel.

“New Zealand’s low wage economy is a direct result of under-capitalisation of the private sector and too much money going into unproductive assets and family homes,” said Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union.

“Antonia Watson knows that full well, but also knows that every capital gains tax that has ever been promoted in New Zealand excludes the very family family home that ANZ makes most of its profits from.”

“The reason Watson is promoting a capital gains tax is so families are even further incentivised to park their nest eggs under the roofs of their family home.  That is terrible for New Zealand but great for ANZ’s bottom line and bankers’ bonuses.”

“Taxes on capital hurt investment, and they incentivise the very capital New Zealand needs to grow our standards of living to move offshore. A capital gains tax would hurt everything except the very residential property investments that ANZ makes so much coin from.”

“Watson’s self-interest is so brazen she even hid it under a veil of ‘fairness’. Predictably, RNZ swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.”

“This sort of gall nearly deserves admiration. It’s probably why the former Morgan Stanley banker pockets $1.9million as a salary.”

“If CGT proponents don’t really think these comments are calculated to help ANZ’s bottom line, and that we saw for the first time in history a bank CEO championing a policy for ‘fairness’, I have a bridge to sell them.”

Political pundits across the country spat out their coffee this morning upon turning to the NZ Herald's front page splash that Andrew Coster "speaks out on being dragged into political debate".

"Andrew Coster is either trolling the nation or has the self awareness of a paperclip," said Jordan Williams of the Taxpayers' Union.

"Coster has overseen an enormous pivot by the NZ Police towards politics and advocacy. Back in June, the Police Commissioner's alter-ego, one Andrew Coster, was doing media rounds advocating for the Government to change alcohol regulations."

"For someone now crying tears about being 'dragged into political debates', it is weird that he was literally leading Morning Report just a few months ago in advocating for minimum pricing of alcohol."

At the time, the Taxpayers' Union labelled Coster 'a constitutional barbarian' in that he was blatantly ignoring the long-held constitutional convention that Police - especially leadership - enforce the law, not lobby to change it.

"Coster has given the middle finger to the conventions he was supposed to protect. No wonder the new Government hasn't been able to express confidence in him."

"It is a sad reflection on New Zealand and our public sector that the only way the Government has been able to move Coster along, is to park him in a cushy job in another government department. His lack of judgement shows he should be no where near a leadership role. Cabinet Ministers know that but have gone along with yet another fudge orchestrated by the Public Services Commission.  For those that want our public service to succeed, it is deeply depressing."

The Parliament Bill – an omnibus bill making a series of reforms aiming to modernise Parliament’s operations – has passed it’s first reading.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“If the Government’s talking about dragging New Zealand’s Parliament into the modern age, then why aren’t we seriously discussing making the Parliamentary Service subject to the same transparency rules as the rest of the public sector?

“For too long, MPs and their staff have been able to live it large on taxpayer dollars thanks to their secret expense accounts. Despite being the people paying for all their champagne and caviar, there’s nothing Kiwis can do to find out how MPs are wasting their money.

“It took leaked stories of MPs putting duck houses and moat cleaning on the expenses tab to blow the lid on the UK’s Parliamentary expenses scandal. New Zealanders shouldn’t just have to sit around waiting for leaks from disgruntled ex-staffers before they can demand some accountability from their MPs.”

The Public Service Minister yesterday made clear her expectations for government agencies to call their staff back to their offices in an effort to improve sector productivity and support businesses struggling with reduced patronage.

Minister Nicola Willis told media that working from home “is not an entitlement” and wants to see greater monitoring and data collection around working-from-home arrangements for the Public Service.

A spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union, Sam Warren, said:

“We welcome calls made for agencies to bring staff back to work. It's a pragmatic step towards reducing the bureaucratic inertia plaguing countless agencies since work-from-home became common under Covid restrictions.

“Remember, these are well-paid bureaucrats with average salaries of $97,000, which is funded by taxpayers. It’s not entirely unreasonable to expect them, when possible, to work onsite.

"It’s also encouraging to see that better data collection in this area is on the agenda. For months now, the Taxpayers’ Union has tried getting meaningful information from various agencies on things like data for physical staff attendance, which for the most part does not exist.

“Furthermore, arguments made that public job cuts are the sole reason for business downturn in places like Wellington are deliberately obtuse. Between 2017 and 2023, under the last Labour-led governments, the Public Service grew by 18,418 – a 39% increase. Since then, the number has reduced only by about 6,500. The truth is, there aren’t too few bureaucrats – there are just too many working from their couches.”

One News reported last evening that a council mistake in calculating direct debits has landed more than 300 Tararua ratepayers with unexpected bills. One pensioner was reduced to tears when informed she was $4,000 in arrears. The council reported that the error was caused by a systems failure, where council’s rates rebate process was not lined up with the direct debit system.

Local Government Campaigns Manager for the Taxpayers' Union, Sam Warren, said “It was not a systems failure – it was a human failure. Humans design systems and these systems should be designed so that they operate without error.

“Clearly the system design was faulty – the fault of which lies with the humans who designed it. Was any testing of the system carried out? If so, it clearly wasn’t extensive enough and that is again, human failure.

“It is unacceptable for organisations to continually blame 'system failures' in a lazy attempt to absolve themselves from their own human errors. The correct course of action here is to refund those who have overpaid, absorb the loss from those who have underpaid and cut the salaries of those humans who made the error. The Taxpayers’ Union demands accountability – will Mayor Tracey Collis do the same?”

The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union can reveal through the Local Government Official Information and Meeting Act that Gisborne District Council has allocated $7,210,000 to seven projects from the previous government’s three waters reform – better off package.

Although Gisborne District Council remains one of the few councils to keep rates increases below 10% – at 6.5%, the storm-battered region could have better allocated this funding to prevent these rises.

Local Government spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union, Sam Warren, said:

“Reviewing these seven projects shows where the fault lies on council books.  With $200k unused for management costs alone, or $400k to clean up an area for an art sculpture.

“The biggest project of $3 million to get less waste into landfill highlights the poor prioritisation of the nice-to-haves over need-to-haves strategy.

“As New Zealand’s Debt Clock ticks closer to $180 billion, councils up and down the country need to better prioritise what’s most important as the money tap for much of local government is turned off.”

The NZ Herald has today reported that, according to internal emails, TVNZ's CEO is attempting to find $30 million in savings through cost cuts and website changes.
Just last month TVNZ reported a $85 million loss for the year, leaving the public asking why these changes haven’t been made sooner.

Taxpayers’ Union Communications Officer, Alex Emes, said:

“It’s all well and good that TVNZ has finally decided to act like a real business and find ways to minimise expenses.  If only the alarm bells went off earlier!  The fact that the CEO believes more than $30 million in savings can be found proves just how much fat there is to trim at the bloated state owned company.

"Had these savings been found earlier, the company would be in a far less dire situation than the one they find themselves in now.  The mismanagement and lack of urgency is a prime example of why TVNZ should to be sold now while it still might actually be worth something.

“TVNZ’s CEO needs to come clean.  Last year’s annual report had their CEO making more than a million dollars including a bonus incentive.  This year, even though they just reported a $85 million loss, Jodi O'Donnell has taken a measly 5 percent pay cut.  Will O'Donnell's savings include real cuts to the luxurious CEO pay package?

The Ministers for Climate Change and Energy have announced the launch of the Low Emissions Heavy Vehicle Fund.  This fund allocates $27.7 million dollars towards a 25% subsidy towards the purchase price of low emission heavy vehicles.

Taxpayers’ Union Communications Officer, Alex Emes, said:

“This announcement is another example of reckless government spending.  If the government truly wants to reach net zero, a simple cost benefit analysis would tell them that putting this amount of taxpayer dollars towards subsidising vehicles is a complete waste of money.

“All this does is hand over hard-earned taxpayer dollars to billion dollar car companies.  If small businesses understand one thing it’s how to balance the books.  And common sense is to not throw away money on expensive vehicles – an investment that this government apparently thinks is sound.

“Under New Zealand’s declining emissions cap, all these subsidies do is free up emission allowances for other businesses to take advantage of, and so there is no net reduction in emissions overall. This is not an efficient use of taxpayers’ funds.

“Kiwis expect to get bang for buck for their tax dollars.  If Climate Change Minister Watts truly understood just how little effect this will have on carbon emissions, he would cut this fund immediately.”

 

The Post has reported that nine of sixteen councillors have signed a notice of motion seeking to cancel the sale of a 34% stake in Wellington Airport.  This issue was so integral to the council’s long-term plan that this could mean all the council’s planned spending, borrowing and rating might need to go back for more public consultation.

Taxpayers’ Union Communications Officer, Alex Emes, said:

“If the sale of the 34% stake in Wellington Airport is killed this would be a significant reversal from a previously sound fiscal strategy.  Not only is this poor fiscal management in the long term, but this decision results in more public spending for public consultation in the short term.

“Instead of making a fiscally prudent decision that serves as a pathway for the future, the Council is now left thinking about squandering the opportunity.  Between future ramifications and current short term costs, this would only further pinch the pockets of ratepayers.

“Council needs to shift its focus back to helping hardworking ratepayers rather than pursue short-term influence over airport operations.  To even consider this level of financial mismanagement shows how out of touch this council is with Wellington ratepayers.”

“Statistics New Zealand’s release today of gross domestic product for the second quarter of 2024 shows another quarterly contraction” says Taxpayers’ Union economist Ray Deacon.  “Although not yet another technical recession, this will almost certainly be true with the third quarter’s result expected to also signal a further decline.

However, Statistics New Zealand data on GDP per capita reveals that this has contracted by 4.6% over seven consecutive quarters and this exceeds the decline of 4.2% over the first seven quarters of the global financial crisis.  It took another six quarters after this for GDP per capita to again rise consistently, signalling real economic growth had finally returned.” 

“This Reserve Bank engineered recession is serious and damaging, as much recent data indicates.  Although there is some slight evidence of growing confidence, that has yet to be translated into increased investment and output in the face of continued weak consumer demand and high interest rates.  The Reserve Bank must accelerate its program of reducing the official cash-rate in the light of continuing weakness in the economy and an expectation that third quarter CPI will fall under 2.5%.”

“The Government too must play its part by further spending cuts, especially at the bloated policy ministries and plethora of commissions.  Strong fiscal consolidation played a big part in returning New Zealand to surplus after the GFC and this enabled debt to be paid down.  The current Government must increase its efforts to achieve the same.”
 

Wellington Regional Council has today released documents showing that, in partnership with Metlink, more than $2.8 million in “cosmetic upgrades” has been spent on Naenae subway station. The upgrades include a $127,000 LED handrail, $29,000 on a public consultation questionnaire, and more than $159,000 on entrance signage.

Taxpayers’ Union Communications Officer, Alex Emes, said:

“These recent reports by Wellington Regional Council are a classic example of more ‘nice-to-have’ spending from local councils.

“$127,000 on an LED handrail is shameful. With egregious spending like this, it appears that the council is attempting to maximise costs rather than minimise them.

“This latest spending spree includes $29,000 on a “public consultation questionnaire” and more than $159,000 on entrance signs.  How big and bright are these signs being installed for them to cost the same amount as a brand new Porsche?

“In their statement today, Wellington Regional Council said the cosmetic changes were for ‘safety’.  Surely they could have just installed some lights in the station that would have provided the same amount of safety while costing a fraction of the $127,000 now wasted.

“With a cosmetic makeover of a subway station costing more than $2.8 million, questions needs to be asked about how these spending decisions were made.  Is the council deciding to now send ratepayer funds to the highest bidder?”

More than 6,500 taxpayers have filed requests under the Privacy Act to find out if their personal information was leaked to Facebook, Google, and other social media and tech companies, as part of IRD's enormous data breach that saw taxpayer information handed over for 'marketing' purposes.

Taxpayers' Union Spokesman, Sam Warren, said:

“This is the biggest breach of taxpayer privacy in New Zealand’s history, and we are only hearing crickets.  Why hasn’t the Minister fronted on this yet, is he on holiday?

“Heads should be rolling at Inland Revenue.  Unlike when you voluntarily provide data to third parties, Kiwis have no choice with IRD and are required to by law.  With this comes the expectation of trust, which has been completely betrayed.  Now there is no telling where your information might be.

"New Zealanders want to know whether their personal information has been given to overseas tech companies.  In 24-hours, more than 6,500 submissions have been made on IRD-Leak.nz, demanding answers under the Privacy Act.

“The Privacy Act allows 20-working days for IRD to provide answers, but in reality, it should take no longer than a few days.  They obviously have the information in digital form, it's a matter of simply data-matching to the spreadsheets they've already uploaded to Facebook."

Earlier this week, The Post reported that Nicola Willis’ newly established social investment agency is able to draw from double the budget of its predecessor.

Staff salaries at the agency are reported to be an average of $148,215, compared to the overall average salary of $97,200 across all other agencies. This move has sparked concern among taxpayers about the efficiency and priorities of government spending.

Commenting, Taxpayers' Union Communications Officer, Alex Emes, said:

“These numbers show that Nicola Willis has doubled the budget for her new Social Investment Agency. This is a clear double standard that goes against everything this government promised it would do once in power. 

“The fact she is paying her bureaucrats fifty percent more than other government agencies shows clear favouritism towards a Nicola Willis ‘pet project’. 

“Willis needs to start going ‘back to basics’ and stop funnelling taxpayer money towards larger budgets and higher bureaucrat perks. It’s high time to redirect this money towards hard working New Zealanders and deliver true tax relief.”

The Taxpayers’ Union has launched an online Privacy Act Request tool at www.IRDLeak.nz for taxpayers to find out whether their private information has been handed over to social media platforms by the Inland Revenue Department.

Taxpayers' Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said:

"Last week IRD were caught red-handed misusing private taxpayer information. Instead of respecting taxpayer privacy, they extracted the data from the tax system, shared it with their 'marketing department' and deliberately sent it onto social media companies.

"Many New Zealanders choose not to give their personal information to foreign social media giants. It's beggars belief that IRD chose to do it for them.

"Taxpayers have no choice but to share private and personal information with Inland Revenue. The quid pro quo is that the information is handled securely. That trust has been completely betrayed and justifies heads rolling at the very top.

"Instead of being upfront and truthful, IRD have now been caught lying to New Zealanders about the data breach.

"First they told media that there wasn't any complaints about the practise. That was untrue.

"Now they're trying to seed confusion by giving bogus assurances about 'hashing'. IRD's leadership team will know full well that it does not provide protection. IRD have even admitted that the whole purpose was to enable social media companies to identify and target individual and identifiable taxpayers.

"The 'hashing' is a convenient PR distraction tactic. It demonstrates a total arrogance towards taxpayers IRD are supposed to serve.

“Make no mistake, this is the biggest breach of taxpayer privacy in New Zealand's history, affecting hundreds of thousands of taxpayers, if not more. Having consulted with taxpayer groups throughout the english-speaking world, we cannot find any example of a privacy breach anywhere near this scale," said Mr Williams.

www.IRDLeak.nz allows taxpayers to file a Privacy Act request with Inland Revenue to requires the Department to inform them whether the taxpayer's private information was leaked.

For transparency, the site was commissioned and is hosted by the Taxpayers' Union. Unlike the IRD, the Taxpayers' Union respects taxpayers' rights to privacy. The site uses a New Zealand-owned and operated software tool to generate and send the Privacy Act requests.

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, we sat down with National Party MP, Suze Redmayne.

Suze was elected as the MP for Rangitikei at the 2023 General Election. Suze and her husband run an award winning farm and sell their lamb under their own brands. Suze shares her life story, what drew her to politics and what she hopes to achieve during her time in Parliament. Also discussed is a number of member's bill ideas Suze is considering and what the role of government should be in the economy. 

Suze's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow Suze on Facebook here.

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] 

You can also listen to Taxpayer Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

RIP John Bishop The update below was scheduled to go out on Saturday morning, but just prior to sending we learned the very sad news that our founding Chair, former TVNZ political editor, and father to Cabinet Minister Christopher Bishop, had passed away unexpectedly. So it is a very sombre note to start today's Taxpayer Update. John was instrumental in setting up and getting the Taxpayers’ Union to where it is today. An ‘old school’ journalist in the best possible sense, John had integrity, wisdom, wit, and a kindness that will be deeply missed. For many years, he has been my mentor and friend, and I know he has been the same to many of the staff and volunteers over the last 11 years. We issued to the media a small tribute from David and me over the weekend which is posted online here. The NZ Herald's piece on John is here (although I am sure there will be more). John got to know countless early supporters and financial supporters. So I am sure you will join me in offering our condolences to Rosemary, Eleanor, Christopher and the wider family on behalf of the whole Taxpayers’ Union. Rest in peace, John.

 

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A new poll (and it's not good news for Chris Hipkins); even more wasteful spending on "white privilege workshops" for Wellington bureaucrats in this week's Taxpayer Update.

But first, we have to tackle the extraordinary news that IRD officials have been caught uploading taxpayer data to social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn.

🚨 IRD Data Leak 🚨

Thanks to the hundreds of supporters who have contacted us concerned about IRD's data leak that was reported by Radio NZ earlier in the week.

We were as stunned as anyone that IRD staff have been caught extracting data from tax returns to upload to social media companies.

Names, addresses, dates of birth, and even details on who has tax debts and overdue student loans have been handed over to Google, Facebook, and others.

Putting aside the questions about data sovereignty – these companies are based outside of New Zealand and not under New Zealand's legal/privacy jurisdiction – it is almost certainly the worst breach of taxpayer privacy ever seen in this country.

We've spoken to our counterparts in the UK, Canada, and Australia, and this appears this is the worst data leak or privacy breach by a revenue agency in the Commonwealth.

What's worse, the IRD have been trying to downplay and obfuscate. They told Radio NZ that because the data is "hashed" there is nothing to worry about.

Our IT experts say this is absolute nonsense. The whole point of giving the data to Facebook and Google (among others) was for the companies to identify you/taxpayers online and match the data to profile(s).

It is so basic it shouldn't have to be said: taxpayers face prison if they don't give personal information to the IRD. Taxpayers are entitled to expect that information to be held in the strictest confidence.

Literally uploading the information to social media companies (or even using it for "marketing") warrants nothing short of a Ministerial investigation and heads rolling.

To our astonishment IRD are reported as saying that taxpayers cannot "opt-out" of having their information being given away. If that is true, we will need to consider all legal options. We cannot take this one lying down.

The whole team are working on this. We are still speaking to IT experts, getting legal advice, and (most importantly) advice on how to stop IRD from giving taxpayer information being given to social media companies. 

MONDAY UPDATE: I've just sat down with David Buckingham, whose 'citizen journalist' efforts uncovered what IRD have been doing. The more we learn, the more alarming it becomes. Have a listen to my interview with David on our special Podcast episode here.

I am hopeful that within the next 24 hours we'll be able to give you a more thorough update and advice on how to find out whether your personal information has been leaked.

Keep an eye on your inbox tomorrow...

New Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll: good news for the governing parties 📈📊

Despite what the media might lead you believe, the public are behind Christopher Luxon's Government based on our hot-off-the-press Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll.

Based on this month's numbers, the Government would maintain a comfortable majority in Parliament if the elections were held today.

National are up one point compared to our last (July) poll, to 39 percent. ACT are down a smudge (0.3 points) to 8.8 percent while New Zealand First are down 0.5 points to 6.8 percent.

Labour are up one point to 27 percent, while the Greens are down 1.5 points to 11.0 percent, and Te Pati Māori up 1.5 points to 5.0 percent.

Translated into seats, this would give the centre-right bloc 67 seats (no change) and the centre-left bloc 53 seats (down 2).

But the real worry for Labour is that Chris Hipkins' support has taken a big hit. Hipkins' net favourability (favourable less unfavourable) has fallen 16 points since July, down to negative 10 percent. By comparison, Luxon's has risen 1 point to positive 7 percent.

And the drop is reflected in people's preferred Prime Minister. Hipkins has dropped 6 points to 13 percent, although Luxon also dropped 2 points to 33 percent.

The full poll results are on our website here. Or if you're after all the details that the PM and Leader of the Opposition get to see, join our Taxpayers' Caucus for the datasets and correlations.

Take the hint, Chris... 👀

At risk of doing a One News poll "Maiki spin", wise readers of Taxpayer Update may conclude that it is no coincidence that the same month Mr Hipkins has been talking about new taxes, his support has nosedived. 👎

Perhaps voters still haven't forgiven the last Government for its six years of wringing them dry with higher taxes, while the quality of spending deteriorated as fast as the quantity ballooned?

Here's a friendly tip for Chris Hipkins: focus on ideas about how to get government spending under control and growing the economy, before you keep talking about the next Labour government taxing New Zealanders even more.

And they've really gone fill tilt. A capital gains tax is one thing, but wealth taxes are such a backwards policy that even make socialists blush. 

Right now, New Zealand is the single worst OECD country at attracting investment (until recently we were only better than Mexico, but even they are now ahead of us).

We need Her Majesty's Opposition to be leading debates on how New Zealand can attract investment, quality jobs, opportunity and growth – not taxes to chase it all away.

Wealth taxes: a sure way to for New Zealand to be poor 😔

Writing for Stuff's The Post, Alex pointed out what happened in Europe when wealth taxes were tried. 

"In France, the tax caused 10,000 people and $35 billion to pack up and leave. Not only that, but the wealth tax cost European countries twice as much in lost VAT (similar to New Zealand's GST). So with Hipkins' proposal, the government can say au revoir to their sales tax take as well."

Countries that have tried wealth taxes have ended up poorer, tax revenue fell, and countries that aren't as interested in economic vandalism are more than happy to scoop up all the jobs looking for someone friendlier.

Come on Chris, you can do better.

But good news from The Post! You're all rich and powerful 🎉🥳🎉

If you missed Alex's opinion piece, that wasn't your only chance to see the Taxpayers' Union in the papers this week. 

Remember a few weeks ago, we dug out that MBIE had wasted $650,000 on 'white privilege workshops'? Well your humble Taxpayers' Union kept digging, and surprise surprise found more.

Another $300,000 has been pumped into the pockets of something called the Pakeha Project. Bureaucrats at StatisticsNZ, the Ministry of Justice, and - you guessed it - our ol' friends at MBIE have been getting lessons in "questioning the algorithms of whiteness that discipline our world.'

And guess who's paying for it all? You the taxpayer.

Rather than spend your tax money on quaint old fashioned things like government services, these departments are pumping straight into a string of woke organisations no one has ever heard of.

Naturally, the Pakeha Project slung some mud back after we exposed their grift, saying we at the Taxpayers' Union 'only represented a tiny percent of taxpayers who had a lot of power and money'.

So good news! Apparently, being one of the 200,000 taxpayers who receive our updates, you're in the money! Congrats.

We still say these pointless workshops are a waste of taxpayers' money, and they're well past due to be scrapped. Sign the petition here to get bureaucrats out of these "white privilege" workshops and back at their desks.

MFAT's failing grade for spending cuts 📚💰

The culture of waste goes much deeper than that though, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been in the spotlight this week.

It emerged that Foreign Minister Winston Peters had been personally lobbying the PM to avoid cuts, making out that there was no way to find savings without closing down a couple of embassies. MFAT's savings total the grand sum of less than one percent of its budget.

Back in May, we called out MFAT's simple tech projects massive budget blowout, which more than doubled the cost to $33 million. This week, our researchers also rooted out that MFAT has once again spent $5 million on private school fees for diplomats' kids – often in countries with public education systems better than New Zealand's own schools!

There's no shortage of people queueing up to be diplomats. MFAT aren't going to face a recruitment problem if they scrap some of their gold-plated perks.

Why, when our education standards are plummeting, are we paying for the silver-spooned families of diplomats to swan around in swanky overseas boarding schools?

Fees in the USA, UK, Australia, and Belgium alone totalled over $1.25 million dollars. Let us know what you think.

Wellington's Metlink wasteful spending has a bad smell about it 💲🚽🤢

If you thought MFAT were bad for flushing money down the drain, Wellington's always there to show you that things could be worse.

Austin dug out Wellington's transport agency Metlink's latest gold-plated project: building just seven toilets for their drivers, costing whopping $1.3 million dollars. That's $185,000 per loo!

No one's saying drivers don't need the loo, but as David Farrar pointed out over on Kiwiblog, companies offer commercial toilet blocks for less than a ninth of that cost. The question is, why does every simple project in the capital seem to cost an arm and a leg?

Talk about taking the... errr, let's not go there.

MP's in Depth: David MacLeod 🎙️

 

Taxpayers’ Union comment on passing of founding Chair, former TVNZ Political Editor, remarkable New Zealander

The co-founders of the Taxpayers’ Union - David Farrar and Jordan Williams - are sad to reflect on the unexpected passing of John Bishop, who chaired the organisation’s Board from the Union’s inception in 2013 until 2017.

“John should be saluted for having the guts to front the Taxpayers’ Union in its infancy, knowing full well that it posed a reputational risk,” says David Farrar.

“Most political start-ups fall flat on their face, and John took on the unpaid role because he believed the organisation we were trying to create was needed.”

"John was always calm, collected and thoughtful. He always had good humour under pressure."

Jordan Williams said “John’s experience as a Chief Parliamentary Reporter and Political Editor at TVNZ and reputation for 'old-school' journalistic integrity was the perfect fit for helping create the fast-paced comms-based think thank tank that is the Taxpayers' Union."

"John’s steady and wise counsel for me over the last eleven years will be deeply missed."

The co-founders of the Taxpayers’ Union - David Farrar and Jordan Williams - are sad to reflect on the unexpected passing of John Bishop, who chaired the organisation’s Board from the Union’s inception in 2013 until 2017.

“John should be saluted for having the guts to front the Taxpayers’ Union in its infancy, knowing full well that it posed a reputational risk,” says David Farrar.

“Most political start-ups fall flat on their face, and John took on the unpaid role because he believed the organisation we were trying to create was needed.”

"John was always calm, collected and thoughtful. He always had good humour under pressure."

Jordan Williams said “John’s experience as a Chief Parliamentary Reporter and Political Editor at TVNZ and reputation for 'old-school' journalistic integrity was the perfect fit for helping create the fast-paced comms-based think tank that is the Taxpayers' Union."

"John’s steady and wise counsel for me over the last eleven years will be deeply missed."

"John was a remarkable New Zealander. On behalf of the whole organisation, we express our deepest sympathies to Rosemary, Eleanor, Christopher and the wider family," said Mr Williams.

The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that MFAT has once again spent almost $5 million dollars on private school fees for MFAT employees between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“With Kiwis crushed under their tax burden, all government departments should be looking to make meaningful savings. Bureaucrats and ministers across the board think their department needs to be the special exception, but the explosion in staff numbers since 2017 proves that just doesn’t hold water.

“The $33m blown-out cloud project at MFAT revealed earlier this year shows the idea that there’s no fat to trim at MFAT is nonsense. Slap on a $5 million a year private school bill for the silver-spooned families of diplomats and it’s hard not to spot areas for savings.

“Kiwis at home are struggling to make ends meet. Government employees are getting private education for their kids free of charge thanks to the hardworking taxpayer, even in countries where the state education system ranks higher than New Zealand’s. The hypocrisy is palpable."

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, we sat down with National Party MP, David MacLeod.

David is the MP for New Plymouth and was elected at the 2023 general election. He spent 22 years on Taranaki Regional Council, including 15 years as the Chair. He has also been a director on some significant organisations including Port Taranaki, Fonterra and Predator Free 2050. Early in his career, David was an electrician and eventually took over the company he worked for and grew it to more than 100 tradespeople.

In the podcast, we explore what drives David, why he wanted to become an MP, and what he hopes to achieve during his time in Parliament.

David's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow David on Facebook here.

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] 

You can also listen to Taxpayer Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

RNZ reported this morning on concerns that IRD has been sharing details of thousands of taxpayers with internet giants such as Facebook. The data includes taxpayers’ date of birth, phone numbers and contacts.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Communications Officer, Alex Emes, said:

“These reports that the IRD is leaking taxpayer’s data to big tech giants without notice is a violation of millions of Kiwis’ privacy. Hardworking Kiwis are the reason the IRD and government are able to operate, and leaking their personal phone numbers, contacts and date of birth to benefit overseas billionaires is unacceptable.

“IRD’s defence that ‘they are fully compliant with the law’ is truly disappointing, and doubling down on failing to protect Kiwis’ privacy is embarrassing. International counterparts including European and American regulators are clear that the tools used by the IRD are not sufficient to protect taxpayers.

“Hardworking taxpayers don’t expect to have their data handed over to tech firms without their knowledge. If the IRD can’t be trusted to protect people’s sensitive data, then frankly who in government can? Those responsible need to be held accountable

🚨🚨 APOLOGY 🚨🚨
Green Councillor demands we set the record straight

In the last edition of Taxpayer Update James told you about Greater Wellington Regional Green Councillor Thomas Nash who led the local government bemoaning criticism of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's speech to local councils where the PM told them to "get back to basics" and stop wasting ratepayer money.

According to Nash, the PM was totally out of line and in fact councils are doing a good job with ratepayer money... (seriously, what planet is this guy on?!).

As revealed by your humble Taxpayers' Union (and also covered in Stuff's The Post here) the problem for Nash is that his own Council isn't practising what he preaches. Nash is the Council's Transport Committee Chairman but:

In just two years, Cr Nash and his gang have spent more than $200,000 jet-setting around the world. In fact, the Greater Wellington Council is so generous with the business class travel, it appears to spend more than every other Regional Council combined.

Las Vegas, Spain, Germany. You name the place and they were there spending ratepayers' money, but the undisputed pièce de résistance was a $900-a-night stay in London's glamorous Hyatt Regency.

While ratepayers might be having sleepless nights, no such fears for Councillor Thomas "no fat to be trimmed" Nash who we assume sleeps like a log. Perhaps wrapped up in the Hyatt Regency's Egyptian cotton in those super-king-sized beds...

Councillor Nash hit the roof. In fact he even threatened to call in the lawyers!

His issue? Not that we criticised the hypocrisy of his comments, or even the sky high flights and international travel spending our research team unearthed.

Rather Nash is furious with the suggestion that he personally stayed at the Churchill Hyatt Regency in London and/or enjoyed the luxury of those ratepayer funded Egyptian cotton sheets.

Here at the Taxpayers' Union we strive for accuracy and where we get it wrong, we're happy to make corrections and put it right.

We take Councillor Nash's word that the pleasure of staying at London's $900-a-night glamorous Hyatt Regency was in fact reserved for his colleague: Regional Council Chair, Daran Ponter. Per Councillor Nash's insistence, we hereby apologise for the assumption (and that he missed out). 

Wellington City "no fat to be trimmed" Council's new pedalling palace ✨🚴🏰✨

Speaking of Wellington, a few weeks ago Wellington ratepayers were up in arms over an $84,000 bike rack, which had less than three bikes using it per week.

But in what is surely an emotional support effort to make Auckland ratepayers feel slightly less aggrieved with the costs of the "Super City", Wellington has done one better!

It turns out that an $84,000 bike rack is perhaps an absolute bargain.

A new bike rack has been discovered! It was recently constructed opposite the Council's office (which, ironically has an existing bike rack right outside – weird they didn't see it).

This new bike rack cost ratepayers a staggering $563,000.

When the story broke, the office was pondering "Does it come with a red carpet, heated floors or perhaps a bike wash?" After all, for that cost, they could have built a house!

So we sent young Alex up the road to take a look:

Wellington's Mayor, Tory Whanau, says "there's no fat to trim" they've searched high and low to find every saving they can for Ratepayers. If only she'd literally looked out her window to the street below. 🤦

And according to the Rates Dashboard, Wellington City Council is upping rates by 17% this year. While Tory Whanau might not consider it high, it's getting hard to argue that council taxes are out of control when [checks notes] the lRD are now saying rates are unjustifiably high! 🤯

Even the IRD knows you're paying too much council tax! 💰💰💰

How many times have you heard council officials claim that rates are jumping because they've been kept artificially low for years. We all know this isn't exactly true, but mayors and councillors need some excuse for this year's latest crop of double-digit council tax rates hikes.

Now a study from the IRD shows New Zealand's rates are not just higher than the OECD average, they're nearly two times what citizens in other developed countries pay!

On average the rates burden in OECD countries – loosely meaning developed countries – is about 1.0 percent of GDP. In New Zealand, it's a whopping 1.9 percent of everything the country produces.

We've been banging the drum for years that bureaucratic bloat, mission creep, and wasteful spending are why our councils can't keep the books black, and here's the proof. Who saw that coming from the IRD of all places?

Speaking of the IRD, we've been doing some digging into the IRD's pandemic cost of living payments.

Just what do bureaucrats have to do to get their marching orders? 🤔

The cost of living payments during the pandemic came to a cost of $570 million. The least we can expect when the Government's sloshing around that kind of cash is some attempt to make sure it ends up where it's needed.

RNZ scooped a month ago that less than 14 percent of the 80,000 payments to people who were ineligible, had been recovered. Rather than trying to get the money back, the IRD has just been asking very nicely if people would consider give back the cash they took without being entitled to.

When a stuff up costs tens of millions, naturally we assumed that someone, anyone even partially responsible, would be fired.

So given the egg on the face of the tax man, we wanted to know how many officials paid the price, while the taxpayer picked up the bill.

Thanks to the Official Information Act, we can reveal that despite the armies of bureaucrats, audit teams, and investigators who came after you if you stuffed up your taxes, when the IRD make a stuff up, not only did no one get sacked, not a single person even got a slap on the wrist reprimanded! Not even one.

And the worst part? Not a single individual was "deemed accountable".

So just how hard is it to be sacked in Wellington?

We say, that this sort of bureaucratic shoulder-shrugging where no one is ever to blame, no one cares how money is lost and no one appears to even consider it a good idea in ensuring it doesn't happen again is why our public services are so broken (and expensive).

The IRD are quite happy to pour money down the drain, but what about Watercare pouring money into the river?

Watercare's $20 million secret 🤫🤫🤫

The Herald this week reported Watercare – Auckland's water provider – had signed up to pay $20 million dollars to Waikato-Tainui's governing council. That's $1 million a year, for 20 years, on top $2 million a year already given to the co-governed Waikato River Trust for river clean-up.

And this terrible deal for ratepayers was kept away from the public by Watercare.

Sam from our sister group, the Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance, summed it up perfectly in the NZ Herald:

"Ratepayers deserve transparency on issues involving this sort of money, especially when the cost-to-benefit for such a transaction remains murky at best."

To add ratepayer insult to injury, Watercare bosses either wouldn't (or couldn't) provide an explanation for why these payments were kept secret. Either way, it's no way to build trust with the ratepayers who pay the bills.

If a freedom of information request hadn't stumbled across these payments, ratepayers would never have known about these sorts of "smoke-filled room" agreements.

I've asked the research team to look into the issue in more depth. Watercare were caught, but the question remains whether these sort of murky closed-door bargains (where iwi consent is traded for ratepayer cash) are happening elsewhere. We'll keep you posted...

Don't tell anyone but... being a diplomat's not such a bad life 🏫 ✈️

Ever stop to think about diplomats living the high life? It's a tough job for the families, sure, but nothing flash boarding schools and a few butlers won't sort out.

Just for the families of two positions – Trade Commissioners and Regional Directors – in the 2022/23 year, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise spent $1.4 million on private education costs, $150k on staff at their accommodation (i.e. diplomat's homes), and $200k for their private vehicles.

Not a bad life, all things considered.

MP's in Depth: Jamie Arbuckle 🎙️

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can report through an Official Information Act that Metlink has paid $1,300,245 dollars (inc. GST) for a project to install seven toilets in Wellington, exclusively for the use of bus drivers. The locations of the toilets include Houghton Bay, Darlington Road, Wilton, Mairangi, Lyall Bay, Highbury and Karori.

Taxpayers’ Union Communications Officer, Alex Emes, said:

“This latest waste story is another example of government failing to deliver on the basics. Spending a penny is one thing, but spending 130 million pennies for just seven toilets takes the biscuit.

“At an average cost of over $185,000 per toilet, it makes you wonder – are the seats made of gold? While looking after bus drivers is important, that money could have surely gone further if spent better.

“Through only a quick Google search, Metlink could have bought seven high end portable toilets that would have cost below $2,000 each.  Not only that, with the money left over, they could have hired another twenty full-time drivers. Surely that would have helped with the constant bus delays more than installing seven loos?

“Metlink needs to start thinking about where they get their money from. Ratepayers are paying their rates with the expectation that they are paying for busses that will be on time, not on frankly ludicrous toilet spending. To waste a million dollars of ratepayers’ hard-earned money in a time when Kiwis are facing a cost-of-living crisis shows how out of touch they are with the people they are supposed to serve.”

The New Zealand Taxpayers Union can reveal through the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act that South Taranaki District Council’s new cultural centre (Te Ramanui O Ruaputahanga) has blown out from a starting point of $8 million to $20.1 million.

As Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told mayors and councillors who attended the Local Government Conference two weeks ago, ratepayers are sick of white elephants and non-delivery, the days of handouts are over, and it’s time to stop wasteful spending.

Local Government spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union, Sam Warren, said:

“The Prime Minister has gotten this right.  Councils are once again wasting too much of ratepayers’ money on vanity projects to serve their own egos.  Local government needs to return focus to roads, water and rubbish – not prioritising nice to have pet projects to make themselves look better.

“South Taranaki residents are going to be paying for this centre, which they didn’t ask for, long after the Mayor and Councillors are thrown out.  With a 11.1% rates rise locked in, funding would have been better put towards paying down debt, or prioritising other key areas.  Ratepayers have already told council they want the focus to be on roads, water and rubbish, it’s time for New Zealand councils to take note.” 

 

Wellington City Council has spent $563,000 to install a single bike rack opposite the council’s office on the Terrace. The bike rack has space for just 24 bikes. This comes only weeks after an $84,000 bike rack was reported on by the Post.

Taxpayers’ Union Communications Officer, Alex Emes, said:

“These latest figures on the costs of Wellington City Council’s latest bike rack have truly humbled the Taxpayer’s Union. Imagine a Council so incompetent it can make its previous $84k bike rack blowout look almost reasonable in comparison.

“Wellington City Council needs to let ratepayers know what other special hidden features are included with the masterpiece. Does it come with a red carpet, heated floors and a bike wash? With a price tag over half a million dollars, considering you could build a 3 bed detached house for the same amount of money I’m sure Wellingtonians can expect all the bells and whistles from this latest pedalling palace.

“Tory Whanau says there’s no more fat to be trimmed from her council. Especially with another bike rack only 50m away, how many of these is she planning on purchasing? In a time when Wellingtonians are fighting to keep food on the table and meet the cost of their skyrocketing rates bills, the mayor needs to cut the wasteful spending on bike racks and realise its hardworking Kiwis money she is squandering.”

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau was reported in this morning’s The Post as saying spending was jumping across all councils because rates had been "artificially low for decades".

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Mayors like Whanau need to stop making excuses for their own failures. With Inland Revenue recently reporting that Kiwis are paying almost twice the OECD average in rates, the issue definitely isn’t that Councils haven’t been able to fleece enough money out of ratepayers.

“Council spending is the problem, and Whanau’s council almost tripling rates over the next ten years is just papering over the cracks. Tearing up the city for cycleways, funding convention centres by wringing businesses dry, and a town hall blowout costing households up to $4,000 each are the real problems facing Wellington ratepayers.

“When Whanau said there’s “no more fat to be trimmed” after the recent LGNZ conference, it’s frankly laughable. Wellingtonians might take their council more seriously on financial matters if they could manage a single project without blowing the budget.” 

 

Despite Kaikōura District Council’s project to rebuild the Waiau Toa/Clarence River Glen Alton bridge after the Kaikōura earthquake being eight years deep, the Council have still not even managed to gain the appropriate resource consents or buy the necessary land. This is despite the New Zealand Transport Agency’s 95% subsidy of the project expiring in only 10 months’ time.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Communications Officer, Alex Emes, said:

“The recent construction news - or lack thereof - regarding the Waiau Toa/Clarence River Glen Alton bridge is a prime example of how councils are failing Kiwis.  Kaikōura’s council fumbling of a $13.5 million grant from NZTA and failing to sort the proper resource consents eight years into the project is an utter embarrassment.

“Is it any wonder New Zealand is facing an infrastructure crisis when even Councils themselves can’t wade through planning red tape without nearly a decade of back-and-forth talking shops? Clearly wholesale RMA reform is long overdue.

“Kaikōura District Council is being offered taxpayers’ money hand over foot for this project, and they still can’t get it right. When Luxon told councils that Kiwis expect them to focus on getting the basics right, this is exactly the sort of fiasco he was rightly calling out.”

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, Connor sat down with New Zealand First MP, Jamie Arbuckle.

Jamie was elected on the New Zealand First List at the 2023 General Election. Jamie also remains a current Marlborough district councillor, a role he has held for fourteen years. Jamie has a horticultural background and spent many of his early years in and around the fruit industry. In the podcast, Jamie discusses why he wanted to be an MP, what drew him to New Zealand First, and some of the areas of law he would like to see change in New Zealand. 

Jamie's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow Jamie on Facebook here.

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] 

You can also listen to Taxpayer Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

The Taxpayers’ Union says New Zealanders can confidently welcome the departure of Treasure Secretary Caralee McLiesh, who is headed back to Australia and has made a departure swan song calling for a capital gains tax to help paper over unsustainable government finances.

Responding to the comments, Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said:

“A generation ago, Treasury bosses were focused on growing the economy and New Zealand’s economic prosperity.

"Following the disastrous tenure of both Gabriel Makhlouf and Caralee McLiesh’s lacklustre performance, taxpayers would say ‘good riddance’ to Treasury bosses who are more interested in growing and funding the size of government, rather than growing the economy.

"The two most important decisions of Nicola Willis this term are her picks for the heads of Treasury and the Public Service Commission.

"Willis should be looking outside the blob and take inspiration from the likes of Sir Roderick Dean and Graham Scott, and a generation of thought leaders who put New Zealand back on track in the 80s and 90s.

"You don’t need decades of public sector experience to work out that much greater fiscal discipline is required to rein in clearly excessive government expenditure.

"Treasury should be the cheerleaders of fiscal discipline, not the excuse-makers demanding new taxes to pay for politicians' folly."

An IRD report has today confirmed what many ratepayers have long suspected; New Zealand households are paying almost double the amount of rates, or similar land tax equivalents, than the average of its OECD neighbours.

Commenting, Local Government Campaigns Manager for the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, Sam Warren, said:

“This report will make for grim reading for many Kiwis struggling with paying their rates.

“The average percentage of rates collected by Councils, comparative to GDP, sits at 1% in the OECD.  Disturbingly, the revenue collected through rates in New Zealand is significantly higher than this average of 1.9% of GDP, nearly twice the amount.

“The report confirms we don’t have a revenue problem, but a spending problem.  We are paying more property taxes than our OECD counterparts, with compounding rates increases in the pipeline, and no end in sight.

“Councils have long failed to keep costs low while staying on top of declining local infrastructure.  What Kiwis are left with is rolling rates increases of more than 14% percent across the board just this year alone, highlighted in the 2024 Taxpayers’ Union Rates Dashboard.

“Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was recently met with jeers and scepticism from a room full of mayors and councillors when told they must go to greater lengths to rein in spending.  Compared to our overseas equivalents, alarm bells should be ringing that more must be done to get us closer to the OECD average, or ideally, below.”

Last week, Christopher Luxon had a good go at wasteful local councils, telling them that the big spending 'party is over'. And boy, did they take it personally! 

Ever wondered why everyone who works in local government always has such a perfect tan? 🤔🏝️

Scores of councillors took to social media crying that there is "no more fat to be trimmed", and who was leading the charge? Greater Wellington Regional Council's Transport Committee Chairman, Green Party Councillor Thomas Nash.

Just by luck, one of our young researchers happened to dig out Greater Wellington Regional Council's international travel bill... And as covered in this morning's Weekend Post, (surprise, surprise) they are not practising what they preach.

In just 2 years, Cr Nash and his gang have spent more than $200,000 jet-setting around the world. In fact, the Greater Wellington Council is so generous with the business class travel, it appears to spend more than every other Regional Council combined.

Las Vegas, Spain, Germany. You name the place and they were there spending ratepayers' money, but the undisputed pièce de résistance was a $900-a-night stay in London's glamorous Hyatt Regency. 

While ratepayers might be having sleepless nights, no such fears for Councillor Thomas "no fat to be trimmed" Nash who we assume sleeps like a log. Perhaps wrapped up in the Hyatt Regency's Egyptian cotton in those super-king-sized beds...

Creative NZ change funding rules to draw curtain on accountability? 🤫

For as long as the Taxpayers' Union can remember, arts funder Creative NZ has been making questionable decisions with taxpayer money. From plays about menstrual cycles to creating "Indigenised Hypno-soundscapes", to poetry about "love in the time of climate change", the grifts run deep.

So when our research team went searching on the Creative NZ website to review the latest funding round, we were curiously left with more questions than answers.

Rather than make more sensible decisions, the boffins at Creative NZ are living up to their name: they have changed the official funding rules so that instead of funding projects they are now just funding organisations (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) and only publicising the total amount funded not the amounts applicable per project, organisation, or artist.

Here at the Taxpayers' Union, we say you are entitled to know where your money is going and what for

We have written to Creative NZ's bosses, and the Auditor General who has the power to demand more clarity. We'll keep you posted.

"Danger, danger, danger!" 🚨🚨🚨 Government owned banks pose increased risks for taxpayers

The Commerce Commission has released a report on banking competition in New Zealand and it’s pretty clear that things aren’t as competitive as they should be. A big part of the problem is the tangle of red tapes that make it almost impossible, and far too expensive, for new entrant to get a foothold in New Zealand, even if they already operate banks overseas.

But one of the recommendations in particular rang alarm bells at the Taxpayers’ Union. The report calls on the Government to look for ways to pump more money into Kiwibank, hoping that with more cash, Kiwibank could grow, compete better, and push other banks to offer Kiwis a better deal.

If economic and finance history has taught us anything, it is that from a taxpayer perspective, government-owned banks are inherently risky. They are vulnerable to political pressure to make dumb uneconomic decisions.

But the way to help Kiwibank grow is not to pump more taxpayer money into it. Instead, the Government should sell Kiwibank to private investors who can fund this growth themselves and focus on long-term success rather than just the relatively short political cycle. Former Minister for State Owned Enterprises, Richard Prebble, wrote about that in the Herald – we reckon he’s bang on.

We agree with the Commerce Commission that the Government should promote more banking competition. But we also agree with Prebble that government-owned banks are a nightmare.

The solution isn't too hard: Sell Kiwibank and cut the regulatory red-tape that is keeping out competition. 

Since 2016, Kiwibank has only paid taxpayers a dividend once, and that was just $14 million. Considering the bank is worth around $2 billion, that’s a terrible return for taxpayers—we’d actually earn more if we just left that money in a basic savings account!

Selling Kiwibank could allow the Government to pay down debt (tick tock, tick tock, goes the National Debt Clock), saving Kiwis hundreds of millions of dollars in interest payments, while also creating a more innovative, privately-owned Kiwibank that’s more motivated to offer better services.

Connor spoke to Michael Laws on The Platform to make the case.

Te Mana o te Wai (the mana of the water) still costing ratepayers millions 💦

With ratepayers on the hook for thousands each to protect water’s spirit and lifeforce, your humble Taxpayers’ Union has been banging the drum for months about the enormous costs of Te Mana o te Wai.

The team and I even waded down to Parliament to try and talk some sense into politicians (you can watch our presentation here).

With households in towns like Alexandra and Clyde potentially getting stung by up to $50,000 per household, to comply with cultural requirements (such as not letting water bodies mix), these new requirements cannot be ignored. 

The good news is it looks like someone at the top is listening. Minister Penny Simmonds put Otago Regional Council on the naughty step, with a letter telling them to get their priorities straight and front up on the costs of their Te Mana o te Wai work stream. 

But these costs aren’t going away. We’re making steps in the right direction, but clearly it’s time to just chuck Te Mana o te Wai on the scrap heap.

If you haven't already, send the Ministers a message telling them to scrap Te Mana o te Wai completely. 

Taxpayer Victory: Judith Collins cuts funding to space programme

Also this week, we congratulated Minister Judith Collins for declining further taxpayer-funded corporate welfare for the struggling Tāwhaki National Aerospace Centre in Christchurch. 

Despite $30 million in handouts so far, based on wild promises of 1300 high-paying jobs and $2.4 billion in economic benefits, the centre has failed to attract international customers and risks becoming an even bigger money pit. 

The crazy thing is that much of the taxpayer-funding this 'spaceport' has received to date should never have occurred because it wasn't eligible. The 'Regional Strategic Partnership Fund' was a slush fund intended to go to regions outside of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. But given that rocket launches make great photo opportunities, the Cabinet at the time decided to bend the rules and fund a runway to the tune of $5.4 million anyway despite the site being located in Christchurch. 

The failure of this supposed 'investment' to deliver any returns to the taxpayer highlights exactly why it's never a good idea to let politicians and bureaucrats gamble taxpayer money on private ventures. 

Taxpayer Talk – MPs in Depth with National Party MP Rima Nakhle🎙️🎧

James Ross Policy and Public Affairs Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

Media Mentions:

Newstalk ZB Midday Edition: 24 August 2024 [1:50]

Stuff Damien Grant: We should debate by challenging ideas, not by silencing those we dislike

RNZ Mediawatch: Holding to account, holding the line on media freedom [31:30]

BusinessDesk Govt tries to take heat out of fast track debate with changes

PMN Pacific, Māori politicians back four-year council term

Herald Taxpayers’ Union behind ‘civic pulse’ survey of councillors

Kiwiblog Which local government CEOs are overpaid or underpaid?

The Post Luxon’s bad-mannered exercise in selective hindsight

Newstalk ZB Early Edition with Ryan Bridge [1:55]

HRD Seymour defends new Regulation Ministry's higher-than-average wages: reports

Local Government Magazine Removing well-being responsibility from local government

The Platform Jordan Williams on Māori Influence in the Fast-Track Bill

Wairarapa Times Age Former CE’s big pay day 100 days in the frame [Print only]

The Post Beehive Briefing: Luxon ditches the suit in Tonga

Northland Age From the other side: Local leaders give the PM a run for his money [Print only]

Kiwiblog He didn’t keep his job

RNZ The Panel with Mark Sainsbury and Sue Bradford [14:25]

The Post Greater Wellington Regional Council spent $200k on overseas trips

 

TVNZ has recently reported that they have lost over $85 million during the 2023/24 fiscal year. This comes off the back of huge executive bonuses, program cancellations and falling trust ratings.

Commenting on these announcements, Taxpayers’ Union Communications Officer, Alex Emes, said:

“TVNZ’s abysmal $85 million loss, falling program quality and failure to return a dividend in 9 of the last 12 years demonstrate why the Government needs to cut their losses and sell the failing broadcaster.

“TVNZ has an unfair advantage over private media by being propped up by the public, and they need to start playing on an equal playing field. A private company would never hand their CEO hundreds of thousands in bonuses to go along with a million-dollar salary for such terrible results.

“In a time when New Zealanders are facing record rents and struggling to put food on the table, the Government needs to prioritise Kiwi families’ wallets over those of millionaire execs. It’s time to cut the cord and sell it off while they still can.” 

Transport Minister Simeon Brown has recently announced that the Government aims to replace the Fuel Excise Duty (FED) by 2027 for petrol vehicles by shifting them on to the Road User Charge (RUC). This comes off the back of a series of other transport-related announcements, related to tolling, congestion charges and fines.

Commenting on these announcements, Taxpayers’ Union Communications Officer, Alex Emes, said:

“If you use a road, you should pay for that road. Moving towards a user-pays model by shifting petrol cars onto the RUC would be a step in the right direction.

“But Kiwi drivers already pay well over the odds to use our crumbling roads. Sneaking in more road taxes by the backdoor isn’t the answer. When Minister Brown talks about using revenue-raising congestion charges to fill their coffers, that’s exactly what they’re proposing.

“The National Land Transport Fund has been used to fund political pet projects like light rail or cycleways for far too long. It’s time to get back to spending that money on roads instead of ramping up the cost of going A to B.”

Responding to Minister of Health Shane Reti’s announcement that Health Research Council grants are being refocused towards research that improves health outcomes, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Health research isn’t a game. Lives depend on medical advancements, and every cent spent on frivalous pet projects is money that can’t go towards improving outcomes for Kiwis.

“How would you rather see $650k spent, researching cancer or ‘breathing ancestors into life’? With dozens more examples of pointless projects this year alone, Minister Reti has delivered a huge victory for everyday Kiwis.

“The Health Research Council is just one of many research organisations which has spent far too much taxpayer cash on woke nonsense, so why stop there? While the Government’s on a roll, let’s get the Marsden Grants back on track as well.” 

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, we sat down with National Party MP, Rima Nakhle.

Rima was elected as the MP for Takanini at the 2023 Election. She was born in Australia where she graduated from Western Sydney University with a Bachelor of Laws and was admitted to practice in New Zealand in 2014. Rima shares her journey into New Zealand politics and discusses her proud Lebanese ancestry, and her role in running a successful emergency and transitional housing service.

Rima's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow Rima on Facebook here.

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] 

You can also listen to Taxpayer Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

Responding to reports that the Government is planning to spend $7 million on new ministerial offices, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“This spending is completely out of touch with the reality that New Zealanders are facing right now. Families are having to make difficult spending decisions, cutting back on their own nice-to-haves to ensure they have enough money to cover the necessities. The Government should be doing the same.

“When even senior Ministers who would be using the offices are criticising the spending, it’s clear that the government needs to take a moment of reflection on their priorities.

“The Government must follow its own advice it has been dishing out to councils and government agencies and rein in spending to focus on the basics that New Zealanders expect.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming the Labour Party following reports that the party is actively considering adopting a capital gains tax or wealth tax policy.

Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Envy taxes like these are really taxes on entrepreneurship, innovation and risk taking. A tax on wealth or capital would send our best and brightest packing, taking jobs and businesses with them.

"Pitting New Zealanders against each other might be Labour's politics, but it is certainly not what’s best for our country.

“If Labour really cared about inequality, they would have focused on spiralling housing costs when they had an unprecedented single-party majority. If Labour cared about balancing the budget, they would have cut the billions of dollars of wasteful spending that was occurring under Grant Robertson. They did neither, and are now resorting to lazy envy politics to blame wealth creators for the problems they caused in government.

“If Chris Hipkins is serious about leading the country again, he needs to unequivocally rule out introducing any form of envy tax in New Zealand.”

Responding to the Court of Appeal ruling that four Uber drivers are employees rather than contractors, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Forcing strict and inflexible employment conditions onto the gig economy would be a lose/lose for both drivers and riders alike.

“The Government must act quickly to reaffirm freedom to contract so that drivers maintain the ability to effectively be their own boss – choosing when and where to work, for how long, and which rides to accept and refuse.

“This flexibility means that more people are able to be ride-share drivers with the ability to pick and choose hours to fit around childcare responsibilities, study or other employment. For passengers, it means there is almost always a driver who chooses available at very short notice which provides a high degree of certainty and reliability.

“This court action is nothing more than a shakedown. If some Uber drivers don’t like the flexibility they have, they are more than welcome to work for a taxi company instead. The reality is most drivers are voting with their feet and choosing to drive for Uber instead.

“If the freedom to contract isn’t reaffirmed to ensure that people can rely on what is stated in contracts, then this latest case will in effect create yet another regulatory tax that drives up the cost of Uber for consumers while also gatekeeping the job from those who benefit most from the flexibility it provides.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is releasing the results of a survey that shows that the negative reaction from a few vocal mayors, councillors and LGNZ leaders is far from representative of the entire local government sector. In fact, roughly half of those participating in a survey of elected members back the Government’s proposals to get local government ‘back to basics’.

The survey asked elected officials whether they supported or opposed each of the four main policy announcements from the Prime Minister at last week’s LGNZ conference. For each policy, a net approval rating was calculated by subtracting those who oppose or strongly oppose the policy from those who support or strongly support it.

The results are as follows:

• There is a net approval of -1.33% for Cabinet’s decision to abolish the four wellbeing provisions in the Local Government Act and restore focus on local services and infrastructure. (225 responses)
• There is a net approval of +35.04% for Cabinet’s decision to investigate introducing consistent, easily accessible and comparable performance benchmarks for local councils, similar to the approach some Australian states apply to their local authorities. (177 responses)
• There is a net approval of 0% (meaning the same number support and oppose) for Cabinet’s decision to investigate options to limit council expenditure on ‘nice-to-haves’, such as by applying revenue caps to non-core activities. (177 responses)
• There is a net approval of +66.11% for Cabinet’s decision to review the transparency and accountability rules that apply to councils, which may include strengthening councillors’ right to access information from council officials. (177 responses).

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said:

“Our survey shows that elected representatives are far from united in their condemnation of the government’s latest announcements as the vocal few crowing to the media would have you believe.

“There is a relatively even split over the proposal to abolish the ‘four wellbeings’ to focus on getting back to basics and the proposal to limit expenditure on nice to haves. On the issues of benchmarking and improving transparency and accountability rules the results are clear – councillors support the changes the government is proposing.

“So while LGNZ and others jump up and down and kick up a stink, the results show that a substantial portion of those elected agree with the government’s sentiment. Perhaps LGNZ would be better to take a look in the mirror and realise they are misreading the room on this one – that would explain why so many councils are choosing to leave the organisation.”

Responding to news that congestion charges are likely to come into force in Wellington, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said: 

“Congestion charges can be a useful tool to manage demand, but that’s not what this is. There’d be no need to manage demand if the Council weren’t spending millions ripping up roads and car parks to replace them with cycleways. 

“Wellingtonians have just been told their rates are about to triple over ten years by a Council that can’t get its spending under control. Now, another tax is coming down the road on top of that to slap them in the face. 

“With Council policies hollowing out the CBD, give it a few years and at this rate there’ll be nothing to drive into the city for anyway. 

“Businesses are failing and families are already being forced to sell their homes. If we want a capital people can afford to live in, Wellingtonians need to fight tooth and nail against any new tax – including this one.” 

 

For the staff here at the Taxpayers' Union, we're always looking for new ways to torture poke-fun at Jordan. But after making him sit through three days of this year's Local Government New Zealand conference, even we felt bad for him!

Day one included 43 minutes of pōwhiri, 15 minutes of "transgender paper scissors rock" (yes that's literally what LGNZ called it) and countless sing alongs for the 800 atendees, but they allocated just ten minutes for the Prime Minister to talk about the Government's plans for local government. Talk about priorities. 

The conference cost nearly $1,000 per day to attend (though 99% of the attendees were not paying for it themselves!) and Jordan tells us that even with the open bars in the evening and open (all you can eat) ice cream bar during each of the three days, it wasn't worth the money.

But, between those hour-long morning and afternoon teas buffets, Jordan did get something to be happy about. 

Luxon lays down the facts to out-of-touch councils 

We don't normally promote politician's speeches, but we really think the Prime Minister's speech from earlier in the week, is a must read.

Luxon hounded local councils for wasting money on vanity projects and nice-to-haves while pipes were bursting and potholes were unfilled. Wellington's flash new loss-making convention centre was a prime example.

As Jordan put it (covered by Newsroom.co.nz):

All four new policies laid out in the PM's speech fall squarely on the side of the ratepayer. They boil down to:

✅ forcing councils to get back to basics,

✅ introducing benchmarks so ratepayers can measure performance,

✅ limiting spending on pet projects and

✅ demanding more transparency and accountability to ratepayers. 

So four big ticks from the Taxpayers' Union!

And with thousands of ratepayers having already emailed the PM calling on him to cap council rate hikes, it is certainly consistent with the noises from the Government this week. We sense that even more policy victories are possible... 🥳

But while the Prime Minister was busy preaching a 'back to basics' approach his Economic Development Minister had other ideas... 🤦

Is a $1.5 million "street dance" competition really "back to basics"?

Less than 24 hours after the Prime Minister gave his 'get back to basics' local government speech, So-called "Economic Development" Minister Melissa Lee announced that she is teaming up with Auckland Council to "co-fund" $750k each a street dance competition!

Talk about the left hand not knowing what the right hand is saying... And of course the media immediately picked up on the 'do as I say, not as I do' hypocrisy. Case and point: What is a 'core activity’? Government tells councils to focus on ‘must-haves’ (Stuff.co.nz)

The Government can’t expect to be taken seriously by local government when it continues to splash cash on silly projects that make great photo opportunities but don’t deliver value for most New Zealanders currently struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.

Not to be rude to the hoards of street dancing Taxpayers' Union supporters out there, but just like our criticism of the last Government's infatuation with DJ's, we respectfully point out that rolling out taxpayer funding for street dancing is not economic development.

And this wasn't some out-of-touch government department that sprung this at the worst possible time. The 'economic development' street dance funding was literally a Ministerial announcement! See Media release: Hon Melissa Lee. 'New dance competition set to bring economic benefits' (Beehive.govt.nz). 

Speaking of those not needing to busk on the street, this week we revealed the lucky group of New Zealanders who are far from struggling – and you're paying them!

RICH LIST REVEALED: NZ's highest paid council CEOs 💰💰💰

Rates bills are landing on doorsteps across the country, and with an average hike of 14% Kiwis are feeling the sting in their wallets.

Town Clerks, sorry, Chief Executives, across the country are failing to keep costs under control. It turns out the same is happening to their own salaries! That’s why we’re providing transparency, so ratepayers can judge for themselves.

It won't come as a surprise that local governments' top brass are overpaid, but the scale is staggering. While most Kiwis are tightening their belts, many of these CEOs will be needing a second belt to hold up stuffed pockets!

See for yourself where your council ranks. Then let us know if you think you’re getting bang for your buck.

Trees for 15 townhouses: Kāinga Ora blows $73,000 🏡

Also this week, our research team blew the whistle on the state housing agency, Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, for pouring tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars into *checks notes* trees. 

We must go to the wrong garden centre, because at $685 per tree, the agency spent $73,350 on just 107 for a 15-house development in Hastings! 

What's worse, is that this just scratches the bark. Kāinga Ora doesn't even know (or just won't tell us) how much they are spending on trees at their other developments across the country!

As an agency in charge of around 72,000 properties, we hate to think just how much "green money" is going to waste.

No wonder the agency is in such a financial mess.

Pro-tip for Cabinet Ministers? Don't turn up to the Taxpayers' Union in a Crown limo 🤫

Here at the Taxpayers' Union we love to give Taxpayer Update readers the inside gossip, and we thought we had a really doozy.

Last week, we hosted Minister of Media and Communications, Paul Goldsmith, at our Auckland office for an event with supporters on Media Matters: taxpayer funding, mistrust, and perceptions of bias.

The event was booked months ago, but happened to occur right after we ran into the difficulties with NZME screening advertising (despite taking more money under the so-called Public Interest Journalism Fund than any other media company).

The Minister was running a few minutes late, so while a member of staff waited outside for the Crown limo to arrive, you can imagine the surprise when Minister Goldsmith turned up on a lime scooter! (not an actual picture 👇)

The Taxpayers' Union was initially flattered when the Minister initially told us that they take potential criticism by the Taxpayers' Union so seriously they'd been told to ditch Crown cars when coming to our events!

Unfortunately, we learned later that the Ministerial BMW was just stuck in traffic and it had been faster for the Minister get out and get the scooter. How disappointing.

If you're interested, our next Taxpayer Caucus After 5 event is pencilled in for October with Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. For information about joining the Taxpayer Caucus, click here.

Oh, and before you ask, we are yet to confirm who paid for the scooter... 😉

Taxpayer Talk – MPs in Depth with National Party MP Grant McCallum🎙️🎧

Connor Molloy Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

Media Mentions:

Stuff Complexities of amalgamation evident as ex-mayors weigh in

RNZ Mediawatch - the good & bad of AI in news, advert aggravation [33:08]

Stuff Police spent over $3 million maintaining empty Auckland station

The Platform Will the Taxpayers' Union Be Caught in the Aftermath of the NZ Herald's Hobson’s Pledge Ad

Kiwiblog The latest Marsden Fund spending

RNZ New ministry paying staff average salary of $150k despite public sector job cuts

1 News New ministry paying staff average salary of $152k

Otago Daily Times Seymour's new ministry paying staff average of $154k

RNZ David Seymour accused of hypocrisy

The Platform Taxpayers Union's Connor Molloy on Why Kiwibank Should Be Sold

Kiwiblog The Taxpayers’ Union are hiring!

Newsroom PM goes to war on council waste – and on councils

NZ Herald David Seymour pushes his luck over Treaty bill; Tuku Morgan lets rip at Tūrangawaewae - Audrey Young

RNZ The Panel with Ali Jones and Andrew Clay (Part 2) [14:20]

RNZ Day after accusing councils of wasting money, government puts $750K toward dance festival

The Post ‘Part of Masterton’s history’: Council staffer sells plaque to scrapyard

The Press Beehive Briefing: Government to spend $750,000 on dance competition

Three News 22 August, 6pm – Item 5: Central and local governments at odds over spending [Video]

Stuff What is a 'core activity’? Government tells councils to focus on ‘must-haves’

Newstalk ZB The Huddle: Do local councils need to rein in the spending?

RNZ The Panel with Zoe George and Ed McKnight (Part 1) [3:00]

NZ Herald Letter to the Editor: Reality check for councils

RNZ Early Edition with Ryan Bridge: Full Show Podcast: 23 August 2024 [26:13]

The Spinoff Who regulates the Ministry of Regulation?

Newstalk ZB Morning Edition: 23 August 2024

NZ Farmers Weekly Milking us dry: local govt told to rein in spending

NZ Farmers Weekly Analysing regional rates increase trends

RNZ American company announces deal to fly to space from Canterbury

Newstalk ZB Heather du Plessis-Allan: I'm not getting excited about the money spent on that dance competition

Newstalk ZB Barry Soper: Was Kamala Harris' speech today boring? [4:02]

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, Connor sat down with National Party MP, Grant McCallum.

Grant was elected as the MP for Northland at the 2023 General Election. Grant is a farmer and has been involved with the National Party's environmental group, the Blue Greens, and also with Federated Farmers.

In this podcast, Grant and Connor discuss his upbringing, life before being an MP and touch on his political philosophy.

Grant's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow Grant on Facebook here.

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] 

You can also listen to Taxpayer Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

The Taxpayers’ Union has today launched its Council Chief Executive Rich List – ranking CEOs 2023 pay packets from highest to lowest.

Ratepayers have a right to know how much they’re forking out to keep the top brass living in luxury, and now all that information is available in one easy leaderboard.

The top 5 highest paid Chief Executives were as follows:

1. Phil Wilson (Auckland Council) - $648,900
2. Dr Pim Borren (Otago Regional Council) - $595,924
3. Bill Bayfield (Hawke’s Bay Regional Council) -$584,000
4. Dawn Baxendale (Christchurch City Council) - 543,943
5. Marty Grenfell (Tauranga City Council) - $537,024

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Local government pencil pushers are overpaid, that won’t be a surprise to anyone. But the scale of it is staggering. Whilst Kiwi families are having to tighten their belts, some of these Chief Execs will be wearing second belts to hold up their overstuffed pockets.

“Councils crying poverty are still chucking five figure salary hikes at fat cat chief execs. And with families’ rates bills spiralling out of control, the question is what have the CEOs done to earn them?

“This is just the tip of the iceberg. With layers upon layers of managers all the way down, council salary bills are fit to burst. If these CEOs can’t find ways to trim the fat, there need to be targets on their overbloated pay packets which cost ratepayers around $27 million a year.”

 

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The Taxpayers’ Union’s Council Chief Executive Rich List can be found here: https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/council_richlist

Remuneration is for the 2022/23 Financial Year. Some of the CEOs in this report are no longer in their respective roles.

For those CEOs started their role partway through the financial year, their salaries were annualised based on the number of days they worked from the start date to the end of the financial year.

Some councils had multiple CEOs or acting/interim CEOs in the same year. In those instances, only the salary of the most recent CEO is used

Council	CEO	2022/2023 Remuneration*	Annual Change	Notes
West Coast Regional Council	Daryl Lew	Not Available	Not Available	Not Publicly available
Auckland Council	Phil Wilson	$648,900	$6,115	Source,page 101
Otago Regional Council	Dr Pim Borren	$595,924	($40,460)	Source, page 148
Hawke's Bay Regional Council	Bill Bayfield	$584,000	$253,415	Source, Page 125
Christchurch City Council	Dawn Baxendale	$543,943	$17,094	Source, page 345
Tauranga City Council	Marty Grenfell	$537,024	$11,963	Source, page 262
Wellington City Council	Barbara McKerrow	$513,970	$46,216	source, page 113
Far North District Council	Guy Holroyd	$511,000	$80,300	Source, Page 99
Dunedin City Council	Sandy Graham	$449,758	$31,678	Source, Page 87
Environment Canterbury	Stefanie Rixecker	$438,416	$18,514	Source, page 120
Selwyn District Council	David Ward	$435,847	$70,988	Source, page 95
Greater Wellington Regional Council	Nigel Corry	$433,493	($42,601)	Source, page 160
Bay of Plenty Regional Council	Fiona McTavish	$430,137	$27,265	Source, page 161
Timaru District Council	Bede Carren	$423,225	$55,465	Source, Page 136
Hutt City Council	Jo Miller	$422,163	$8,113	Source, Page 136
Hastings District Council	To'osavili Nigel Bickle	$421,474	$12,414	Source, page 116
Rotorua District Council	Geoff Williams	$416,031	$23,300	Source, page 152
Waikato District Council	Gavin Ion	$416,000	$50,738	Source, page 123
Napier City Council	Louise Miller	$408,532	$47,532	Source, page 142
Hamilton City Council	Lance Vervoort	$400,972	($12,843)	Source, Page 190
Gisborne District Council	Nedine Thatcher Swann	$399,767	$30,660	Source, Page 191
Central Otago District Council	Peter Kelly	$393,754	$57,115	Source, Page 172
Porirua City Council	Wendy Walker	$388,505	$5,369	Source, Page 118
Nelson City Council	Nigel Philpott	$387,912	$15,230	Source, Page 172
Queenstown-Lakes District Council	Mike Theelen	$383,814	$7,525	Source
Palmerston North City	Waid Crockett	$381,838	($153,237)	Source, Page 186
Horizons Regional Council	Michael McCartney	$380,000	$0	Source, Page 97
Waikato Regional Council	Chris McLay	$378,566	$20,080	Source, Page 123
Tasman District Council	Leonie Rae	$375,000	$48,000	Source, page 201
Matamata-Piako District Council	Don McLeod	$374,997	$23,910	Source, Page 31
Waipa District Council	Garry Dyet JP	$363,604	$4,920	Source, Page 49
Thames-Coromandel District Council	Aileen Lawrie	$362,500	($61,418)	Source, Page 74
Whangarei District Council	Simon Weston	$361,915	($166,741)	Source, Page 167
Marlborough District Council	John Boswell	$361,000	$2,000	Source, Page 141
Waimakariri District Council	Jeff Millward	$359,235	($64,683)	Source, Page 153
Western Bay of Plenty District Council	John Hollyoake	$356,412	$29,588	Source, Page 153
Ashburton District Council	Hamish Riach	$356,000	$19,000	Source, Page 211
Manawatu District Council	Shayne Harris	$350,687	$10,540	Source, Page 156
Whanganui District Council	David Langford	$348,789	($53,885)	Source, Page 193
Taupo District Council	Julie Gardyne	$347,587	($24,229)	Source, Page 109
Horowhenua District Council	Monique Davidson	$344,600	($324,350)	Source, Page 219
Kaipara District Council	Jason Marris	$343,535	$19,780	Source, Page 74
South Taranaki District Council	Fiona Aitken	$341,837	($2,152)	Source, Page 153
New Plymouth District Council	Gareth Green	$341,356	($65,134)	Source, page 90
Waitaki District Council	Alex Parmley	$341,065	$29,428	Source, Page 133
Northland Regional Council	Jonathan Gibbard	$334,661	-$6374	Source, Page 81
Southland District Council	Cameron Mclntosh	$333,598	$19,198	Source, Page 177
Invercargill City Council	CV Hadley	$327,375	($52,349)	Source, Page 180
Ruapehu District Council	Clive Manley	$325,367	$21,568	Source, Page 49
Environment Southland	Wilma Falconer	$324,617	($58,415)	Source, Page 93
Hauraki District Council	Langley Cavers	$322,000	$6,400	Source, Page 115
Upper Hutt City Council	Kate Thomspon	$321,694	$10,894	Source, Page 123
Masterton District Council	David Hopman	$317,277	$64,917	Source, Page 131
Whakatane District Council	Steph O'Sullivan	$317,099	$1,208	Source, Page 151
Opotiki District Council	Stace Lewer	315,211	$49,509	Source Page,155
Taranaki Regional Council	Steve Ruru	$312,671	($21,329)	Source, Page 106
Kapiti Coast District Council	Darren Edwards	$310,000	($18,500)	Source, Page 149
South Waikato District Council	Susan Law	$305,000	$30,000	Source, Page 126
Hurunui District Council	Hamish Dobbie	$300,314	($595)	Source, Page 74
Gore District Council	Deborah Lascelles	$300,101	$9,966	Source, Page 85
Rangitikei District Council	Kevin Ross	$299,956	$8,261	Source, Page 92
Clutha District Council	Steve Hill	$282,250	$5,390	Source, Page 59
Waitomo District Council	Ben Smit	$277,770	($614)	Source, Page 111
Otorohanga District Council	Tayna Winter	$272,000	$10,000	Source, Page 25
Tararua District Council	Bryan Nicholson	$270,000	$22,000	Source, Page 187
Waimate District Council	Stuart Duncan	$265,000	$7,000	Source, Page 57
Westland District Council	Simon Bastion	$262,302	$9,630	Source, Page 110
Grey District Council	Paul Morris	$261,569	$23,138	Source, Page 105
Buller District Council	Sharon Mason	$260,100	$11,795	Source
Stratford District Council	Svenne Harris	$257,000	$14,098	Source, Page 123
South Wairarapa	Harry Wilson	$250,000	$0	Source, Page 43
Mackenzie District Council	Angela Oosthuizen	$249,000	($139,000)	Source, Page 124
Kaikoura District Council	Will Doughty	$238,963	$0	Source, Page 126
Wairoa District Council	Kitea Tipuna	$237,175	($107,035)	Source, Page 61
Central Hawke’s Bay District Council	Doug Tate	$230,400	$0	Source, Page 98
Kawerau District Council	Morgan Godfery	$222,362	($8)	Source, page 49
Carterton District Council	Geoff Hamilton	$220,000	($1,278)	Source, Page 60
Chatham Islands Council	Owen Pickles	$219,382	$12,311	Source, Page 45

Notes:

-> *Remuneration is for the 2022/23 Financial Year. Some of the CEOs in this report are no longer in their respective roles.

-> For those CEOs started their role partway through the financial year, their salaries were annualised based on the number of days they worked from the start date to the end of the financial year.

-> Some councils had multiple CEOs or acting/interim CEOs in the same year. In those instances, only the salary of the most recent CEO is used. 

-> Queries relating to methodology should be directed to [email protected]

The Taxpayers’ Union is congratulating Judith Collins for rejecting further corporate welfare for the space industry via the Tāwhaki National Aerospace Centre that, despite promises of 1300 high-paying jobs and $2.4 billion in economic benefits, has seriously underperformed.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“The failure of the aerospace site to attract international investors, despite $30 million in taxpayer funding demonstrates that it’s never a good idea to let politicians and bureaucrats gamble taxpayer money on private ventures.

“If the Government wants to support the space industry, they should focus on cutting the red tape that makes it so challenging to launch a rocket into space in the first place, and encouraging councils to do the same.

“Rocket Lab originally considered building a launch site in Kaitorete but found getting a consent to be too challenging, made worse by the Green Party at the time raising concerns about the impact it would have on ‘threatened lizards, rare invertebrates and threatened plants’. Who would have thought getting a consent was more complicated than rocket science?

“It makes a mockery of taxpayers that the government then went on to subsidise that very same site to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. It can be difficult for politicians to stand up against well-connected space industry lobbyists and the potential for cool photo opportunities but that is exactly what Minister Collins has done and so we congratulate her.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming the Government for teaming up with Auckland Council to spend $1.5 million ($750,000 each) on funding a dancing competition less than 24 hours after hounding the local government sector for wasting money on nice-to-haves rather than must-haves.

“The Government is ignoring it’s own advice, instead urging councils to ‘do as I say, not as I do.’

“Despite telling councils ‘the party is over’ yesterday, the Government is now teaming up with Auckland Council to waste money on exactly the kind of vanity projects they are ridiculing them for – the party is far from over.

“The economic benefits proclaimed by Minister Melissa Lee are nothing more than wishful thinking. The economic activity lost from taxing the money away from productive New Zealanders will far outstrip any benefits of the dance competition. If people aren’t willing to spend their own money to go and watch, why on earth should taxpayers be subsidising it?

“The Government can’t expect to be taken seriously by local government when it continues to splash cash on pet projects that make great photo opportunities but don’t deliver value for most New Zealanders currently struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.”

 

I'm emailing from the Local Government New Zealand annual conference in Wellington.

LGNZ are the organisation that were bribed given taxpayer money by Nanaia Mahuta to endorse the last Government’s anti-democratic 'Three Waters', despite LGNZ (apparently) standing for ‘localism’ and ‘democracy’ – the very things Three Waters would have undermined...

LGNZ are also the organisation that two years ago literally banned the Taxpayers’ Union (including our supporters, like you!) from attending their previous conference, which was ironically titled “The Future of Local Government”.

They must be short of money (their largest members, Auckland and Christchurch City Councils, recently pulled their membership) because this year they've let me in!

The conference started this afternoon. After 47 minutes of pōwhiri, the Mayor of Wellington Tory Whanau gave the first speech (introduced as a 'welcome to Wellington').

The Mayor's main point was that “we should decide” about having Māori wards. And no, she wasn’t saying that “we” local communities should decide on Māori wards, she meant we the politicians should decide!

Following Ms Whanau was the Prime Minister, Chris Luxon. Mr Luxon was allocated just 10 minutes for the three day conference.

Rather than wait for the media (and the left-wing mayors to scream from the rooftops), I thought it best to just send it straight to you.

As you'll see below the speech was extraordinary.

The room was dumbfounded. To call the audience disrespectful would be an understatement (turkeys don’t welcome an early Christmas, after all).

The room literally laughed when the MC (Kim Hill) thanked the Prime Minister.

But from a ratepayer perspective (I seem to be literally the only ‘ratepayer’ person here!) is this best speech at a local government conference in a generation? 

Judge for yourself:

Rt Hon Christopher Luxon
Prime Minister

21 August 2024

Speech to LGNZ SuperLocal conference

Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora and good afternoon, everyone.

Before I begin, I’d like to thank LGNZ for their invitation to speak here today.

I spend a lot of time meeting with many good mayors and councillors across the country, but this is a great opportunity to speak to so many of you here all at once.

So, thank you to LGNZ for that opportunity, and more importantly, thank you to each of you for stepping into the public square and serving your communities in these roles.

I’d also like to acknowledge Minister Simon Watts and, in particular, Minister Simeon Brown, who are here.

As you know, Simeon is responsible for the Local Government portfolio, has an ambitious reform programme, and has accomplished a lot in a very short period of time. So, thank you, Simeon, for all of your hard work and leadership.

New Zealand faces big infrastructure challenges - Water. Transport. Resilience. And each of those will be absolutely critical to get right.

We know your communities need the tools to sustainably finance the necessary investment. So, we’re making changes.

Through changes agreed by the Local Government Funding Authority, we're alleviating pressure on council debt caps, which will relieve a lot of pressure on fast-growing councils.

We’re presenting a suite of options for achieving local water reform that will satisfy ratings agencies' concerns while maintaining local control of water.  

We’re also taking a hard look at a range of rules and regulations that incur costs that central government directly loads onto councils. Traffic management is a good example of an area we know desperately needs change.

And Simeon Brown will soon present more detail on our framework for Regional Deals – how they will work, what we want to enable for communities, and, most importantly, what we expect in return.

So, we’re doing our part. And I believe it’s time for local government to do theirs.

Ratepayers expect local government to do the basics and to do the basics brilliantly. Pick up the rubbish. Fix the pipes. Fill in potholes. And more generally, maintain local assets quickly, carefully, and cost effectively.

But nothing in life is free, and ratepayers expect to pay for it in exchange. But what they don’t expect to pay for is the laundry-list of distractions and experiments that are plaguing council balance sheets across the country.

The building we’re in today is a classic example. With pipes bursting and other infrastructure under pressure, Wellington City Council decided to spend $180 million of ratepayers’ money on a convention centre, which, according to public reporting, is now losing money.

It looks very nice, and it’s very nice that politicians like us have another expensive room to deliver speeches in, but can anyone seriously say it was the right financial decision or the highest priority for Wellington given all of its challenges?

Ratepayers are sick of the white elephants and non-delivery. So, my challenge to all of you is to rein in the fantasies and to get back to delivering the basics brilliantly.

Councillors often tell me that they agree with all that, but there’s a problem. They just need more help from central government, usually in the form of cold, hard cash.

I have to be honest with you – the previous government might have taken that approach, but the party is over.

There is no magic money tree in Wellington, thanks to the previous government's economic mismanagement and vandalism.

Shifting your costs onto taxpayers doesn’t save anyone any money. It means ratepayers pay more tax, and are left with less of their own money, to meet the cost of a slightly smaller rates bill.

Or it means we spend less on health and education so that councils can avoid tightening their belts exactly as Kiwi families, businesses and central government have had to do across New Zealand.

Yes, I’m sure that will be very popular among councillors, who want to spend money without raising rates to pay for it. But if any of you think those will be the terms of a regional deal, it’s time to come back to reality.

We do want to work closer together – and there will be new revenue tools for councils, where that makes sense – but the days of handouts are over.

I know some councils already well understand that new operating environment and they are taking their responsibility to ratepayers very seriously.

Thank you for those efforts, because your unrelenting focus on delivering value for money is making a real difference in your communities.

Finally, if there was any doubt about our commitment to getting local government back to basics, I have some announcements to make today on our local government work programme.

First, Cabinet has agreed to streamline the purpose provisions in the Local Government Act to get councils back to basics.

For Councils, that means abolishing the four wellbeing provisions in legislation and restoring focus on local services and infrastructure.

For ratepayers, it’s simple. The central government focuses on must-haves, not nice-to-haves, and we expect local government to do the same.

Second, Cabinet has agreed to investigate performance benchmarks for local councils, similar to the approach some Australian states apply to their local authorities.

In theory, the Local Government Act establishes the accountability of local authorities to the communities they serve. But in reality, it’s difficult to get consistent, easily accessible and comparable information about how councils are actually performing.

The performance measures we’re looking to introduce are in areas councils should already be monitoring closely, such as financial performance and customer service delivery.

But sunlight is the best disinfectant – and ratepayers deserve to know exactly what they’re getting for their rates. 

Third, Cabinet has agreed to investigate options to limit council expenditure on ‘nice-to-haves’.

In some Australian states, revenue caps are applied to non-core activities to control rates increases.

We’re interested in how a similar approach could work here in New Zealand, ensuring the right balance between ratepayers' interests and councils' financial positions.

Yes, councils need adequate revenue to fund core responsibilities like roads, rubbish and water, but the value-for-money proposition is more questionable in a range of other areas.

Councils need to examine those areas more closely, and I’m up for any tool – like revenue capping – that makes them do so.

Fourth, Cabinet has agreed to review the transparency and accountability rules that apply to councils.

It’s unacceptable that the rules as they stand today allow unelected officials, in many cases, to prevent elected members from accessing the information they need to represent their communities. We will review those settings.

There have been too many absurd scenarios in which ratepayers are effectively shut out of decision-making because elected members’ rights to access information are treated as a secondary consideration.

My expectation is we find a way to end those practices.

In conclusion, we want a productive and constructive relationship with local government – one that enables your growth and development and gives you the tools you need to pay for it.

But we expect you to spend ratepayers’ money responsibly. In short, localism comes with both rights and responsibilities.

In central government, we’re getting on with the job. We're stopping wasteful spending, shifting money from the back office to the frontline, setting clear delivery targets and expectations, prioritising what to do and what not to do, and letting Kiwis keep more of what they earn.

My parting message: it’s time for you to do the same.

Go line by line, stop the wasteful spending, remove the bureaucracy, focus on better customer service, and end the projects that aren’t delivering value for money.

Ratepayers don’t expect much – they just want the basics done brilliantly.

We’ll play our part – now it’s time for you to play yours.

I’m confident that working together, we can achieve a lot for New Zealanders – better infrastructure and more resilient communities, all at an affordable price for ratepayers.

Thank you.

ENDS

Immediately following the Prime Minister, the Labour-aligned President of Local Government New Zealand, Sam Broughton, got up and tried to put the boot into Mr Luxon.

Broughton said that criticism of local government "is not productive". That got a loud cheer from the attendees in the room. He also called on new ways for councils to tax local communities, in addition to rates! 🤦

So what do you think?  Was Mr Luxon bang on, or did he go too far? We've posted the response we sent to media over on our Facebook page. Head over and let us know what you made of the speech.

So, it seems James’ call last night (and the thousands of supporters who have already used our email tool) for the Government to adopt the policy of capping annual rates hikes is realistic. So too, is reform to ensure better transparency and accountability of how ratepayer money is being spent. 

Thanks for your support.

Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

 

The Prime Minister’s speech at the Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) conference this afternoon is arguably ‘the best speech on local government in a generation’ says the Taxpayers’ Union.

Speaking from the conference, Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said:

“Christopher Luxon delivered a speech today that is on the side of the ratepayers struggling with the costs being imposed on them by an out of control local government sector.

“Sometimes hearing the truth hurts, and there is no doubt Mr Luxon dropped some truth bombs. But demanding financial prudence, accountability and transparency from local government rather than reaching straight for the chequebook is hardly anything radical.

“The introduction of the four wellbeing provisions into the Local Government Act is a failed experiment that gave councils unbridled discretion on how to spend ratepayers money. The results were disastrous. Scrapping these provisions is the right decision.

“Performance benchmarks will go a long way to helping ratepayers see if they are getting a fair deal. In the past the Taxpayers’ Union has been forced to pick up the slack with our annual Ratepayers’ Report but this work is limited by councils’ cooperation.

“Limiting expenditure on ‘nice-to-haves’ is exactly what is needed to force councils into investing in core infrastructure and services rather than costly vanity projects.

“We have long campaigned for councils to have the same rights to information from their councils as company directors have from companies. There is a worrying culture of secrecy and gatekeeping by unelected council bureaucrats who refuse to give elected decision makers the information they need – or wait until the eleventh hour to do so.

“Today’s speech hit all the right notes. If the Government can hold true to their word, stories of double-digit rate hikes and families being forced to sell their homes will soon become a thing of the past.”

 

Responding to news that David Seymour’s newly established Ministry of Regulation has an average staff salary of more than $150,000, Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said:

“Public sector wage costs have been growing at twice the rate of those in the private sector. With new departments sprouting out of the ground paying the average staff member more than twice the median wage, is anyone surprised?

“Taking on the bureaucratic blob was always going to be an uphill battle, but this upstart Ministry seems to be running in completely the wrong direction.

“The Ministry of Regulation is Seymour’s credibility test, and we’re still a long way off slinging out the 18,000 extra bureaucrats hired since 2017. Seymour needs to lead by example, and has now set himself a tough task to demonstrate value for money from his new gold-plated department.”

 

The Taxpayer’s Union last night launched a campaign calling for a cap on annual rates hikes. This would limit annual rates increases to 3% annually, unless councils seek approval from residents for a larger increase through a referendum.

More than 4,500 people have already written to the Prime Minister and Minister of Local Government overnight calling on them to act.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Councils spending hundreds of millions of dollars on pet projects have been treating ratepayers like a magic money tree. Double-digit rates hikes have become councils’ get-out-of-jail-free card.

“This year, not a single council has managed to keep their rates hikes at or below inflation. Rates can’t keep spiralling forever, and it’s time councils learnt to tighten their belts.

“Ratepayers should have the final say over how their money is spent. Government needs to kibosh out-of-touch council shakedowns and put control back in residents’ hands.”

Responding to the Commerce Commission’s final report into bank competition, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“The way to make Kiwibank a ‘maverick’ that has the drive to make the banking sector more competitive is to sell it to private shareholders.

“When it’s people’s own money on the line, they will hustle harder than any Minister to outperform the bank’s competitors to increase market share. The only way to do that is by offering a better service or lower prices.

“It’s not just banks in New Zealand that are greedy and like making money, all banks do. If New Zealand banks are making significantly higher profits than the rest of the world, there must be overburdensome red tape that makes it too difficult for new banks to open here.

“The Government should further strengthen its focus on reducing anti-competitive regulation in the banking sector that stops more competition from entering the market. That is the only sure-fire way to ensure New Zealanders are getting a fair deal.”

 

With the Reserve Bank cutting interest rates this week, there's no more important time for the Government to cut wasteful spending to ensure Adrian Orr hasn't jumped the gun and to ensure the scourge of high inflation is dealt with. 

Of course, your humble Taxpayers' Union has suggestions on just the place to start...

ACC spends $10.7 million praying away injuries 🙏🤨

Film festivals on the taxpayer dime? Great work if you can get it ✈️🎥

As if forking out millions in film-subsidies for Hollywood bigwigs wasn't enough, it turns out taxpayers are paying for their overseas holidays too!

They might not have won Lotto's $44 million jackpot, but ten lucky players C-grade "film producers" embarked on a taxpayer-funded jaunt to the French Riviera for Cannes Film Festival. The luxury getaway cost $5,000 a pop (except for poor Carthew Neal who only got $2500 😢) totalling $47,500. 

[Editor's note: the irony is that Carthew Neal looks to be the only one with any talent!]

This is the same Film Commission that the Taxpayers' Union exposed last week for spending $16,000 on leaving parties, and $500,000 golden goodbye for the CEO. Oh, and lest we forget the alcohol-fueled jaunt to the Oscars costing taxpayers $58,000 (also snuffed out by.... the Taxpayers' Union).

This trough just keeps getting deeper.

Our research team has it on good authority that the Film Commission also sent two of their own staff, Annie Murray and Philippa Mossman. No doubt they were sent there to tell other film producers about all the free money up for grabs in New Zealand...

Bureaucrat salary growth faster than the rest of New Zealand – growth the highest since records began 🚀💸

Not only are these bureaucrats getting luxury trips abroad, but it turns out they're also getting bigger pay rises than the rest of us!

New data from Stats NZ shows that while average New Zealand wage growth has pulled right back, the salary increases in the public sector are sky-rocketing up by 7.1% – almost twice that of the private sector. For the bureaucrats in Wellington, this is the fastest wage growth since 2002 when they first started keeping records. You're the one paying for it. 

Shortly after the figures were released, Nicola Willis (as Minister responsible for the Public Service) rushed out her 2024 Workforce Policy Statement that outlines her new "expectations" for bureaucrat pay and getting the public sector under control.

It's six months later than what we'd have preferred, but otherwise we can't complain. It outlines expectations that pay of Chief Executives needs to start being tied to delivery of improved outcomes, and that future pay increases should not be backdated (those outside of the self-entitled bureaucracy will be surprised to learn that's the norm in Wellington!) and that they should be funded from existing baselines, (i.e. through finding new savings within departments). 

The proof of the pudding will be in the eating when the next figures are released by Stats NZ later this year.

Amalgamation is not the magic bullet for rising rates 📣🗳️

While Central Government seeks to find further savings, it seems Councils are looking for a magic bullet. 

With double-digit rate hikes plaguing the country, some mayors have suggested amalgamating councils as a way to find efficiencies and drive down expenses.

It may make sense for councils to combine some of their operations, but full amalgamation should be a decision for local ratepayers who are ultimately the ones who will be paying for a new structure.

We have cautiously warned against diving headfirst into amalgamations without first thinking it through. We've seen what happened with Health NZ and the polytechnics when Labour tried a centralisation experiment – it doesn't always go as planned. 

And one does not need to know much about the so-called "Super City" that when it has come to Auckland Council, bigger has not meant cheaper!

As these ideas spread around the country, it is vital that we make clear early that there should be no amalgamations without referendums in the affected communities first.

✍️>>> Sign the Petition <<< ✍️

Media Mentions:

The Platform Taxpayers' Union's Jordan Williams on ACC’s $10.7m Spend on ‘Rongoā Māori Healing’

The Post David Seymour's new Ministry of red tape hiring a $168k-a-year spin doctor

531 PI Pacific Mornings David Farrar, Political Pollster

Newstalk ZB Heather du Plessis Allan Drive Full Show Podcast: 15 August 2024 [42:30]

Local Matters Lengthy delay for Penlink bridge

Responding to reports that TVNZ is set to start charging for some content, including sports subscriptions and pay-TV, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“TVNZ has already shut down what were arguably its only two hard-hitting current affairs and investigative journalism shows. Trust in its news reporting is plummeting, and now they want to start charging people for their content. What’s the point in still owning TVNZ?

“The TVNZ model no longer works in today’s rapidly changing media landscape, where people can access content from almost anywhere in the world at the click of a button. The current model offers very little public benefit, while taxpayers are left to cover poor performance with no real incentive for the shareholding Ministers to push TVNZ to turn a profit.

“TVNZ is already competing with the likes of Netflix and Amazon, and people are voting with their feet. More and more New Zealanders are choosing to pay for better content elsewhere rather than stick with TVNZ’s declining offerings, despite it being free.

“It’s time for the Government to make the call and sell TVNZ while it’s still worth something. Perhaps a commercial operator can turn it into something people actually want to watch.”

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's MPs. In this episode, Connor sat down with ACT Party MP, Dr Parmjeet Parmar.

Parmjeet has a PHD in Biological Sciences, is a businesswoman and former broadcaster and was also formerly a National Party MP from 2014 to 2020. In 2023 she ran for ACT at the general election and was successfully elected to Parliament.

In this podcast we discuss Dr Parmar's upbringing and background before politics, why she changed her political allegiance and her excellent member's bill that would require unions to collect their own fees rather than the status quo which forces employers to it on the unions' behalf. 

Follow Parmjeet on Facebook here.

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] 

You can also listen to Taxpayer Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

Responding to reports that the Ministry for Regulation is hiring a ‘principal adviser, engagement and communications’ with a salary of up to $168,000 year, Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson, Jordan Williams, said:

“This Government, but particularly ACT, was elected to slash waste, but recruiting five communications staff at what should be our leanest Ministry tells another story.

“The Ministry for Regulation needs more people with twink deleting the onerous rules and regulations that stifle productivity, not someone to ‘enhance the Ministry’s reputation’.

“The Ministry’s reputation will be enhanced when they cut off tentacles of red tape choking our economy, not when they put out a polished press release telling you what a great job they’re doing.”

The Southland District Mayor has proposed a significant shakeup to local government by suggesting a merger of the four existing Southland Councils into two unitary authorities.

Mayor Rob Scott claims the amalgamation could see savings of $10m each year by improving cost efficiencies and reducing duplication across neighbouring councils.

Local Government Campaigns manager for the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, Sam Warren, said:

“We’ve seen across local government that bigger doesn’t always mean better. The evidence across the country shows that size isn’t a reliable indicator of the cost of running a council, what we really need is councillors making sure they run a tight ship.

“It may be the case that there are some areas where economies of scale could be found. In those instances the question should be what services to amalgamate rather than diving in head first to full amalgamation of all four councils.

“Central to any amalgamation proposal must be local voice. It is important for Southlanders to be consulted on such significant changes to their structure of local government and be persuaded whether or not any cost savings will actually be realised.”

Responding to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s decision to reduce the Official Cash Rate (OCR) to 5.25%, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Adrian Orr is betting that the next inflation announcement will see inflation within the target band of 1-3 percent, and the Government must act quickly to cut wasteful spending to ensure that bet pays off.

“Today’s announcement will bring a sigh of relief to homeowners, but if inflation remains outside the target band this will simply drag out the pain of the cost-of-living crisis.

“If Adrian Orr isn’t going to regret his decision, slashing government waste needs to be the name of the game. With public sector wage costs still growing at twice the rate of those in the private sector, Nicola Willis isn’t short of targets.”

 

A few weeks ago, we emailed about some of the ridiculous funding that is being handed out by the Royal Society of New Zealand through the "Marsden Fund" – which is supposed to be for the crème de la crème of New Zealand academia, showcasing the highest standards of scholarly excellence and innovation.

As a reminder, according to the Society's website the Fund "Supports excellence in science, engineering, maths, social sciences and the humanities in New Zealand by providing grants for investigator-initiated research" and gave out $83.5 million of taxpayer money last year alone.

Like last time, you be the judge of these latest projects our team have uncovered...

Researching the "Big Things"

Ever seen those roadside sculptures, and thought "someone should really study those"? You'll be delighted to learn that $360,000 has been spent to do that very road trip, I mean research! 🗿🗿🗿🚐

Grant ID: 22-VUW-021  Recipient: Dr M Zonjic, Victoria University of Wellington Big Things, Complex Shadows: investigating intersecting stories of place, identity, and erasure through large roadside sculptures in Aotearoa "During the 1980s economic recession, struggling small towns across Aotearoa started building large roadside sculptures – or "Big Things" – to sell unique provincial identities and attract passing motorists. Currently, more than two dozen "Big Things" are peppered across the country's landscape, contributing to the production, performance, and tourism marketing of particular places and identities. But whose stories do these novelty structures tell? And which narratives are obscured by their literal and proverbial shadows? This project brings a critical gaze to the privileging of Pākehā-centred narratives in current research on roadside "Big Things". Adopting a transformative epistemology, it attends to the ways in which "Big Things" can be an apparatus of forgetting settler-colonial histories, to provoke a new way of thinking about hegemonic constructions of colonial objects and the way these obscure land dispossession. Weaving together feminist, participatory, and filmic geographies, this project seeks to re-centre alternative stories currently hidden in the Big Things’ shadows, culminating in a scholarly monograph and six short films - one from each field-site. Internationally, this research provides a timely Antipodean contribution to contemporary scholarship examining the complex negotiations of decolonising public spaces, and the role that statues, however innocuous they may seem, occupy within them." Approved funding: $360,000

"Big things" indeed! 👀

Climate change is big thing. As is its impact on oceans. This creative academic, Dr BJ Etherington, has heroically managed to shoehorn disability studies and poetry to feast at the climate change trough research pool! See if you can make sense of this one:

Grant ID: 23-VUW-025  Recipient: Dr BJ Etherington, Victoria University of Wellington Literatures of Environment and Disability from Oceania "A diverse range of environmental impacts is hitting Oceania in this current moment of climate change, and disabled people, especially disabled Indigenous people, are increasingly at risk from those impacts. Yet the stories these people tell are often overlooked by literary researchers. It is imperative to highlight disabled people’s stories from Oceania as those who live here face progressively volatile environmental situations. These literatures emerge from contexts where military and extractive contamination often cause disabilities, and where disabled people are considered collateral damage during disasters, including the Covid-19 pandemic. My project analyses novels, short stories, creative nonfiction, and poems from Aotearoa, Guåhan, Hawai‘i, Sāmoa, West Papua, Papua New Guinea, and Fiji, establishing how such stories resist ableist narratives and theorise and advance disability-centred ways of creating sustainable and just environmental futures. This project argues that we cannot emphasise climate justice and account for those living in precarious environmental conditions without also prioritising the stories of disabled peoples. These literatures offer strategies for caring for one another and our environments as we all, abled and disabled, grapple with diverse ecological conditions once considered deviant. Approved funding: $360,000

Frankly, I'm astonished there is more than a handful of poems and stories about disabled pacific people taking on climate change. But then again, if I was given 360 grand, I'd travel through the Oceania hotspots to go looking! 🛫🏖️👋

How often do you see the words "alcohol", "dark sludge" and "Māori methodologies" together? This one feels like Massey University has been making use of its random word generator again. 

Grant ID: 23-MAU-022  Recipient: Associate Professor T Huckle, Massey University Dark nudges and sludge: big alcohol and dark advertising on social media We will 1) explore alcohol industry dark nudging and sludge [using cognitive biases to make psychological resistance more difficult] on social media; 2) investigate the experiences of dark nudging and sludge among rangatahi/young people; 3) build theory around these practices to advance knowledge within a rapidly developing digital world. We will explore the experiences of dark nudging and sludge among rangatahi Māori and Tangata Tiriti aged 16-24 years using an approach grounded in young people’s online worlds and real-time experiences. We will draw on Māori methodologies and approaches. Our research will produce ground-breaking knowledge and establish Aotearoa, New Zealand at the forefront of this new research area. We will also be the first to extend public health and social science theory into the “darkness” of current alcohol-industry exploitive tactics and transform global debate on unhealthy industry practices that restrict individual autonomy for informed choice in an unregulated digital environment." Approved funding: $861,000

An alternative name for this $861,000 research could be "Breaking News: Advertising encourages people to buy stuff".

Speaking of $861k, how about this grant look at a couple of fisheries across the world and what they tell us about "imperial" borders and governance of the ocean. Really?  🎣

Grant ID: 23-UOW-057  Recipient: Dr FE McCormack, University of Waikato Marine inequality and environmental demise: Identifying imperial borders in ocean governance "By foregrounding the role of ‘border imperialism’ in institutionalising marine exclusions, the research draws critical attention to the relationship between environmental decline, social inequality, and the longue durée of imperialist ideologies in ocean governance. The project’s field sites are four island nation states: Aotearoa, Hawaii, Iceland and Ireland, each of which has a distinct marine culture as well as historically diverse fishing economies and livelihoods. Each too has a different history of colonialism alongside a rich legacy of anti-colonial resistances and other forms of social movements, broadly rooted in claims to the commons. This research proposes that these oft-contentious histories are uniquely patterned in their ocean economies and regulatory regimes. Employing a comparative ethnographic approach to investigate four case studies—marine aquaculture in Aotearoa, the wild, angler and farmed salmon fisheries in Iceland and Ireland, and the aquarium fishery in Hawaii—the research will generate fundamental knowledge to support ongoing imperatives to decolonise ocean worlds." Approved funding: $861,000

Who knew "ocean worlds" (i.e fish) are racist colonisers? 😮

Note too the reference to "field sites". That's code for Ireland, Iceland, Hawaii round the world business class travel – sorry, research.

Now we move on to end-of-life experiences, and asking that age old question of whether end of life experiences are determined by astrology?

In the world of our crème de la crème research grants, death is indeed linked to the stars! ✨

And thank goodness too that some of this 'science' money is going to be used to "make a documentary" (a whole new take to high school science, no doubt). 🤯

Grant ID: 23-MAU-090  Recipient: Associate Professor NA Tassell-Matamua, Massey University Kua whetūrangihia koe. Linking the celestial spheres to end-of-life experiences. "What compelled Māori to link the celestial sphere with death, and what continues to inspire narratives, rituals and practices that reinforce this link? This first of its kind to explore this question, this study will gather accounts of death-related phenomena via an online tool and use interviews to further explore how Māori make meaning from these experiences and link them to the celestial sphere. Innovatively mapping death-related experiences onto the annual movement of Matariki over time, we will examine whether linkages exist between the timing and features of such experiences and Kōkōrangi Māori (Māori astronomy), and share our findings via a short documentary. In doing so, we will create opportunities to rekindle the ancient connection to the stars and re-imagine the meaning of death, while also advancing understandings about the practical application of Māori astronomy in contemporary times." Approved funding: $861,000

These five grants alone amount to $3.3million. And with $83.5 million in annual taxpayer funding each year just for Marsden, this trough is large. 

The media aren't doing their job. This nonsense needs to be exposed.

I wish we were making up these research grants! It's exposing the wasteful spending which the media aren't that is the reason David and I founded the Taxpayers' Union. Who else will hold these taxpayer funded quangos and academics to account?

Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and the only thing that will prompt MPs and Ministers to take on the vested interests and return science funding to, well, science.

Few would resent paying taxes for genuine scientific research. But every week we're uncovering more nonsense at Marsden/the Royal Society, the Health Research Council, and our universities.

This work is only made possible by the New Zealanders who chip-in and allow us to keep the lights on (and keep digging to expose wasteful spending). To make a confidential, secure donation, click here.

Thank you for your support.

Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming Wellington City Council for blowing $84,208 on a bike rack that sees an average of just 2.7 bikes per week.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson, James Ross said:

“With the Council spending $84k on a single rack for bikes, it’s no wonder the cost of the Town Hall project has blown out by almost eight times the original budget. Wellington can’t run projects cost-effectively.

“The council blames bad weather on low uptake. If people are only biking when it’s sunny, what’s wrong with simply having a piece of metal people can chain their bike to?

“Everything in Wellington ends up gold-plated, except for anything that people actually need – like core infrastructure. The city spends $84k on a bike rack and $150k per raised road crossing, but has water pipes that leak like a sieve.

“The Council’s prioritise-bikes-at-any-cost agenda is costing ratepayers significantly. The Council seems to think ‘if you build it, they will come’ but the evidence clearly shows otherwise.”

Responding to announcements that the Government intends to allow the introduction of congestion charging in councils nationwide, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Congestion charges are an effective way of controlling demand, but only if they’re not used as a way to wring revenue out of motorists. Luxon needs to definitively rule out congestion charges becoming the latest money grab.

“The Prime Minister is already talking about spending the extra money the government will rake in from drivers more effectively than the last lot did. If that’s the plan, National have just announced yet another new tax.

“Any cost increases from congestion charges need to be offset by slashing fuel taxes and road user charges, and the money raised from drivers needs to be properly ringfenced so that it can only be spent on our roads.”

 

This week we farewell the CEO of Wellington Water, reveal the latest extravagant taxpayer-funded party(s), expose the Ministry of Education's wayward priorities, and share our exclusive intel collected from the National Party's conference... We will also give you an update on the Government's unwinding of Labour's Three Waters policy.

Film Commission partying away taxpayer money 💸🎈

Government adopts key aspects of Taxpayers' Union Three Waters alternative 💦💦💦

On Thursday, the Government released the latest update in its Three Waters reforms and it's good news, Friend. 

The relentless advocacy, campaigning, policy work and legal drafting is finally paying off.

The Three Waters replacement will include many of they key principles and proposals of our alternative we spent the last two years developing.

Our Economist, Ray Deacon, wrote about the latest updates in an opinion piece for Wellington's The Post published on Friday:

Decades of poor asset management, combined with the tendency of councils to raid money intended for things people can’t see, like pipes, to fund the politically expedient things people can see like convention centres and town halls, have led to the situation we find ourselves in today...

Yesterday’s announcement from the Government is a lifeline for New Zealand’s water infrastructure. It incorporates many of the proposals from the Taxpayers’ Union’s technical advisory group.

I was part of that group. Joined by a team of experienced experts in infrastructure, local government, and economics, we set out to develop comprehensive legislative drafting instructions for a future Government to pick up.

Continue reading over at The Post.

Key points from Thursday's announcement: 

• Councils, jointly or individually, are able to set up council-controlled organisations (CCOs) with ring-fenced revenue for water infrastructure (so it can't be used to hide stealth rates increases to fund pet projects as some councils currently do). 

• CCOs can borrow for long-term investment in core infrastructure with that cost more fairly shared across all users over the infrastructure's lifetime, rather than lumped on the ratepayers of today – or worse, using borrowed money for day-to-day wasteful spending (or not undertaking the capital work at all).

• Drinking water safety and quality will continue to be regulated by the new water regulator, addressing the core issue that caused the Havelock North water crisis back in 2016.

• Small shared domestic water schemes will be exempted from the regulations preventing them from being required to deal with the same level of expensive red tape as our largest cities. This is a huge win. Under the current rules, farmers connecting just two dwellings (such as a farmhouse and shearers quarters) were to be regulated like a town-supply utility!

• The regulator must consider the costs imposed on suppliers before imposing ineffective or impractical regulation where the cost far exceeds the benefits, preventing engineers from being totally risk adverse or gold-plating (no matter the costs).

• Economic regulation, enforced by the Commerce Commission, will require CCOs to publicly produce economic, service performance, and management data, ensuring they are properly managing their assets and future investment. This is standard around the world and is already in place for electricity lines companies.

As Ray summed it up:

Our solutions to the nation’s water woes focused on tackling the core issues rather than using the reforms as a Trojan horse for pushing ideological changes – namely, expanding co-governance and centralising control, as the previous Government did.

Friend, all of this work was made possible thanks to the thousands of our supporters who backed the Taxpayers' Union against all odds to first stop, and then scrap, Three Waters.

We were up against what, at face-value, was an unwinnable battle: A single party majority Labour Government, a media unwilling to report fairly on Three Waters, an opposition unwilling to be vocal and a multi-million dollar taxpayer-funded propaganda campaign to scare the public into supporting their proposals. 

But with people power, grassroots activism, roadshows, TV and newspaper ads and hundreds upon hundreds of banners we slowly turned the tide and won convincingly. Take a bow Friend.

Wellington Water boss quits 👋

The same day as the Government's Three Water's announcement, Wellington Water's Chief Executive, Tonia Haskell announced her resignation – effective the very next day.

Credit where it's due for Ms Haskell for falling on her sword following the organisation's incredibly poor (and expensive) performance.

Wellington Water recently admitted overlooking a budget error, forcing ratepayers to fork out an additional $51 million to plug the holes. 

Earlier in the year, a damning report highlighted the skyrocketing costs of fixing the city's leaks, and over the summer ratepayers were forced onto water restrictions as the region was losing almost half of its drinking water to leaks.

A serious shakeup is needed at Wellington Water. The Board must work quickly to find a strong replacement who is able to bang the right heads together and get things done. 

A similar approach would be useful in central government too...

Time to pull the plug on taxpayer-funded EV chargers 🔌

Last week, Rhys, one of our young researchers, uncovered that the Ministry of Education is pumping millions of dollars into taxpayer-funded EV chargers for their staff. Since 2022, they have spent almost $2.2 million on 297 chargers, only four of which are on properties owned by the taxpayer. For the avoidance of doubt, this isn't car chargers at schools, it's mostly chargers at offices and carparks that aren't even owned by the Ministry.

There’s not even any environmental benefit either. As I explain here, these policies don’t make a dent in emissions.

If government departments were wasting taxpayers’ money installing petrol pumps in their basements it would rightly be called ridiculous. Paying millions to install EV charging points is no different, except it comes with a hefty sprinkle of middle-class welfare for Wellington bureaucrats plugging in their Teslas.

This $2.2 million is just one Ministry’s contribution. Other departments are almost certainly at it too, on top of the tens of millions already splurged on public EV chargers by EECA.

The Ministry needs to use every cent to fix our broken education system. It’s time to pull the plug on this nonsense. 

>>> Pull the plug on taxpayer-funded EV chargers <<<

So while it's open-season when it's taxpayer money, when politicians are spending their own money the story is slightly different...

Frosty reception at the National Party conference 🥶

Earlier this month, the National Party had their annual conference in Auckland.

We're always keen to keep our ears close to the ground, and picked up a scoop or two – but when one of our staffers in attendance reported one little thing he overheard, we couldn’t help but laugh.

Conference-goers had a frosty reception when the National Party apparently refused to put the heating on, saying it would cost the party too much money!

This from the same people running a government spending programme which is spending even more than Grant Robertson was!

So now we know, politicians can indeed be frugal – at least when it’s their money they’re having to spend, not that taken from hardworking taxpayers…

Now take that approach to Wellington please.

Media Mentions:

Newstalk ZB The Huddle: Are we being too hard on the C2 500 crew?

The Post A lifeline for New Zealand’s failing infrastructure

The Post Auckland mayor’s plan to ‘dethrone’ errant Auckland Transport

Kiwiblog Why I have resigned from the Research Association of New Zealand

RNZ Mediawatch for 11 August 2024 [16:34]

Media releases:

Fun Police Need To Stay In Their Lane

TVNZ Must Be Sold Before It’s Too Late

TVNZ’s $1.5M Rebrand A Smokescreen For Poor Performance And Declining Trust

Time To Pull The Plug On EV Charging Rort

Taxpayers’ Union Welcomes Progress On Three Waters Replacement

Nicola Willis Promises To Tackle Bureaucrats’ Rocketing Wage Growth

Second Aratere Ferry Incident Highlights Need To Sell Interislander

Government Wasted $2.2 Million On Ministry Of Education’s EV Chargers, Needs Lessons In Climate Policy

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, Connor sat down with National Party MP, Katie Nimon.

Katie was elected as the MP for Napier at the 2023 General Election. Born and raised in Hawke's Bay, Katie has had experience working in, and eventually running, the iconic family bus company Nimon and Son before becoming the transport manager at the regional council. Katie has a Bachelor of Design with honours and an Executive MBA, and has also worked in the advertising industry.

A passionate advocate for all things Hawke's Bay, Katie shares her story before politics, what drives her and why she wanted to become an MP. 

Katie's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow Katie on Facebook here.

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] 

You can also listen to Taxpayer Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal through an Official Information Act request that the Ministry of Education and EECA have spent $2,159,815.62 (including GST) installing 297 electric vehicle charging points on Ministry of Education sites since 2022. Almost half of this expense was incurred in the most recent financial year.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“If government departments were wasting taxpayers’ money installing petrol pumps in their basements it would rightly be called ridiculous. Paying millions to install EV charging points is no different, except it comes with a hefty sprinkle of middle-class welfare.

“There is no climate argument for this either, as transport emissions are covered by the Emissions Trading Scheme. Net carbon emissions won’t reduce by even a single gram, but at least Tesla-driving officials get their bumper subsidy to travel in luxury.

“The Ministry should be putting every cent towards boosting our plummeting education standards. No doubt the teachers’ unions will join New Zealand’s largest union in being up in arms over this bureaucratic waste if they’re worth their salt.”

Responding to reports that the Aratere ferry has crashed into a wharf while berthing in Wellington, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Kiwirail couldn’t run a bath let alone a safe and reliable ferry service. It is time to sell it to someone who has the financial incentive to ensure the service runs smoothly and without incident.

“It was only last month that the same ship ran aground because staff couldn’t figure out how to turn off the autopilot.

“Taxpayers should not be on the hook for this incompetence.”

Responding to recent announcements by Nicola Willis of plans to rein in runaway public sector pay increases, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“It shouldn’t seem like a tall ask for an organisation to take account of the state of its books when planning for wage increases, but apparently even that has been asking too much of government departments over the last few years.

“StatsNZ announced yesterday that even despite a few thousand lay-offs, the cost of public sector labour has increased 6.9% in the last year alone. With this increase 50% greater than the growth in private sector costs, hats off to Nicola Willis for trying to end the gravy train.

“There’s already a massive public sector pay premium. The public service unions need a reality check if they think its “cruel and unworkable” to stop expecting mum-and-dad taxpayers to empty out their pockets so officials don’t have to cut back on a few luxuries.”

Responding to the Government’s announcement that they intend to improve access to finance for water council-controlled organisations (CCOs), Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“The Government is listening to New Zealanders who overwhelmingly opposed Labour’s expensive, bureaucratic and undemocratic Three Waters reforms.

“It is fantastic to see them delivering on this promise, incorporating many of the proposals recommended by the Technical Advisory Group formed by the Taxpayers’ Union. Increasing the ability of water service providers to take on long-term debt will ensure that the cost of water infrastructure is more fairly spread across all users over many years, rather than being lumped on the ratepayers of today – or worse, not undertaken at all.

“Additionally the changes to the Water Services Authority | Taumata Arowai make sense. Requiring them to consider costs imposed on suppliers is a significant step forward that will prevent the gold-plating that drives up costs while delivering at best marginal benefits to consumers.

“The removal of the requirement to uphold Te Mana o te Wai will ensure our water regulator focuses on delivering safe and efficient water services at an affordable price rather than trying to figure out how to comply with a concept which is about as fluid as the water it’s trying to regulate.”

EXPOSED: Taxpayers continuing to fund "white privilege workshops" for MBIE mandarins 🚫🤦🏻‍♀️

Do you remember when the new Government insisted they were going through departmental spending line-by-line?

Well someone should have gone to Specsavers if our latest waste exposé is anything to go by.

On Sunday, your humble Taxpayers' Union blew the whistle that Government departments continue to splurge money on [checks notes] "white privilege" workshops for bureaucrats and government contractors.

Earlier this year, we got a tipoff that MBIE had spent $650,000 on these workshops over the past four years, and this story is just what we've uncovered so far.

As splashed in the Sunday Star Times:

MBIE says the workshops help staff address unconscious bias which helps them better serve NZ but the Taxpayers’ Union says it’s “wasteful spending”.

Almost $22,000 has already been spent so far this year on nine different sessions. Five more are booked in.

The Taxpayers’ Union said the workshops needed to be “on the chopping block” and every government department needed to look at its “wasteful spending”.

"Workshopping for government departments with more money than sense has fast become a mega-industry, with organisations, no one has ever heard of being bunged hundreds of thousands of dollars from the taxpayer year after year,“ said James Ross, policy and public affairs manager for the Taxpayers’ Union.

Figures released under the Official Information Act show since 2020, MBIE has contracted The Wall Walk and Courageous Conversations for 58 workshops run across the country for its staff. The Star-Times requested the contracts but were denied their release because it would have taken too much work to compile.

The Wall Walk is run by criminologist Dr Simone Bull (Ngāti Porou) and is described on its website as part theatre, part study, part kōrero and is designed to “raise collective awareness of key events in the history of New Zealand”.

Its sessions cost between $529.87 and $7105.45 - the majority of the sessions were less than $5000.

Bull said she couldn’t speak to procurement processes but her workshop was unique.

“It’s not possible for any agency or business to get multiple providers to tender for a unique service,” she said.

“I like to think that it’s popular because generations of people who call Aotearoa New Zealand home want to know about our country’s history (including the policies that were introduced and why) but were never taught it and the way we teach it is designed to uphold the mana or dignity of the people involved and their descendants.”

Courageous Conversations is run by South Pacific Institutes and its website says its mission is grounded in Te Tiriti and aims to “elevate racial consciousness through interracial dialogue”. Its most frequently contracted workshop to MBIE is called ‘Beyond Diversity’.

And sadly, the Minister is nowhere to be seen...

Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee is responsible for MBIE and said the workshops were an operational decision and the ministry had a responsibility to support its staff who are from a diverse range of backgrounds.

And it's not just MBIE. Our research team has so far uncovered 19 other government agencies that have also been spending taxpayer money on these workshops, pumping thousands of bureaucrats through these courses. The Sunday Star Times continues:

At least 19 other public agencies - including police, ESR, MPI, the Commerce Commission, the Retirement Commission and Cancer Control Agency - have references in recent publications to providing the workshops. Most include it under their cultural or diversity plans.

The Taxpayers’ Union said MBIE was just the “tip of the iceberg”.

“Bureaucrats across government need to front up on the scale of this rort and let the public decide for themselves what they think of their hard-earned money being spent like this,” said Ross.

The Ministry of Education began offering the Beyond Diversity workshops to its staff since 2018 but was criticised for it in 2021 by National and ACT when they were in opposition.

Then National leader Judith Collins said officials were being taught “to feel guilty” about being white and ACT leader David Seymour called the “white privilege” workshops “entirely inappropriate”.

Internal emails from the time show Secretary for Education Iona Holsted had the expectation that all staff undertook the training.

Continue reading over on the Stuff.co.nz.

We say forcing government staff to take off the better part of the day to calculate their 'white privilege score' is not a good use of taxpayer money. 

If you agree, drop a note to Melissa Lee (the Minister responsible for MBIE) and ask her to tell officials to put a stop to this nonsense.

TVNZ's $1.5 million rebrand a smokescreen for poor performance ✨🪩

Last week we revealed that taxpayer-owned broadcaster, TVNZ, wasted $1.5 million rebranding their online streaming platform from 'TVNZ on Demand' to 'TVNZ+'.

No prizes for guessing why they're expecting a $28 million loss this year...

This extravagant expenditure comes at a time when TVNZ is plagued by poor management, declining revenue, and a growing mistrust among viewers.

With people increasingly getting their news from other sources, available instantly thanks to the internet, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to justify state ownership of TVNZ. We should sell it – if we're lucky, it might still be worth something. 

If you haven't yet signed our petition to sell TVNZ, please add your name so we can ramp up the pressure on the Government to act before it's too late.

Forced to choose between continuing to prop up the John Campbells and Maiki Shermans of this world or paying down debt and delivering meaningful tax relief, I know what I'd choose...

Tax 'relief' giving with one hand, taking with the other 💸🤫

Councils must set, and achieve, savings targets 🎯✅

And it's not just the Government that needs to do a better job of ensuring Kiwis can keep more of what they earn.

With households and businesses across the country tightening their belts and finding ways to do more with less, it's time councils did the same.

With average rates hikes of more than 15%, many ratepayers are at risk of being forced to sell or remortgage their homes just to pay the bills. 

When the Government came into power, they demanded 6.5-7.5% savings from almost every department  – it's great to see them finally urging local councils to do the same.  

We recently also wrote to every Mayor and council asking them what efforts they are making to cut back on costs and whether they have set savings targets to keep rates under control. Unfortunately, the responses we've received have been underwhelming, to say the least. We'll report back once we have all of the council's responses.

Hastings District Council pays $1m for a building. Sells it for $150k two years later 🏗️🤯

Cutting back on wasteful spending in local councils doesn't mean reducing core services. Axing the silly and incompetent spending will go a long way to balancing the books in the first instance. 

At my hometown council in Hastings, one doesn't have to look far. The Council bought a building just two years ago for $1 million, now they've decided to sell it for a mere $150,000.

No private individual or business would make such a wasteful "investment". If you need any more evidence that nobody spends somebody else’s money as carefully as they spend their own, look no further than Hastings. 

I wrote to the Mayor, and every Councillor, demanding an explanation. What I got back from the Mayor was some carefully crafted PR spin that avoided many of the questions asked. Not a single councillor responded – we have heard from our well-placed sources that councillors were instructed by officials not to respond to the questions posed by the Taxpayers' Union!

This isn't local democracy nor is it accountability. And this certainly won't be the last Hastings District hear from us about it. 

You can read my letter here and judge for yourself whether the Council's response is a good faith attempt to answer my questions here.

Report waste at *your* local council👮🔬

Many of our best government and local government waste stories come directly from supporters like you, or from those with their boots on the ground working in the 'belly of the beast' as elected representatives or council officials. 

If you are aware of waste at your local council that could use some sunlight exposure, please report it via our confidential tipline and our team will investigate and expose it.

🔎 >>> REPORT WASTE HERE <<< 🔎

Media Mentions:

RNZ Mediawatch for 28 July 2024 [25:46]

Interest.co.nz The Coalition has delivered on its promise to cut taxes without extra borrowing but still needs to convince voters it won’t come at the cost of frontline staff

Pacific Mornings 531pi Richard Pamatatau, Political Commentator [9:16]

Greymouth Star Westcoast Rates Compared [Print only]

The Spinoff Get ready, your much-hyped tax cut is almost here

Rural News Out of control

Newstalk ZB Jordan Williams: Taxpayers' Union Executive Director on the Film Commission spending over $16,400 on celebrations

NZ Herald NZ Film Commission spends $16,431 on CEO parties amid budget cuts

Interest.co.nz Nicola Willis says she will use fiscal drag to help pay down public debt, despite calling it a flaw in the tax system

Rural News Full-Court Press

NZ Herald Government wants ‘line-by-line’ review of council spending and floats asset sales

NZ Herald Rethink needed on council funding - Nick Clark

Manawatu Standard Nothing slushy about support for Manawatū events

NZ Herald National Party Conference: party president Sylvia Wood sets goal of mid-40s in the polls

The Post Christopher Luxon returns to the National Party faithful

Sunday Star Times Government still spending thousands on ‘white privilege’ workshops

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, Connor sat down with New Zealand First MP, Andy Foster.

Andy is a former mayor of Wellington and also served nine terms as councillor making him one of New Zealand's most experienced local government politicians. In 2023 he was elected to Parliament on the New Zealand First Party list. Earlier in his career, he has also worked in investment finance, taught economics, and was even a parliamentary researcher for the National Party.

Andy explains what drew him to local and then central government politics, why he shifted from National to New Zealand first and what he wants to achieve during his time as an MP. 

Andy's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow Andy on Facebook here.

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] 

You can also listen to Taxpayer Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

Following the opening of a new taxpayer-funded EV charging hub in Tauranga, the Taxpayers’ Union is renewing calls for the government to pull the plug on taxpayer funding for EV chargers that do not reduce NZ’s net emissions and only serve to line the pockets of the already wealthy.

ChargeNet, who built the Hub, has received more than $7 million in corporate welfare while one it’s directors and shareholders was actively involved in campaigning against National at the last election based on misleading claims about the impact of EVs on the climate through his sock-puppet charity Better NZ Trust.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Simeon Brown knows that transport emissions are already governed under the Emissions Trading Scheme. Any reduction in transport emissions will simply free up carbon credits to be used by other emitters elsewhere. The net effect on the climate is zero.

“Why then, is he continuing to pump millions of dollars into the pockets of the very people who campaigned against him when there is no absolutely no reason to do so? We wouldn’t expect the Government to subsidise petrol stations when cars were first invented, EV chargers shouldn’t be any different.

“It’s time for the Government to acknowledge that their policy to build 10,000 EV chargers is a poor use of taxpayer money and instead focus on things that will bring the cost down such as cutting the red tape stopping more EV chargers from being constructed privately.”

The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that TVNZ spent $1.5 million on rebranding their online streaming service from TVNZ OnDemand to TVNZ+

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, says:

“This extravagant expenditure comes at a time when TVNZ is plagued by poor management, declining revenue, and a growing mistrust among viewers. It is time to reconsider the future of TVNZ.

“Taxpayers would be right to question whether TVNZ’s rebrand is actually a commercially prudent decision or if it is merely a smokescreen, diverting attention from its deeper issues.

“Only two of it’s top 10 streamed shows on TVNZ+ in June were local content. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to justify state ownership, it’d be far better to sell and put the money to better use such as paying down our eye-watering debt.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the government to sell off TVNZ before it’s too late following reports that the state-owned broadcaster faces a $30 million shortfall.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“The world is changing, we need to change with it. When people can access information from anywhere in the world at the click of a button they are of course going to increasingly turn away from traditional TV.

“With viewership, revenue and trust all falling, it won’t be long until TVNZ isn’t worth anything at all. TVNZ should be sold while it’s still worth something.

“A private operator will be able to innovate and adapt a lot more easily that a state-owned broadcaster. With less and less Kiwis watching the news anyway, there is simply no justification for keeping it in state ownership.