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.

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Government to axe its $5 million Regional Events Promotion Fund labelling it as nothing more than a corporate welfare slush fund. 

“If people really want to attend these events, they can buy tickets and go themselves. With the cost of living still punishing many families, it is odd that the Government is choosing to prioritise photo opportunities for politicians over delivering meaningful tax relief or paying down debt to secure our economic recovery. 

“Forcing the taxpayer to subsidise tattoo, drag and music festivals - along with a myriad of other obscure sporting and food events - will always make the taxpayer worse off than if they had been left with that money to spend as they wish. 

“Politicians will try to argue that this draws people into the region for these events. What they neglect to mention is that they are drawing them, and their money, away from other areas and businesses where it would have been spent on productive businesses instead.

“The recent tax changes barely adjust for half of the stealth tax hikes caused by inflation since tax brackets were last set 14 years ago. Cutting back on propping up festivals that apparently no one would spend their own money on to buy a full price ticket is exactly the kind of waste that needs to be cut to put more money in Kiwi’s pockets.”

Responding to reports that the Police have commissioned a ‘study’ advocating raising alcohol taxes, lifting the legal purchase age from 18 to 20 and introducing restrictions on alcohol advertising and sponsorship, Taxpayers’ Union Executive, Jordan Williams, said:

“This is yet another example of the fun police trying to take away people’s enjoyment of life rather than actually focusing on dealing with crime.

“Prohibitionists lost the argument a long time ago but are now trying to bring it in by stealth. The policy interventions they recommend simply won’t work and could end up making alcohol-related harm worse.

”It is also a constitutional disgrace. The Police’s role is to enforce the law, not lobby to change it. Someone ought to buy Andrew Coster a copy of the Peelian Principles which modern policing is supposed to be based on. For those who still care for an impartial Police force that does not involve themselves in making or advocating for legal changes, as previous Commissioners have understood, a strong drink is in order.

“Instead of trying to slap more taxes and restrictions on the vast majority of people who safely consume alcohol, the focus should be on targeted interventions at those people causing the most harm, while allowing everyone else to get on with their lives.”

The Taxpayers’ Union slams Wellington Water after a recently released report by Roy Baker and Kevin Jenkins highlighted a failure to report a significant capital budgeting error to their Board in a timely manner.

The report notes that the budget accuracy was not checked, with one paragraph stating: ‘In our view the critical over-riding factors impacting the detection of a reporting abnormality is the organisation’s loose control environment (see Section c.), the absence of clear and publicised responsibilities (canvassed throughout this Report), and inaction, quite probably due to the organisational climate and a culture that is not aligned with its core values. This does suggest Wellington Water continues to profile symptoms of “learned helplessness” (see Section c.).’

Commenting on this, Taxpayers' Union economist, Ray Deacon, said “it is a basic function of a senior leadership team to ensure that the control environment (financial, process, procedures, accountabilities and risk) is adequately managed. It is one of the most basic functions of a Board to make sufficient enquiries to satisfy themselves that this is so.

”Baker and Jenkins report a culture in a state of ‘learned helplessness’ of not wanting to hear or present bad news. Deacon says “clearly, such a culture works to prevent effective and timely corrective actions and will ultimately corrode all aspects of the organisation’s performance. It must be a paramount action of the Board and senior leadership to correct this.”

“What is so totally damning is that this appears to be a repeat of the fiasco surrounding the lack of fluoridation in parts of the network in 2021. The Martin Jenkins consultancy reported on this in June of 2022. The Baker and Jenkins report has identified the same problems in this new report.  Clearly, very little corrective action has been taken. Why is this?”

“It is no wonder that Councils and local ratepayers (who fund this dysfunctional organisation) have so little confidence in Wellington Water. But who is going to be held accountable for their abject failures?”

 

Tax 'relief' this week (if you can call it that)

No doubt the big story the Government will want the media focus on this week is their tax reductions finally coming into force. 

But sadly, it's not really tax relief when New Zealanders are still paying a higher average rate of tax than under the early years of Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson.

Thanks to the failure to adjust tax brackets for inflation since 2010, Kiwis have been forced into higher and higher tax brackets – even when earnings haven't changed in "real" (inflation-adjusted) terms. This is called "bracket creep" or "fiscal drag".

It has meant, for the average Kiwi worker, they're paying $49 per week more in tax, despite being no better off.

$49 is what Nicola Willis needed to deliver for the average worker. Unfortunately she is shortchanging New Zealanders giving them less than half of what is needed to make up for 14 years of stealth tax hikes.

So while this week's changes are welcome, the Government must go a lot further and faster to cut wasteful spending and deliver more meaningful tax relief. 

Yet another failed mega-merger 🏥💸

Remember when the Labour Government decided to centralise the health system into a bureaucratic monolith in the middle of a pandemic?

Well it won't come as a surprise to anyone after seeing the boondoggles with the centralisation of our polytechnics and the attempted Three Waters power grab that the new health mega-bureaucracy is burning money at a rate of knots.

Overspending by $130 million every month, Health NZ was on track for a $1.4 billion deficit – $700 for every household in the country. 

Despite the billions spent, and 3000 extra backroom paper pushers hired, health outcomes continued to decline and report after report slammed the bureaucratic mess the Government had created.

Rather than sitting on his hands, credit must be given to Health Minister Shane Reti for sacking the Board and putting in a commissioner to sort out the agency's finances and turn its performance around. 

And it's not just central government bleeding cash... 

Ratepayers fork out for 'Rebel Business School' rort 🕴️

If you're wondering what your council is spending money on that necessitates a double digit rates hike, you may want to check if they're funding the 'Rebel Business School'. 

What sounds like a formidable educational institution to teach people how to run a business is drenched in controversy. Their 10-day unaccredited course has optional attendance for "graduates" and has consistently failed to meet delivery and attendance targets.

Taking money from productive businesses through higher rates, only to give it to (and this is a generous description in the circumstances) a "pop-up business creche" is not how you create a vibrant local economy. 

Even Christchurch City Council's economic development wing is questioning the group's value, and has withdrawn funding "due to delivery targets not being met." Other councils should follow suit.

Auckland Council spent $280,000 on this grift, Napier City Council spent $29,000 and taxpayers have stumped up more than $1.35 million! Rather than pay for "optional attendance" qualifications certificate printing, councils and government would have been better off slashing red tape that makes just getting a business off the ground such a bureaucratic nightmare in the first place.

Check if your council is funding these grifters here.

With councils seemingly desperate to spend ratepayer money on anything except core business, one MP has decided to do something about it. 

MP wants to stop councils from considering emissions in consenting 💰🔥 

Sick of seeing councils waste millions of dollars on unsuccessfully trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ACT MP and farmer Mark Cameron has told councils to 'get in behind'.

Mr Cameron has lodged a Member's Bill that would force councils to stop considering emissions (which is a central, not local government responsibility) when making consenting decisions.

The Taxpayers' Union support the Bill as it rightly recognises that reducing emissions is the role of central government and, due to how our Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) works, almost anything councils do in the climate change space is completely pointless (see below).

The ETS sets a fixed cap on the amount of emissions that can occur each year. This cap is based on the total amount of emissions (from things like car exhausts) minus any removals (such as from forestry). If one council decides to block the consent on a new factory because it would be powered using a coal boiler, that simply means someone else can emit more instead. I explain this in more detail here. 

Speaking of getting councils back under control...

No, 1News, referendums are not a 'legal loophole' 🤯🔦

In some sad news following the Tauranga election that one of the newly elected councillors was undergoing medical treatment at the hospital, one reporter decided to insert anti-democracy propaganda into the story.

The reporter stated that the ability for local residents to petition against and hold a referendum on the introduction of a Māori Ward was a 'legal loophole'. This implies that a technicality in the law allowed this to happen and that it wasn't intended – that's simply not the case.

In fact, it was explicitly written in the law before Nanaia Mahuta hijacked local decision-making and removed the ability for local communities to decide their own electoral arrangements. 

This biased and misleading reporting is exactly why people are losing trust in the media. To top things off, here's what was written in small text at the very bottom of the story: 

"LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air"

Seriously, taxpayers are the ones paying for this drivel. 

Fortunately, the new Government is in the process of restoring local democracy – watch my tussle with Willie Jackson on the matter here.  

Media Mentions:

Newstalk ZB Capital Letter: NZ Herald's Georgina Campbell on Interislander poll, further bullying allegations

Chris Lynch Media Inflation Drops to 3.3% in July, but what does that mean for cost of living crisis?

The Leighton Smith Podcast Jordan Williams of the NZ Taxpayer's Union argues the benefits of Estonia's tax regime

Newstalk ZB The councils with the highest rates rises, and why

The Platform Michael Laws Questions Māori Influence in Local Government Decisions [1:57]

Sunday Star Times Inside the Beehive: 10 minutes with Casey Costello

Kiwiblog Who is hiking rates the most

Stuff Rates more than double over 10 years

Newstalk ZB The Huddle: Do we need regulations for PayWave fees?

Hansard Local Government (Electoral Legislation and Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill — Second Reading

RNZ Interislander: More opposition than support for ferry project cancellation, poll finds

The Press The Press letters to the editor: Thursday July 25

Kiwiblog Guest Post: Economics 101 for RadioNZ, Guyon Espiner and Professors Janet Hoek and Chris Bullen

Bassett, Brash & Hide PETER WILLLIAMS: The costs of Te Mana o te Wai are worse than we thought

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming the Government for celebrating the opening of a taxpayer-funded experimental vineyard saying they should be pruning back corporate welfare, not championing it.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“The Government is loading the risk of this experiment onto taxpayers while allowing private businesses to reap any benefits. If winemakers and viticulturists aren’t willing to stump up their own money to fund this experiment, why should taxpayers?

“Corporate welfare like this sends a message to the private sector not to bother funding their own research and innovation, taxpayers will fund it for them.

“This will create a lot of sour grapes from other industries who are successful in their own right without government handouts. Corporate welfare to special interest groups only invites more lobbying and develops a culture of handouts for wealthy commercial interests that should have been left in the 1980s.

“The Taxpayers’ Union is hearing through the grapevine that government ministers are divided over the issue of corporate welfare. Those in favour must come forward and explain how New Zealanders are better off by taking money from productive businesses and hand it to those who can’t stand on their own two feet.”

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, Dana Kirkpatrick.

Dana defines herself as staunchly East Coast, having been born and raised in Gisborne, and has been the MP for the East Coast since the 2023 General Election. She comes from a farming family, has worked in journalism, local government, and the health sector, and has previously been involved with a number of community organisations.

Dana shares what drove her to become an MP, what she hopes to achieve during her time in Parliament, and gives an insight into what she enjoys doing outside of politics, namely gardening. 

Dana's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow Dana 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 is slamming the reporting of a Talbot Mills poll claiming that there is more opposition than support for the government’s decision to cancel the iReX ferry project.

The poll question refers to a $551 million contract for the new ferry purchases but fails to mention that the total cost would have been around $3 billion when considering that the new ferries would be useless without a significant rebuild of the Picton and Wellington Ports.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Heck, if the cost were just $551 million, maybe even the Taxpayers’ Union would support the purchase. But the reality is the true figure is almost six times that and Kiwirail’s incompetence leaves little to the imagination as to whether that would be the extent of the taxpayer liability.

“Instead, the better decision would be to sell the Interislander service to a private operator. This would let taxpayers off the hook, bring in much-needed revenue to pay down debt and would likely lead to a better run service.

“Taxpayers’ Union - Curia polling showed 43% of Kiwis support selling the Interislander compared to 38% opposed. It’s time for the Minister to put forward a case for the sale which will no doubt sure up support even further.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming the Hastings District Council for purchasing a building for $1 million only to sell it for $150,000 just two years later.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“This appears to be yet another case of a council not doing its due diligence before forking out ratepayer money to pay for the latest boondoggle.

“Either the council significantly overpaid for a derelict building or they effectively gave a $1 million handout to a property developer while local ratepayers stare down the barrel of a 19% rates hike. Either way it reeks of bureaucratic incompetence.

“Ratepayers deserve an explanation as to how this was able to occur. Instead the Council has used a confidentiality clause to shield themselves from embarrassment rather than risking taking some accountability for their poor decision making.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on councils and government agencies to cease funding of Rebel Business School after it was revealed using offical information laws that almost $2 million of taxpayer and ratepayer money has been spent on the scheme.

Rebel Business School provides unaccredited certificates and training for those wanting to start their own business via a ten-day course. But already, complaints are emerging over delivery targets not being met, poor attendance, and ambiguous outcomes despite $1,946,131.50 being spent on the programmes.

New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union Spokesperson, Sam Warren, said:

“Schemes like this are a wasteful money-go-round where money is taken from productive sectors of the economy, swirled through the bureaucracy, and then gambled away on courses offering dubious value.

“The level of spending by both central and local government over the last few years to feed Rebel Business School’s swindle is beyond belief. More publicly funded organisations need to follow in ChristchurchNZ’s footsteps and withdraw funding after the school’s failure to perform.

“The idea that a ten-day programme - which doesn’t even require full attendance - offering a certificate which would provide the necessary skills to start a business is absurd. If councils and the Government want more people getting into business, they would be better off focusing on slashing some of the onerous red tape that make just getting off the ground such a bureaucratic nightmare.”

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union congratulates Tauranga Mayor-elect Mahé Drysdale and the rest of the Council on a successful campaign and welcomes the overdue return to democracy.

Taxpayers’ Union Local Government Campaigns Manager, Sam Warren, said:

“After being stripped of democracy in early 2021, and then again being shamefully denied the right to a democratic election in 2022 it is great to see democratically accountable representatives back in charge.

“The new Council must work hard to build the trust of the city, treating every ratepayer dollar as if they had earned it themselves. Mahé and his team must focus on getting the basics right, not continuing the attitude of the power-hungry commissioners who were more concerned with ideological pet projects than doing the basics well.

“Mahé has some experience making the boat go faster. He must carry those lessons into council, working as hard as possible to do more with less rather than taking the easy option of shouldering ratepayers with even higher rates in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the sacking of the Health NZ Board who have failed to meet performance expectations but says the blame should also sit with the previous Government.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Centralising and restructuring the health system into a bureaucratic behemoth was never going to deliver its promised efficiencies. Instead, taxpayers have been left with deteriorating health services and eye-watering cost blowouts.

“It is clear the board has failed to perform, but ultimately the responsibility must sit with the Government who decided it was a good idea to restructure in the middle of a pandemic.

“The health reforms have cost households thousands of dollars each, but they are left with nothing to show for it. Today’s announcement is simply more evidence that Wellington-knows-best centralisation simply doesn’t work and that a decentralised model with choice and competition would not only deliver fa

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on Food Safety Minister, Andrew Hoggard, to reject calls for further red tape requiring plain packaging for infant formula products.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“This Government, but particularly the ACT Party, was elected to cut red tape, not create even more. Plain packaging rules for infant formula would undermine intellectual property rights, stifle innovation and shift manufacturing offshore to those countries with less burdensome regulation.

“There are already laws prohibiting making false claims on packaging. More red tape simply makes it harder to do business in New Zealand for very little public benefit.

“At a time when the country’s finances are in a shambles, it would be reckless to impose further regulatory taxes that drive away businesses who contribute so much to our economy.”

Responding to calls from universities for the Government to renew a ‘one-off’ funding increase, the Taxpayers’ Union is telling the universities to tackle the bloat in non-academic staff in order address their financial challenges.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Research from The New Zealand Initiative has shown that New Zealand universities have around 40% more non-academic than academic staff. Tackling this bloat should be top priority.

“We know that the large number of non-academic staff isn’t necessary because in the US, Canada, UK and Australia the ratio of non-academic to academic staff is significantly lower.

“Spending on non-academic staff is almost half of NZ universities’ salary expenditure. Cutting this back would go a long way to fixing their funding woes.

“The Government must not give in to calls for further funding from universities who have not made a real effort to sort themselves out first. Any government involvement should be targeted at cutting red tape and changing the pricing model to bring more market discipline into our universities.”

Responding to reports that Ministers are already working on new savings initiatives for Budget 2025, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“New savings initiatives and the axing of programmes that do not deliver value to the taxpayer should be axed as soon as they are identified. Waiting until next year’s budget simply forces the taxpayer to stump up for billions of dollars in wasteful spending on projects that are already destined to be wound up.

“We don’t want bureaucrats pushing paper for the next 10 months just to find out all their work is getting lumped on the scrap heap at next year’s budget. We have given Nicola Willis a list of savings initiatives that could be actioned right now, so there’s no reason to wait before getting on with the job.

“Right now, wasteful spending is keeping inflation much higher than it needs to be. Kicking the can on cutting wasteful spending to next year will only keep inflation and interest rates higher for longer, robbing Kiwis and making life tougher.”

 

This will be the last time you'll hear from me as Head of Campaigns – it is with a heavy heart I'm letting you know that this is my last week at the Taxpayers' Union (see the very end of this email). But first...

Exposed: Councils hiking rates at more than 3X inflation

This week, we launched the 2024 Rates Dashboard, to compare your council's proposed rates hike with those of others around New Zealand. Click here to see how your council compares. 

But make sure you're sitting down. The short point is our councils are out of control. We've uncovered that the average for city and district councils is an eye-watering 14 percent hike this year – and that’s on top of the 15 percent rate hikes at regional councils.

Central government cost-cutting is only half the battle. Town halls need to catch up with economic reality and trim back office fat, can pet projects, and focus on core services.

And before you hear the squeals from Local Government New Zealand about 'needing' more money for infrastructure, when we've looked at growth in local government in previous years, we've found that at nearly every council, the proportion of spending going to capital items (roads, pipes, pumps, etc.) has actually been reducing compared to the proportion going to operating expenses (i.e. staff payroll and back-office bureaucracy). 

Our policy wonk, James, was on Radio NZ on Monday talking about our findings.

But it's not just local government getting its priorities wrong...

Adrian Orr's latest pet project: Digital cash

Remember when Reserve Bank Governor, Adrian Orr, spent $400,000 on a sculpture of Tānē Mahuta? Or when he decided a key function of the Reserve Bank was fighting climate change? How about when he spent $100,000 on a rebrand? Let's not forget his $6000 per household loss on his failed LSAP scheme.

Well in all his genius, Mr Orr has decided his latest pet project is to create digital cash for New Zealand. What?! Isn't this essentially what the private sector banks are already providing?

Do you really trust the man who has failed to keep inflation within its target band for 37 months in a row to complete such a project without costing taxpayers an arm and a leg, let alone deliver something that is actually safe, secure and useable?

We say government-backed digital cash isn't needed when the private sector already has plenty of options. And with the Governor failing at his actual job, he is hardly in a position to be taking on more responsibility. 

We've launched a petition calling on the Reserve Bank to scrap their strange digital cash project before they get it off the ground and end up costing taxpayers even more (real) money. 

Speaking of the Reserve Bank...

Last week, the Reserve Bank was boasting on its LinkedIn page about how their staff spent the day doing arts and crafts and playing games in celebration of Matariki.

Long-time Taxpayers' Union supporter and central bank critic, Damien Grant put it best: 

Paul Goldsmith's shakedown of Meta for his media mates

More than 6,000 New Zealanders have already used our tool to email Paul Goldsmith telling him to ditch Willie Jackson's media bill.

Last year, National spoke strongly against Willie Jackson's media bill in Parliament. Melissa Lee slammed it as "effectively another tax", "a shakedown" and that it's an "ideological thing" because Willie Jackson "wants to support his mates in the media."

Who's supporting whom now? 

Watch National's pre-election comments on the Bill here

"People in New Zealand can't see this content" 

If Paul Goldsmith and Willie Jackson have their way, you'd better get used to reading messages like this. As it turns out, the media were the ones who benefited most from links to news stories being shared on sites. So when they tried to get help from politicians to shakedown likes of Facebook, the tech giant simply pulled the ability to access news. 

This is what users see in Canada if a news item appears on their Facebook feed:

Our new Communications Officer, Alex Emes, lived this firsthand in Canada before moving to New Zealand – seeing the disastrous effects of a similar law change there led by one Justin Trudeau.

He has issued a warning to New Zealand, and points out that Willie Jackson got the mad idea from the Canadian PM Justin Trudeau (and it didn't work out there).

Watch Alex's video here.

Media Mentions:

Newstalk ZB The Mike Hosking Breakfast: Full Show Podcast: 12 July 2024 [20:50]

NZ City Chris Luxon's taken a leap as preferred Prime Minister -- according to a Taxpayers' Union Curia poll

Newstalk ZB THE RE-WRAP: How to Silence Your Critics [4:00]

Newstalk ZB National, Luxon surge as Labour tumbles in new poll

The Post Labour’s support drops in latest Taxpayers' Union poll

Stuff Labour down, and more good news for Christopher Luxon, in latest poll

The Country Barry Soper talks to Jamie Mackay [1:20]

RNZ National, Luxon make gains in TPU-Curia poll

Otago Daily Times National, Luxon make gains in latest poll

Stuff Masterton fares best in region for rates rises

RNZ The Panel with Paula Penfold and Ben Thomas (Part 2) [8:42]

Rural News 'Science' spend

Greymouth Star Westland rates among steepest in NZ [Print only]

Greymouth Star Coast’s cheapest, dearest rates revealed [Print only]

Responding to this morning’s Consumer Price Index inflation announcement, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy said:

“For the 37th month in a row Adrian Orr and the Reserve Bank have failed to keep inflation within the target band, punishing New Zealanders and driving up the cost of living.

“But monetary policy needs fiscal friends. The consistent stream of wasteful spending is pumping more cash into the economy, driving up prices and keeping non-tradable inflation higher than it needs to be.

“Nicola Willis must take strong action to curb government spending, starting with the shopping list of suggestions we have already provided to her. The hundreds of millions in film and video games subsidies, unscientific research funding, and corporate welfare dressed up as climate action are just some of the areas that are ripe for the picking.

“It is not enough to tinker at the edges, Nicola Willis must tame the inflation beast.”

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, Tanya Unkovich.

Tanya was elected on the New Zealand First Party list at the 2023 General Election. Tanya is a seasoned public speaker, is a published author, life and business coach, and started her career as an accountant. 

Tanya shares her experiences of her early life an upbringing, her significant challenges and overcoming her grief before eventually using her story to help others in their own lives. Having built a strong personal brand prior to entering Parliament, Tanya shares why she decided to enter the crazy world of politics and what she wants to achieve during her time as an MP. 

Tanya's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow Tanya 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. 

Wellington land rates review should focus on bringing rates down

Responding to discussions in Wellington around the introduction of rates based on the underlying value of land rather than developments built on top, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Rather than trying to chuck $32 million at its multinational owners of the Reading Cinema to get them to do something with a massive CBD plot, land value-based rates would encourage development. But Wellington’s rates problems run much deeper than that.

“Wellington’s main problem is that its rates are just too high. With the highest commercial rates in the country, businesses can’t afford to keep their doors open. One way or another, Wellington’s ending up with an empty CBD.

“Any rates review which considers land rates needs to finally scrap the 3.7x commercial rates differential and kill conversations about the vacant lot super-rate as well. Changing the tax is no use if the burden stays just as cripplingly high.”

Taxpayers’ Union releases 2024 Rates Dashboard

The Taxpayers’ Union is today launching the 2024 Rates Dashboard, allowing ratepayers to track and compare how much their council is planning to hike rates again this year.

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

“The average district council rates hike this year is over 14%, and these double-digit tax hikes are quickly becoming the norm. Kiwi families have been getting more and more strapped for cash, and if you’re wondering why then look no further.

“More and more money is pumped into vanity projects and social media gurus. Until councils can start delivering value for the money they take from ratepayers, we should be seeing rates rises in line with inflation and no more.

“Cutting central government waste is only half the battle. Households are having to tighten their belts, and councils need to be doing the same by trimming the back-office fat and canning gold-plated pet projects.”

NB: This is not the annual Ratepayers’ Report, which will follow separately in the coming weeks.

It's been a recess week at Parliament this week, but even with some of the top political leaders out of the country, the scourge of government waste persists ...

At the same time, good news for the Government (and Mr Luxon) in this month's exclusiveTaxpayers' Union – Curia Poll (see below).

NZQ-Ay?! Yet another expensive rebrand we've uncovered 💸🤬 

Given the dire state of New Zealand's education system, you'd think department heads would be steadfastly focused on ensuring that kids are actually at school and learning.

But why improve education when you can just do a rebrand?

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (the agency tasked with ensuring young people are getting quality teaching, accurate educational records, and internationally transferable qualifications) has instead decided to blow $2.9 million on a flashy rebrand and a website upgrade.

Exposed by your humble Taxpayers' Union, this rebrand involves a new logo, and a change to the colours of the agency's website. Impressive stuff.

Of course, it is sometimes necessary to make technical upgrades to ensure websites function properly but too often government departments seize the 'opportunity' to blow hundreds of thousands of dollars ‘refreshing brand identity’ (whatever that means). We say this nonsense has to stop and there is an easy solution: having one standardised logo for government agencies as they do in the UK:

$365k golden goodbye for gross incompetence and failed CEO 👋🏻🤑

The $365,000 payout to outgoing Kāinga Ora (the Government's Homes and Communities agency) Chief Executive, Andrew McKenzie, is nothing short of a reward for failure.

Rather than being able to sack McKenzie – as would be justified in just about any other country – the Board of Kāinga Ora had to both pretend that Mr McKenzie 'resigned' and pay him a $365k golden goodbye. The news comes after a damning report earlier this year about mismanagement by the agency.

Calling it a 'resignation' is about as credible as an email from a Nigerian prince. But it shows the real issue here: under New Zealand employment law, it's extremely difficult to sack even those who are clearly failing. While some may argue we need laws to protect vulnerable workers, making it nigh on impossible to get rid of lousy CEOs on $700,000+ means many boards and businesses are stuck with duds unless they get out the chequebook. An ACT MP has a proposed solution applicable for smallbusinesses, but as this example shows, it's also big organisations paying dearly to get rid of people who clearly aren't performing.

We sent our friendly mascot Porky-the-Waste-Hater down the road to Kāinga Ora head offices to present Mr McKenzie with this great 'gift' from taxpayers. 

But wait, there's more... 🤦🏻‍♂️

Sadly – for taxpayers anyway – this wasn't the only big taxpayer payout in the news. In fact, it wasn't even the biggest. Not to be outdone, our friends (I use that term rather loosely) over at the Film Commission paid their Chief Executive out more than half a million!

In her great investigative piece in Wednesday's NZ Herald, Kate MacNamara explains that David Strong was forced to go on a paid leave of absence when a television programme, The Pilgrim, in which he had an ongoing personal interest came up for funding. This clearly presented a conflict of interest as the Commission distributes funds to such projects. An independent review of his conflict-of-interest disclosures found that:

"The board and David Strong both had opportunities to better handle the disclosure and management of his conflicts of interest. Inadequately documented decisions and discussions, gaps in the implementation of these decisions, breakdowns in communication and information flows, and blurred accountabilities were significant contributing factors to the events that unfolded."

Despite this 'strong' criticism, Strong not only received $100,000 in pay while he was on leave but also a $438,700 payout in compensation when he left the job permanently. Our policy guru, James, has slated this decision, saying that "bureaucrats already earning more than ministers shouldn't be paid hundreds of thousands of dollars more not to do their jobs."

You can read Kate's full piece with James's comments over on the NZ Herald website.

Policy Victory: Local democracy defended! 🗳️💪🏻

Back in 2022, we raised the alarm about about Nanaia Mahuta's 'Review into the Future for Local Government' – a follow-on from Three Waters and another Labour pet-project that looked to radically change the way our local councils operated and de-couple them from local democratic accountability.

You might remember that we set up a submission tool to make it easy for New Zealanders to have their say on the draft recommendations and more than 14,000 of you made your views known, accounting for the vast majority of responses. Sadly, the hand-picked panel ignored these and ploughed ahead anyway. 

The final recommendations included things like lowering the voting age to 16, enabling unelected 'Te Tiriti-based appointments' to councils, changing the voting system without a referendum, introducing so-called citizens' assemblies (erm, what does that make councils then?), and much more. 

Well, there's some good news. The Local Government Minister, Simeon Brown, has put the review on the policy bonfire, labelling the proposals "ideologically-driven". He has even instructed officials to down tools so we won't waste money preparing a formal response to the report. Result!

Christchurch spends $800,000 on... graffiti 🎨🖌️

Speaking of councils, our Local Government Campaigns Manager, Sam, was quick to call out Christchurch City Council’s last-minute allocation of $800,000 for so-called street art initiatives from a capital endowment fund meant for things like water pipes and improving roads. This comes after Christchurch agreed to an almost 10 percent rates hike, which is about $320 extra a year for the average Christchurch household.

Families up and down the country are tightening their belts, and we think councils should not be exempt from practising restraint. Now more than ever is the time to shelve nice-to-have art projects and prioritise responsible spending decisions to fund core council services and keep rates as low as possible.

No more taxpayer cash for KiwiSaaS 💵🛑

Grant Robertson loved chucking money at whatever corporate special interest group had the shiniest lobbyists, and so far it’s a habit the new Government has found difficult to kick.

But Judith Collins has bucked the trend. After a media campaign led by your humble Taxpayers’ Union, the Minister has decided not to renew $11.2 million in handouts to KiwiSaaS, a tech sector lobbying group.

Now, compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars of your cash that are given out in corporate welfare, this is small fry, but it’s a step in the right direction.

So we just wanted to take this opportunity to say bravo, Judith Collins. It’s a great start, now it’s time to tell the rest of the crony capitalist industry (I'm looking at you, video game subsidies!) to take a hike.

Media Mentions:

NewstalkZB Morning Edition: 02 July 2024 – Kāinga Ora Golden Goodbye (01:58)

The Platform James Ross on Waka Kotahi's $5.2M App Failure & Selling the Interislander

NewstalkZB Barry Soper: ZB senior political correspondent on the Government advancing an amended version of the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill (03:49)

RNZ The Panel with Peter Field and Niki Bezzant (Part 2) – Sam on $800k for Christchurch Graffiti (09:07)

Indian Weekender NZ Business Confidence Hits The Skids

The Post Crossings and traffic lights may stall commuter bus benefits

The Post Is rebooted fast-track a law written by the Government’s cronies?

Bassett, Brash & Hide JORDAN WILLIAMS: Luxon wants to curry favour with mainstream media

The Press Council turns to private sector for EV charging infrastructure

Greymouth Star Whatever! – Darleen Tana [print only]

Chris Lynch Media Green Party faces pressure to release investigation report on Darleen Tana

NZ Herald Former NZ Film Commission boss David Strong paid over half a million dollars’ leave and severance for nine months’ work

The Huddle The Huddle: Do we believe NZ First's theory about the Aratere grounding?

NZ Herald New poll shows Kiwis divided over whether to sell Cook Strait Interislander service

NewstalkZB Paul Goldsmith: Justice Minister talks new Ministerial Advisory Group for victims of retail crime – Interislander Poll (03:19)

The latest Taxpayers’ Union – Curia poll for July shows National up 2.2 points on last month to 37.6% while Labour drops 3.5 points to 25.9%. 

The Greens are relatively static on 12.5% (-0.2 points) while ACT drops marginally to 9.1% (-0.6 points). 

New Zealand First is up 1.7 points to 7.3% while Te Pāti Māori is down 0.5 points to 3.5%. 

For the minor parties, TOP is on 2.4% (+1.6 points), Outdoors & Freedom is on 1.0% (-0.3 points), and the combined total for all other parties is 0.8%.

This month's results are compared to the last Taxpayers' Union – Curia poll conducted in June 2024.

National is up three seats on last month to 47 while Labour is down three seats to 33. 

The Greens are unchanged on 16 while ACT is down one on last month to 11 seats. 

New Zealand First is up two seats on last month to nine while Te Pāti Māori is unchanged on six.

The combined projected seats for the Centre-Right of 67 is up four on last month. The combined seats for the Centre-Left is down three to 55.

On these numbers, National and ACT would require the support of NZ First to form a government.

This calculation assumes that all electorate seats are held. A Parliament on these figures would have an overhang of two seats and a total of 122 seats.

More detailed results, including preferred Prime Minister scores and government approval ratings, are available on our website.

A new Taxpayers’ Union – Curia poll has revealed that a plurality of New Zealanders support selling the Interislander ferry services to a private operator. 43% of respondents supported the sale compared with just 38% opposed. The remaining 19% were unsure.

Voters were asked: “There are two companies that provide passenger and freight services over Cook Strait. The government-owned Kiwirail which operates the Interislander ferries and the privately owned StraitNZ which operates the Bluebridge ferries. Would you support or oppose the Government selling the Interislander ferry services to a private operator?”

The full polling report, including demographic breakdowns, can be found here: www.taxpayers.org.nz/poll_interislander_sale

Commenting on the poll, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Kiwirail has demonstrated that they are too functionally and financially incompetent to run an efficient ferry service. With a private operator already successfully operating a second ferry service without taxpayer backing, there’s no reason that the Interislander should remain in public ownership.

“Selling the Interislander would ensure that the service runs efficiently and reliably with a private owner having strong incentives to keep up with regular maintenance and renewals. It would also mean that taxpayers aren’t on the hook paying for Ministers’ and bureaucrats’ ideological projects that make no financial sense.

“It’s time to take back control from Kiwirail’s wayward autopilot and hand it to market forces that care about running a cost-effective service that people trust and are willing to use."

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to discuss tax policy with Estonia which has ranked number one on the Tax Foundation’s International Tax Competitiveness Index for 10 years in a row. Estonia’s world-leading tax policy has led to significant economic growth, far outpacing New Zealand's.

World Bank statistics reveal that between 1995 and 2020, Estonia’s economic growth was 160.59%. Over the same period, New Zealand’s economic growth was significantly less at 95.85%.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Estonia has the best tax code in the OECD. It ranks first overall and second (behind neighbouring Latvia) for corporate tax. Whilst New Zealand ranks highly overall, our corporate tax ranking is near the bottom at twenty-ninth.

“A key reason for the stark difference in economic performance is Estonia’s tax system. In 1994 Estonia introduced a flat tax rate on all personal and corporate income which was further reduced to 20% in 2015. Corporate profits are only taxed when distributed to shareholders – profits reinvested in the corporation are not taxed.

“Our Prime Minister would do well to discuss the impact of Estonia’s tax policies on economic growth when he meets with their prime minister, Kaja Kallas, in Washington.”

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has once again held the Official Cash Rate (OCR) at 5.5%. Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Sky-high interest rates are punishing Kiwi families and stunting economic growth. New Zealanders will keep getting relatively poorer until the OCR starts coming down, so the Government needs to be doing much more to get the inflation genie back into the bottle.

“The Government needs to get serious about slashing wasteful spending, but so far it’s done anything but. More spending, a bigger deficit and heaps more debt were the name of the game in May’s Budget.

“People demanded a return to sound financial management at the ballot box on 14th October. Kiwis’ wallets are squeezed, and this Government needs to give people what they voted for.” 

The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) framework released for consultation today that will reduce the cost of emissions reduction in New Zealand.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“The Government should be agnostic about where reductions in net emissions come from, whether that be through not emitting in the first place or through capturing and storing carbon by using technology or forestry. Today’s consultation announcement is a good step in the right direction.

“The recognition that New Zealand’s emissions are capped under the Emissions Trading Scheme is a welcome one. This CCUS policy will not reduce emissions any further or faster but will make it cheaper to meet our agreed targets.

“The best emissions reduction policy is to have a simple and well functioning ETS that sets the cap on emissions and then gets the government out of the way. The consultation’s request for insight on regulatory barriers to CCUS uptake is a welcome one.

“It’s just a shame the government can’t be consistent across all other areas of their emissions reduction policy – let’s hope Simeon Brown pulls his Climate Change Minister in for an ETS crash course.”

The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the Children’s and Young People Commission has spent $61,474 on refreshing their brand identity when the structure moved from a Commissioner to a Commission with a board.

The information was revealed through the Official Information Act and now, with news of a change back to a single commissioner role, the Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the organisation not to waste even more money on a second rebrand.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“The Commission is meant to ensure the safety and well-being of children. Instead, they are spraying money on expensive redesigns that do nothing to improve the poor outcomes many young people face.

“Time and time again we have called for government agencies to revert to standard branding with the Coat of Arms - even offering to do this design work for free - yet they continue wasting tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on unnecessary rebrands.

“Private organisations spend money on branding in order to stand out against their competitors. Unfortunately, the government doesn’t have any, so there’s no need to continue to splash the cash on woke rebrands like this.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is dismissing concerns from EV lobbyists that there aren’t enough EV chargers in New Zealand, arguing that they are not necessary for emissions reduction but will be built anyway with private funding so long as the Government keeps its grubby fingers away.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“The main point that EV lobby groups, who often have strong financial interests in the sector, miss is that we already have a functioning Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that limits the amount of net emissions than can be emitted.

“Any reduction in emissions from increased EV uptake won’t actually do what the policy sets out to achieve and reduce New Zealand’s net emissions. It will simply free up room under the fixed limit on emissions for someone else to emit instead.

“The Government didn’t need to own petrol stations when cars first started appearing on our roads so why would EV chargers be any different? As the ETS drives up the cost of fuel over time and electric vehicles become more attractive, the private sector will provide more charging points. The most effective way the Government could help would be by cutting red tape to make it easier to build more EV chargers.” 

Wellington City Council has given Peter Jackson’s Stone Street Studios exclusive rights to 50 publicly owned and funded car parking spaces for just $1 a year since 2010. 

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

“Wellington Council is tearing up car parks left-right-and-centre for the rest of us, with around 800 planned to be removed across the city. Unless you’re a Hollywood superstar of course, then the Council will roll out the red tarmac.

“Wellington’s favourite corporate welfare recipient has been given 50 parking spots since 2010, all for $14 total. That’s less than what the rest of us have to pay for parking in just one spot in the CBD for 3 hours.

“Nothing sums up Wellington City Council’s attitude to the hardworking mum-and-dad ratepayers who pay their wages more than subsidising billionaires to park whilst paying millions of dollars to make everyone else walk.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the Government’s review into how workers in the gig economy are treated and backs calls to protect the freedom of contract and allow Uber drivers to remain as contractors.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Services like Uber offer drivers the ability to be their own boss. They get to decide when and where they want to work, for how long, and can accept and refuse jobs as they wish.

“This flexibility enables more people to become drivers such as retirees, those with young kids, students, or anyone wanting a side-hustle to top up the bank account at the end of the week.

“This flexibility benefits drivers while also keeping costs down for passengers and ensuring there is always someone available to offer a ride. Attempts to usurp the freedom of contract will make it harder for people to become drivers while also driving up the price for consumers.

“If those four drivers taking Uber to court are upset at their contractor status, they are more than welcome to quit and work for a taxi company instead. Of course, they won’t because this is nothing more than a shakedown and an attempt to gate-keep the rideshare industry.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming the Government’s decision to continue MBIE’s Endeavour Fund without narrowing the funding criteria to exclude areas where there is clear private benefit and incentive to invest in research and development.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“This is the same fund that previously spent $1 million for research into reducing the sound of ‘scraping chairs, running upstairs and high heels on hard floors’ and another million on work to increase the shelf life of seafood.

“There are countless examples of the Endeavour Fund handing out money for research that simply pile all of the risk onto taxpayers while the benefits accrue to corporate elites.

“We have already seen the kind of nonsense funded through Marsden grants and the Health Research Council – it’s time the government focused all science funding on those areas that cannot attract private investment and that deliver tangible benefits to all New Zealanders, not just the wealthy few.”

The Taxpayers’ Union was gobsmacked to find out that the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) spent $2,867,937 on website redevelopment of which $114,386 was spent on rebranding, including a new logo and colour palette.

Information released to the Taxpayers’ Union under the Official Information Act also shows that the website maintenance has jumped to $206,880 per year, a significant increase from the $86,561 that they told the Education and Workforce Committee just three months ago. 

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy said:

“It’s no wonder that more and more schools are moving away from from NZQA’s preferred NCEA system when they waste money on extravagant pet projects like website refreshes while core software such as for digital examinations continues to fail.

“Parents, students and teachers just want a simple website that works as intended so that kids can get the first-class education system they deserve. Instead, they are stuck with flashy rebrands that focus more on the new ‘visual identity’ then ensuring students are well equipped for learning and working in the 21st century. 

“This rebrand is almost seven times more expensive than the Human Rights Commission’s new website that we revealed last year. The Minister must urgently issue a ‘please explain’ to NZQA who are not even able to provide a cost breakdown of where this money went. 

“There is a worrying trend across government where departments use the need to make technical changes to a website and then use it as an opportunity to do a complete makeover. This adds unnecessary cost for no benefit to taxpayers and must be stopped.”

Today’s NZ Herald reports that the Government is considering providing funding to enable the purchase of land, to build a marae or cultural hub, and ‘assistance resolving concerns’ about the use of the name Tūroa for the ski field.

Responding to these reports, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

 “If the issue is really about concerns with the trademark over the Tūroa family name, then the simple solution is to change the name. There is no reason for the Government to hand over millions of dollars in apparent ‘compensation’ for using the name.

“A name change to something as straightforward as the ‘South-West Ski field’ would suffice and is unlikely to give rise to any trademark issues. But unfortunately, this Government is developing a reputation for appeasing any group with an itch that they want scratched. This was the modus operandi of the previous Government, and it simply has to stop.”

Responding to a Green Party announcement that Darleen Tana has been asked to resign following the completion of a report into allegations made against her, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Public funds were used to pay for the report, and so the public have a right to see what’s in it. It’s as simple as that.

“Taxpayers have also been on the hook for Tana's salary to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars as this investigation dragged on for month after month. The public need to know why the facts took so long to dig up, so taxpayers’ money won’t be wasted like this again.

“Ms Swarbrick claims the Greens punch well above their weight in holding the powerful to account. Now’s their chance to put their money where their mouth is and let the public hold them accountable.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on Statistics New Zealand to replace RDC Group’s Doug Craig given new information has come to light showing that the same person reviewing Stats NZ oversight has in fact previously contracted to Stats NZ to advise on their risk management and governance oversight.

The investigation came as a result of allegations that census data was misused and abused for political purposes.

According to an OIA response published online, Mr Craig previously lead Statistics NZ’s Strategic Advice and Governance Review into risk management and governance oversight.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Jordan Williams said,

“Mr Craig might have the necessary expertise for the investigation, but he is clearly conflicted. In effect, he’s been asked to mark his own homework.

“It is disgraceful that Stats NZ ever thought this appointment was appropriate. If Mr Craig slams Stats NZ’s systems, management will point straight to Mr Craig’s previous review as being at fault. It’s a terrible situation.

“If Stats NZ can’t see the problem, it’s high time the Minister of Statistics stepped in and demanded a proper independent investigation - what the public was promised weeks ago when the John Tamihere allegations first arose.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is renewing calls for the government to scrap costly and inefficient film and video game subsidies in order to further clear Pharmac’s wishlist following calls for crucial heart medication to be funded.

A spokesperson for the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, Sam Warren, said:

“The Government was right not to break the Pharmac funding model. Allowing politicians to pick and choose what medicines get funded simply opens them up to lobbying and risks prioritising those medicines that get the most media attention rather than those that will make the biggest impact in improving the lives of New Zealanders.

“Giving into calls like those to directly fund heart medication, although well intended, will see New Zealanders paying more but getting less as the Pharmac model is undermined.

“Instead the Government would be better to continue to cut wasteful spending and put that funding into Pharmac where it will undoubtedly deliver far higher value for the taxpayer by making evidence-based funding decisions.”

Last week, the Government announced it’s progressing Willie Jackson’s flawed Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill, despite evidence from overseas that the model will likely fall flat.

On Saturday, the Taxpayers’ Union launched a tool allowing people to write to Ministers Paul Goldsmith, Winston Peters and the Prime Minister. Over 5,500 New Zealanders have since sent letters calling for the Bill to be scrapped. The email tool can be found at www.taxpayers.org.nz/email_media_bill.

Commenting on this Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:“Bailing out the same old media organisations isn’t the answer to flatlining trust in the media. Even if this digital shakedown would work, media have to learn to stand on their own two feet.

’That’s a big if, and looking at Canada shows how this will play out in reality. No more news links on your social media, and millions of dollars in free advertising for new organisations washed down the pan overnight.

“Over 5,500 Kiwis have already told the relevant Ministers to take this back to the drawing board. At the bare minimum, there’s no excuse not to take the Bill back to Select Committee.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is today launching a nationwide search and rescue effort for Green Party MP Darlene Tana following reporting that the MP has been missing in action for more than half of the current Parliamentary term.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Taxpayers funding Ms Tana’s salary are concerned that she has gone missing, having not seen her in months. We need the help of New Zealanders to get her back.

“We are offering a lifetime supply of lentils as a reward to anyone who can provide information that leads to her safe return to Parliament to do the job she is paid to do.

“We hope this generous reward will encourage those with information to promptly come forward.”

This week the Government dropped another policy bombshell.

The Minister for Media and Communities, Paul Goldsmith, announced that National and New Zealand First have U-turned and are now supporting Willie Jackson’s Bill to tax internet companies and give the media a bail out.

ACT stuck to their pre-election position and "agreed to disagree" by confirming they're still not backing the Bill.

That means Mr Goldsmith will need to rely on Labour or Green MPs to get the media bailout over the line. You really couldn’t make it up.

I'm asking our supporters to take 60 seconds to email Mr Goldsmith, Mr Luxon, and Mr Peters to tell them to scrap this media bailout.

"Both unprincipled and stupid" 🤯

National's own pollster (and former Taxpayers' Union board member) David Farrar, didn't mince his words. He described the the U-turn as "both an unprincipled and a stupid decision". 

Here's how David summed it up on Kiwiblog:

This is both an unprincipled and a stupid decision. I can handle principled stupid decisions and even unprincipled smart decisions but this is neither.

It is unprincipled because it is forcing successful companies in one industry (social networks and search engines) to fund failing companies in another industry (media). The only rationale for this is that Google and Meta have money and Stuff doesn’t. Will we see Netflix levied money to fund home video rental stores? Will we see Foodstuffs levied money to find Whitcoulls?

It is also a very stupid decision. Most media is already left leaning as most journalist have a left worldview. The Government is going to pass a law to fund a media that will oppose almost everything that supporters of the Government believe in. Even worse, it will set up a structural incentive for the media to become even more left leaning. Let’s say the Government forces Meta and Google to hand over $20 million a year to local media. Well Labour and Greens next election will insist that levy be doubled to $40 million, and of course that will create an institutional bias in favour of the parties that will benefit media the most. And Te Pati Maori will no doubt insist 50% of the left go to Maori media companies.

It is also very possible that the proposed law will fail, in that Meta will simply block all NZ news links rather than be forced to pay a levy.

A charter to peddle influence? 💣

Mr Goldsmith has made few changes to the Bill. But National's changes make it even worse than the Willie Jackson version!

First, Mr Goldsmith proposes that the responsible Minister will be able “to decide which digital platforms are captured by the bill”. Paul Goldsmith says this is “to manage unintended consequences” and which media outlets will get the money. 

You might be with the current Government having the power to choose which media get funded, but we also remember the "public interest journalism fund" and the fishhooks about media needing to toe the line on the "partnership" neotribalism interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi. 

How will you feel when Labour are back in power and Willie Jackson, Chris Hipkins, or Chlöe Swarbrick will decide what media outlets get how much?

Once through, this will be a hard one to unpick and repeal. That's why we're asking our supporters to take 60 seconds right now to email the key decision makers.

Trust in news is at an all time low: Bailing them out will make it worse 📉

New Zealand's media no longer reflect the breadth of public opinion. According to polling, Kiwis perceive the major news outlets (Stuff, One News, Newshub and Radio NZ) to be Left-leaning with the NZ Herald being the only outlet people thought was broadly neutral.

And that shouldn’t come as any surprise given how New Zealand’s journalists identify themselves politically. Massey University research reveals that 81 percent of Kiwi journalists consider themselves centre-Left or Left-wing while just 15 percent said they are on the Right. That’s a ratio of more than five-to-one (while the general population are split roughly down the middle).

And that’s a big factor in why trust in media is at an all time low. The latest figures out earlier this year showed that just one in three Kiwis said they trusted the news “most of the time”.

But instead of self reflecting, or the market correcting the imbalance, the media have hoodwinked the new Government into giving them a permanent bailout. Will you email the decision makers in the Beehive to ask them not to do it?

And it won't even work... 🤦

When a similar scheme was tried in Canada, Facebook simply removed news from its platform entirely. That’s a lose, lose for everyone. And Australia is heading in the same direction. 

If it passes, the Bill would particularly hit small news outlets like The Platform or Chris Lynch Media in Christchurch that rely on promoting their news content through social media platforms like Facebook.

Make no mistake, this U-turn by National isn't about helping small, contrarian, local news companies. It's a cave in to the owners of outfits like Stuff and the far-Left 'Spinoff' website.

The National Party were elected to kill this bill – now they're cuddling it 🧸

National absolutely slammed Labour when Willie Jackson was trying to pass the same regime (the speeches to Parliament are here)

Melissa Lee (who was the Broadcastings Spokesperson) summed it up:

They were right to oppose the Bill then, so what's changed?

Our senior National Party sources in the Beehive tell us that the charge of heart is from none other than the Prime Minister himself. We hear, that he feels he must pass the Bill to curry favour with the mainstream media. 

Do you think it will work? And is it worth the cost of having the media reliant on a Ministerial funding scheme?

Let Paul Goldsmith, Christopher Luxon & Winston Peters know what you think 📣

We know for a fact that even within the Cabinet, there is disgust at this decision. There is still time for National (or NZ First?) to backtrack on the U-turn.

I’m asking you to join me in sending a note to Paul Goldsmith, Christopher Luxon, and Winston Peters to let them know that they have got this one wrong.

Ask them to consign Willie Jackson’s Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill to the political scrapheap and not bailout the media, yet again.

➡️ ➡️ ➡️ Email the decision makers

We need to knock Labour-like policies like these on the head now before we get a Government continuing the policy platform of Jacinda Ardern and Willie Jackson.

Thank you for your support.

Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

Ps. We've made emailing the key decision makers – Minister Paul Goldsmith, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters as easy as a few clicks. Take 60 seconds to make your views known here.

Whanganui Mayor, Andrew Tripe, is on Brink of becoming a "Ratepayer Hero" following good news provided by the Taxpayers' Union in response to his public comments that he would like to reject his unnecessary mayoral pay hike, but couldn't.

According to Local Democracy Reporting, Mayor Andrew Tripe says it was the wrong time for pay bumps but the decision to lift elected member pay rates was made independently of councils, stating "We have no influence on what [the Remuneration Authority] decides. We cannot reject any pay increase, either. If I could, I would."

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

“We have good news for Andrew Tripe - his statement that he cannot reject any pay increase is wrong. Public officials have the same rights as any employee to tell the payroll department to pay salaries into more than one bank account.

“In this case, we've confirmed with Whanganui City Council the bank account for the Mayor to donate the increased pay back to it as a donation.

"We have provided a letter for Mr Tripe to sign, to advice the Council of his rejection of the pay increase. Once signed, Whanganui ratepayers will rest assured that they have a mayor not just willing to put money where his mouth is, but a true 'ratepayer hero'. The letter can be found at www.taxpayers.org.nz/tripe_letter

Yesterday’s NZIER release of its Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion shows a continuing decline in business confidence.  This mirrors last month’s release of the BNZ-BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index that shows the manufacturing sector has been in contraction for fifteen consecutive months.

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said that

“With the Reserve Bank squeezing the life out of the New Zealand economy, relief can only come from a change to government fiscal policies.

“New Zealand’s company tax rate is among the highest in the world. Reducing the company tax rate would breathe life into the business sector and encourage investment and employment.

“Only through productivity growth, investment, and entrepreneurship can New Zealand get out of recession and back to growth. The Government should be cutting the headline rate or, better yet, also allowing full expensing of capital items to incentivise investment.”

Wellington City Council is planning on tearing up Thorndon Quay to install what The Post has described as a “traffic light bonanza.” This will see 6 sets of traffic lights and five sets of speed bumps installed over just 1.7km of road.

Businesses, residents, councillors, and even the emergency services have rallied against the projects, calling it unsafe, unaffordable and irresponsible.

The Taxpayers’ Union has today launched a petition to Save Thorndon Quay. This can be signed at www.taxpayers.org.nz/petition_thorndon_quay

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

“There’s been one serious accident in ten years on this road and emergency services are saying this will make it harder to save lives, not easier. There’s absolutely no argument whatsoever tearing up the main route into Wellington is for safety.

“To sum up how stupid this city-killing publicity stunt is, it might all have to be dug back up again. There’s millions of dollars worth of pipes listed as needing urgent repair under Thorndon Quay, which aren’t being fixed before being built on top of.

“The Council is tripling residents’ rates to pay for projects like this, and local businesses – already paying the highest rates in the country - are saying this will send them under. Is not taking on even more debt to deliberately make people’s lives harder really too much to ask?”

 

Maybe I'm misremembering, but I could have sworn the new Government was elected on a platform of ending undemocratic, race-based 'co-governance' last year.

I'm emailing because I've just been briefed by the Taxpayers' Union research team on what the new Government is doing with its "Fast-track Bill". It is enough to make your blood boil.

In short, rather than delete 'co-governance' from the statute books, the new 'fast-track' consenting scheme proposes giving local iwi the same rights of representation on the most powerful committee as local councils.

It shuts the public out while giving new legal rights to iwi (and only iwi) to have their say.

While it isn't as explicit as David Parker or Nania Mahuta's attempts under the last government for full co-governance, the Bill before Parliament hands over special powers to iwi leaders, all at the expense of democratic decision making and democratic accountability. 

I wanted a change of Government last year, and I certainly don't want to go back to the old one. But we have to blow the whistle on this one.

Will you stand with me to put a stop to race-based decision making in our public services once and for all?

Let me explain what's going on.

What is the Fast-track Approvals Bill?

While we all want to protect our country's beautiful environments and landscapes, we also want our kids to be able to afford decent housing, get from A to B with high-quality roads, and have sufficient energy resources to heat our homes. For many years the balance hasn't been right and the Fast-track Approvals Bill aims to fix that. 

As the ever-restrained Minister for Regional Development, Shane Jones, put it: “...if there is a mining opportunity and it’s impeded by a blind frog, goodbye, Freddie.”

So it will come as no surprise that any suggestion of taking a slightly more sensible approach to these issues has been met with protests, howls of anger from environmental activists, and lots of criticism from the mainstream media and left-wing political commentariat.

There is, however, something missing from the discussion around the Fast-track Approvals Bill: Co-governance.

Iwi get special consultation rights while the public is shut out

Under the Bill, the public will be cut out of the decision-making process in the interests of speeding up decision making, but this isn't the case for everyone. 

Before an application is lodged, applicants must consult with the following groups:

Iwi, hapū, Treaty settlement entities, applicant groups for customary marine title, and, where relevant, ngā hapū o Ngāti Porou get enhanced consultation rights, denied to all other citizens.

In fact, only local councils get the same right to be consulted for applications under the 'fast-track' regime.

And note what's missing! Neighbouring land owners – who will be directly impacted by a consent – don't get an invite. But the local iwi do, as of right.

Click here to view larger version.

From the Taxpayers' Union's perspective, the role of councils is to represent everyone living in the local area – not just non-Māori.

Whether you think skipping public consultation or not is justified, what surely cannot be right is to exclude some members of the public from the process but not others for, it seems, no other reason than their ethnicity.

If like me, you believe that all New Zealanders should have the same rights in the planning process, please support the Taxpayers' Union's campaign to end co-governance once and for all.

Expert Advisory Panel: Co-governance by the back door

While the Fast-track Approvals Bill gives the final decision to ministers, the Minister must rely on what is called an "Expert Advisory Panel" that will evaluate each project before making a recommendation to approve or reject the project.

Even that probably understates the power of the Panel. Given the concerns around Ministers having too much power, the Select Committee will change it to put the ultimate decision for approval into the hands of the "Expert Advisory Panel".

Here’s what the legislation says about the makeup of the panels:

Click to view larger version.

So, just like David Parker’s RMA replacement, this Bill reserves a seat on one of the most influential bodies in the planning process – a panel of just four members – for an unelected representative of an ‘iwi authority’.

And check out what skills are required. Note the contrast: Treaty of Waitangi expertise – is required. Conservation – only, "if appropriate"...

Click to view larger version.

What’s more, by having a sole representative from a council alongside a representative of an iwi authority, the new Government is giving unelected, unaccountable iwi authorities the same clout as our democratically elected local councils. Sound familiar? 

That’s exactly what happened with Nanaia Mahuta’s Three Waters, and what we all thought we were voting to stop!

As much as I hate to say it, we have to put pressure on the new Government to end these policies that continue to give rights to some New Zealanders but not to others.

Two steps forward, one step back?

To be fair to all of those who support the governing parties, Three Waters has gone (thank goodness), as has the separate Māori Health Authority, but the Government seems to be walking on eggshells when it comes to iwi involvement in the resource management process.

While a case can be made for temporarily limiting public consultation to get on and build stuff, it is simply not tenable to do this for most people, while letting iwi authorities – who only represent a certain section of the population – continue to be consulted and have a seat on the expert recommendations panel of equal standing with elected councils.

The election saw us start to turn a corner, but the Government continues to come under attack from the Left, the bureaucratic blob, the trade unions, and the mainstream media for promoting the pretty basic idea of equality before the law, one-person, one-vote, and the principle of democratic accountability.

That's why we need an organisation like the Taxpayers' Union that is prepared to tackle the tough issues – no matter who is in power – promote the value of democratic decision making, and ensure that New Zealand has a proper debate about the undermining of our democracy. 

But they can only do it with support from the likes of you and me. Thank you for your support.

Peter Williams Financial Supporter and Former Board Member New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

ps. The Taxpayers' Union relies on donations from supporters like me and you to keep fighting the good fight to uphold democratic accountability and put and end to co-governance for once and for all.

pps.You saw how the team blew the whistle on Three Waters. We have to do it all again now, so that National, ACT, and NZ First face down the powerful interests (and protest movement) determined to get a race-based resource management regime. Unless we act now and nip this in the bud, what hope is there for the full RMA replacement due in the new year?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Responding to news that the Government plans to progress the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill, despite the failure of similar pieces of legislation overseas, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“If mainstream media can’t stand on it’s own two feet, it is because they are out of touch with New Zealanders. Study after study shows people just don’t trust them anymore, and the answer to that isn’t bailing out the same old tired outfits.

“You only have to look at Canada to see this rort won’t work. Shaking down digital platforms like Facebook to prop up the likes of Stuff will just see them ban publishing links to articles. That means no more news on your timeline.

“National knew this bill wouldn’t work before the election, but they’ve buckled under pressure from the Wellington bubble yet again. It’s time to grow a spine and stop locking in Labour’s legacy of failure.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is labelling the reported $365,000 ‘sickening’ and is questioning how someone is entitled, apparently, to six months pay for resigning.

“For those living in cars and unable to find a state house, 365 grand is nothing short of a ‘sickening severance package’,” said Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union.

The NZ Herald reports:
[Chief executive Andrew McKenzie] will receive his contractual entitlements upon leaving the board, including a payment totalling six months of his base salary as compensation for notice and redundancy. This will work out to be roughly $365,000.

“The media are reporting that McKenzie resigned, but is nonetheless getting a redundancy package that is repulsive. People in the real world don’t get $365,000 for quitting.  If this is really a contractual entitlement, Peter Hughes, the disgraced former Public Service Commissioner should be hauled before Parliament to answer why it was agreed to. Did he get a payout for doing a second-rate job too?” Williams asked.

Responding to the release of the coalition Government’s 2024 Q3 Action Plan, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“The Government’s Action Plan is making all the right noises. Working on a replacement for Three Waters, chugging along on RMA reform, and digging around in the nooks and crannies to find economy-choking red tape to slash.

“It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, and nothing sums that up better than the $1.2 billion for a pet project slush fund. But there’s plenty of steps in the right direction.

“The coalition is talking big on delivering its election-time promises to get New Zealand moving again. Kiwis look forward to seeing them putting those words into action.”

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has called out Christchurch City Council’s use of $800,000 towards street art initiatives as a ‘frivolous use of ratepayer funds’.

In response to the Council’s last-minute change to its 10-year Plan, Local Government Campaigns Manager for the Taxpayers’ Union, Sam Warren, said:

“Families up and down the country are tightening their belts in anticipation of rate hikes. Christchurch City residents are no different as they stare down the barrel of an almost 10 percent increase to their rates, on top of a lingering and persistent cost-of-living crisis.

“Councils should not be exempt from practicing restraint. Now is the time to shelve nice-to-have art projects and prioritise responsible spending decisions to fund core council services and keep rates down.

“The last-minute changes to the Long-Term Plan saw a further $100,000 allocated towards the installation of a ‘rainbow project’, as well as $200,000 for supporting the French Festival.

“For many ratepayers cutting back on their household expenses, this will be a slap across the chops when they are paying their next rates bill.”

Responding to the insults and slurs which were hurled at a PhD researcher by officials at the Ministry of Justice, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“These bureaucrats might’ve been caught chucking demeaning insults at a researcher this time, but let’s not pretend this attitude is a one-off. Far too many officials think it is their job to hide official information to stop the public from seeing how the sausage is made.

“Democracy requires transparency, and officials cannot be allowed to get away with sneering down their nose at members of the public. The Ministry of Justice needs to confirm those involved have been sacked.

“This needs to serve as notice across the Public Service. If you think it’s your right to gate-keep official information, you’re in the wrong job. Pack your bags.”

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union says a proposed merger of councils into a lite-Super City is not the solution for Wellington’s woes.

Commenting, Taxpayers’ Union Local Government Campaigns Manager, Sam Warren said:

“Sadly, this is not a simple case of ‘bigger is better’.  Claims made by councillors that greater cost efficiencies will be achieved by a merger are not based in reality, as research by the Infrastructure Commission shows.

“A merger would add more managers and layers of bureaucracy on top of an already bloated system.  We only need to point to what happened to Auckland.  Who could possibly consider that a success?

“There is no question councils should work closer together to find better and more affordable ways of providing services and infrastructure.“However, New Zealand remains one of the most overly centralised countries in the world.

“It’s important not to keep making the same mistake over and over again when all the evidence points to diseconomies of scale once a council reaches a population of about 200,000, as broadly matched by the Ratepayers' Report and a study by TDB Economics, commissioned by Hutt City in 2013.

“Considering this proposal would see a population of about 440,000, these Wellington councillors and mayors in favour of a merger would be wise to reevaluate their position."

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, Carlos Cheung. 

Carlos caused one of the greatest upsets at the 2023 Election when he unseated Michael Wood, winning the Mount Roskill seat off the Labour Party for the first time since it was created. Carlos was born in Hong Kong and moved to New Zealand as a teenager to attend boarding school at Auckland Grammar. He shares his early life experiences, challenges in adapting to a new culture, and his career shift from academia to property management. He has a PHD in biological science and did his thesis on diabetes-induced cardiovascular disease. He reflects on his motivation for entering politics, emphasizing community service and the desire to create impactful policy changes.

Carlos' maiden speech can be watched here. Follow Carlos 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. 

EXPOSED: NZTA blows $5.2 million on unusable app 🤳

From the ‘you couldn’t make it up’ folder this week, our research team have uncovered a classic Wellington wasteful doozie, this time by The-Organisation-Formerly-Known-As-Waka-Kotahi.

While roads across the country are looking like Swiss cheese, the geniuses at the New Zealand Transport Agency, decided the best use of their time (and our money!) would be developing a $5.2 million (and counting) mobile phone app designed to function as a digital driver licence.

Sounds sensible enough, right?

The problem? NZTA didn’t bother to check whether the Ministry of Transport and the Police would (or could) actually accept a digital driver licence!

So your humble Taxpayers' Union did check. And, digital versions of driver licences can't be used under existing traffic or identification laws.

Put another way, for the app ever to be used for this purpose, Parliament will need to change the law and no one noticed!  🤦

Officials commissioned a $5.2 million mobile "app" that can't legally be used the very purpose of the app.

You can read a breakdown of the spending (and our comments given to media) over on our website.

Only the bureaucratic forces of government could make such a monumental screw-up. But this is all too familiar at NZTA, the same agency that spent millions of dollars on their Road to Zero speed limit reduction propaganda campaign when the most dangerous thing was the state of the roads they are responsible for maintaining.

If you feel like you need a drink to calm down after reading this one, just make sure to take your real ID because the NZTA digital licence app can’t legally be used for alcohol age verification either. 🤦🤦🤦

Time to abandon ship? Sign the petition to end Government ownership of the Interislander 🚢

Last week, Kiwirail demonstrated, yet again, their extraordinary level of incompetence when one of their Interislander ferries lost control of its steering and ran aground. Oops... (thank goodness the steering wasn't lost in a storm or in the middle of Cook Straight!)

This isn't the first time Kiwirail's poor governance and management has been exposed. The cost for replacement ferries and terminals was revealed last year to have blown out from a promised $750 million to an eye-watering $3.2 billion – that's $1,597 for every household in the country!

The problems with Kiwirail and the Interislander raise much bigger questions though. Like, why on Earth do taxpayers need to own a ferry service?

We say government should be focused at doing well those functions only government can do. Clearly running a ferry service isn't one of them.

With Bluebridge successfully operating a private fleet of eight different ferries since 1992 (and managing to replace them successfully before they break down!), it's clearly possible to run a ferry service without taxpayer funding.

Kiwirail has proven it is not able to run a safe, reliable or efficient ferry service, that’s why we’re calling on the Government to sell the ferry to a private operator and use the money to either pay down debt or reinvest in infrastructure only the government can provide.

This Government was elected to make the tough but necessary decisions to sort out the country’s finances. Here is a perfect opportunity! Recycle capital, deliver a better/safer/affordable service for consumers, and reinvest the money in infrastructure only the government can deliver (such as better roads). It's a win, win, win.

 Promising to do the same but "manage it better" doesn't fix the problem.

✍️ Sign the petition ✍️

Policy Victory! 🥳 Government increases funding for medicines 💊

This week, we had a significant victory in our campaign calling on the Government to increase funding for life-saving and life-extending medicines like cancer drugs – an area most would agree where the Government should be spending more money.

The huge $604 million funding boost is a welcome one, but with the government books in crisis and the national debt clock running red hot, we say the right way to fund this is cutting out some of the billions of dollars in wasteful spending still happening under the new Government.

We've given the Government a laundry list of options, such as axing the hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate welfare that is handed out to Hollywood bigwigs and video game companies.

Unfortunately, they opted to instead continue Grant Robertson’s AfterPay ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ style of spending and kick it into the long grass with no clarity where the money will come from except to say it is a “pre-commitment against next year’s Budget”.

Translation: “She’ll be right, we’ll worry about that later."

Yes, it’s great these drugs are funded. But a Government for these tough times needs to lead a public conversation on finding savings to pay for it. If announcing funding for desperately needed new drugs isn't the right time to explain what needs to be cut to pay for it, when is?

NEW POLL: Kiwis back relaxation of Easter Trading laws 🐣🛍️☕️

The ACT Party are arguing that New Zealand's Easter trading laws are long overdue for an overhaul. They argue that Wellington shouldn't be banning people from working, doing business, or shopping due to a religious day they may or may not observe? ACT MP Cameron Luxton's member's bill to liberalise Easter trading has been drawn from the ballot and will likely be debated next month.

We've released a new Taxpayers’ Union – Curia poll that showed the overwhelming majority of New Zealanders agree on this issue. 64% of respondents were in support of giving shops the choice to open, while just 27% were opposed. 9% of respondents were unsure.

Retailers have argued that Easter trading laws are unnecessarily burdensome and are driving up the cost of doing business during an already challenging economic environment. The rules also prevent many part time and casual workers from the extra day's pay, and the proposed law change would allow shops to open, but also prevent workers from being forced to work on the traditionally sacred days.

Interestingly, the poll suggests that a majority of supporters for every political party back the law change – even those who support the 'conservative' parties of NZ First and National. You can read the detailed polling breakdowns here.

While political parties are likely to let their MPs vote on their individual conscience (rather than vote as party blocs), in the last few days, the PM has swung behind the Bill, dramatically increasing the likelihood of it passing into law.

But don’t go celebrating just yet...

Even if you are able to buy a tipple next Easter, you'll paying more for the privilege.

The Government's latest dive into your wallet comes into force at midnight today, with a hike in the alcohol tax. From Monday...

• Kiwis planning on enjoying a cold Speights or two will be paying almost 40 percent tax on every can. 

• If your tipple of choice is a Steinlager, that’s knocking on 45 percent tax. 

• But hoity-toity champagne drinkers who are planning on popping a cork will be paying only a 20 percent tax on the bottle.

The law strictly prevents us from encouraging you to stock up in advance of tomorrow's alcohol duty rise so we will refrain from doing so. But maybe it's time for a wider debate about whether continuing to hike nanny-state taxes while households are doing it tough has had its day?

But with higher tax on booze, comes relief at the pump (at least for Aucklanders): Labour's regional fuel tax ends tonight ⛽️

Credit where credit is due  – Auckland motorists will be cheering on the Government when it comes to the scrapping of the Regional Fuel Tax. From tomorrow, the 11.5 cents/litre Super City fuel tax will be history. For those motorists who like to fill up the tank on Sunday night, we suggest waiting til tomorrow and save $5-$7 of tax at the pump.

Should voters be able to "Kick the B*stards Out" with council recall elections? 🗳️✗

Meanwhile, in local councils up and down the country...

Our local mayors and councillors have been getting themselves into hot water with some of their antics. Invercargill Mayor, Nobby Clark, has come under fire for his comments to the United Fire Brigades' Association that have resulted in receiving a censure from his council colleagues. 

While Hamilton Councillor, Andrew Bydder, made, errr, pejorative comments in a submission to the wrong council...  

Cr Bydder is reported as writing to a neighbouring district's mayor, "What the f**k are you r******d s*****c c**ts doing?"

[His words are far too impolite, even for this newsletter!]

Given the antics in town halls up and down the country, we thought it was about time that we dusted off our plans for local government recall elections, which would give voters the right to remove elected officials in whom they have lost confidence if they behave badly or are simply incompetent.

The threat of recall election would incentivise higher standards by elected officials throughout the terms served – and not just during election periods. At the same time, recall elections could avoid democratic catastrophes like what we have seen in Tauranga over the last four years, ushering in a suite of unelected commissioners totally unaccountable to the very people they are supposed to represent.

Media Mentions:

The Southland Times Taxpayers’ Union renews push for recall elections to remove underperforming councillors

Newshub Taxpayers' Union poll shows strong support for Fast-track Approvals Bill

RNZ Fast Track bill has more supporters than opponents - Taxpayers Union-Curia poll

NewstalkZB Morning Edition: 22 June 2024 – Recall Elections (01:46)

NewstalkZB Midday Edition: 22 June 2024 – Fast-Track Legislation Poll (01:45)

The Post New Zealand to the back of the queue for new Cook Strait ferries

Stuff Letters – A Recommendation from Chris

Newshub Jacinda Ardern documentary being made by award-winning US filmmakers

Bassett, Brash & Hyde JORDAN WILLIAMS: More ridiculous wastage of taxpayer money

NewstalkZB Full Show Podcast: 24 June 2024 – Marsden Fund Grants (1:30:41)

NZ City The majority of New Zealanders in a new poll want Easter trading laws to change

Greymouth Star Coast rates among highest in NZ [print only]

NZ Herald Māori wards bill: Parliament Select Committee says law change should go ahead

NewstalkZB The Huddle: How necessary is a second Covid inquiry?

Greymouth Star Westland council silent as record 18% increase approved

NewstalkZB The Country 26/06/24: Christopher Luxon talks to Rowena Duncum – Easter Trading (04:07)

The Spinoff What might Judith Collins’ abrupt shutdown of one small agency mean for NZ business?

The Platform ACT's Cameron Luxton on the Easter Trading Bill & the Poll Supporting It

The Westport News Grim councillors accept 14% rates hikes [print only]

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, Ryan Hamilton. 

Prior to entering Parliament, Ryan was a Hamilton City Councillor, small business owner and had involvement in a number of community organisations. Ryan gives us an insight into his upbringing, the struggles of starting his own business, his experiences in local government and areas he thinks are in need of reform. Ryan also discusses the values that drive him and what he wants to achieve in central government politics. 

Ryan's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow Ryan 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 is welcoming the sensible decision by Minister Judith Collins to discontinue $11.2 million taxpayer funding for KiwiSaaS, a tech industry lobby group, but calls on the Government to go further and axe film and video game subsidies too.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Big tech companies putting their hands out and lobbying for taxpayer-funded corporate welfare is nothing more than crony capitalism. Whether it’s tech, film or video games, it seems if your industry is flavour of the month anyone can get a handout with the help of well-connected lobbyists.

“It’s good to see corporate welfare to the tech sector axed, but other Ministers must follow the lead of Minister Collins end all other corporate welfare too.

“Cutting the roughly $100 million spent lining the pockets of Hollywood bigwigs and video game executives would go a significant way to plugging the gap created by the recent Pharmac funding announcement. It’s time the Government fronted up and explained the case for these handouts, rather than playing the quiet game and hoping no one notices. We have noticed."

The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal through an Official Information Act request that Waka Kotahi has spent $5,186,358 in the last two years for an app not even in a usable state for New Zealanders.  The app was designed to hold your driving details but is not even allowed to be used for ID or to drive with.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“This is beyond wasteful. While our roads have been looking like Swiss cheese, NZTA has instead been pouring millions into stupid projects like this app and their Road to Zero speed limit reduction propaganda campaign.

“The most useful part of this app is the part showing your driver licence details but it isn’t even allowed be used as ID or to drive with. You couldn’t make it up. Working with the Ministry of Transport to get the digital licence to be accepted is good, but this work should have been completed before pumping millions into the app and hoping it will be useable.

“Taxpayers have already spent too much money on this app. Minister Simeon Brown must put a stop work notice in place on this project and all other Ministers should be checking with their own departments to ensure similar vanity projects are not occurring.”

ENDS

The West Coast Regional Council’s proposed 27% rates hike is being slammed as one of the largest increases in the country.

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

“Due to either an inability, or unwillingness, to find savings within its own operations, councils continue to burden ratepayers within unreasonable hikes during a cost-of-living crisis. Any increase to rates above the level of inflation is unacceptable.

“The West Coast Regional Council is no exception.  According to our most recent Ratepayers’ Report, the average salary for managers is $130,000, with about 20 percent of all FTE staff being paid over six-figures.

“West Coast’s excessive rate hikes are due to an increases in operational expenses, some areas being more avoidable than others. Households up and down New Zealand are tightening their belts and doing more with less, so why not councils as well?”

A new Taxpayers’ Union – Curia poll has revealed that an overwhelming majority of New Zealanders think shops should be allowed to open on Good Friday and Easter Sunday if they want to do so.

Voters were asked: “Most shops are currently forced by law to close on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Would you support or oppose allowing shops that want to open on these days to do so?”

64% of respondents were in support of giving shops this choice, while just 27% were opposed. 9% of respondents were unsure.

The full polling report can be found here.

Commenting on the poll, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Our Easter trading laws are archaic and not representative of what New Zealand should be in the 21st century. What right should the state have to ban people from working or doing business due to a religious day they may or may not observe?

“Unnecessarily burdensome rules like this drive up the cost of doing business during an already challenging economic environment. The rules are also particularly harmful for casual workers who need every extra dollar they can get in the current cost of living crisis. Preventing them from working effectively robs them of a day’s pay.

“MPs will have an opportunity in the coming weeks to support this sensible change through ACT MP Cameron Luxton’s Member’s Bill. We urge them all to do so with the knowledge that most New Zealanders are behind them.”

Dear Supporter,

First the good news: moments ago, the Prime Minister announced that the Government will be increasing funding to Pharmac by $604 million (that's nearly $300/household) over the next four years for essential medicines like cancer drugs.

But, to our astonishment, the Government's media release gives absolutely no indication of how they are paying for it! That would suggest, yet again, that politicians in Wellington are spending money New Zealanders don't have.

BREAKING: Government increases funding for medicines 

According to the Government's media release, the extra funding will see up to 54 new medicines (including 26 new cancer treatments) become available.

But other than saying this is a ‘pre-commitment against next year’s Budget’, there is no detail on where this money is coming from. There is no mention of what wasteful spending will be cut – and with the Government's books in the red, we simply can't afford to keep borrowing more (watch live the Debt Clock go tick-tock...)

As you know, the team and I have worked tirelessly fighting to convince the Government to increase funding for Pharmac and spoilt them for choice when it comes to areas where savings could be made to fund it. 

The most obvious area for savings was the hundreds of millions in corporate welfare to the film and video game sectors. But today's announcement leaves that wasteful spending totally untouched.

So on the one hand, the Government listened to the thousands of New Zealanders who emailed the Government urging them to prioritise funding for Pharmac. For those Kiwis who will benefit from today's announcement, it will be a huge relief.

But on the other hand, failing to set out how this extra Pharmac funding will be paid for is simply lazy and is kicking the can down the road. With the current level of detail, we are left to assume they will be borrowing the difference. Lumping New Zealand with an even larger interest bill robs us of options in the long term to continue to fund essential medicines and good public services. 

Spending money is easy. Reprioritising is harder.

Continuing the 'spend now, worry later' approach of the previous government is very disappointing. That approach is what got us into the financial pickle that caused the Government to break its cancer drug promise in the first place!

Yes, it's good that these medicines are funded. But we can't let ourselves settle into a state of acceptance where we allow ourselves to get poorer and poorer by failing to balance out new spending with cutting waste. 

In the coming days and weeks, we will continue to press Nicola Willis and her Government hard over their priorities in order to force her to explain where this funding will come from.

We successfully pressured them to announce the spending on these drugs, now it's time to find the savings to fund it. 

Thank you for your support.

Connor Molloy Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming today’s announcement of additional funding for Pharmac but is calling on the government to explain where the savings have come from to fund it.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Show me the money. The Government has lazily kicked funding for these drugs into the long grass, labelling it as a ‘pre-commitment against next year’s Budget’ rather than taking advantage of the ample savings opportunities in front of it. Is the Government really that soft that they can’t find the money now? Nicola Willis must set the record straight.

“An obvious area for this funding to come from is scrapping costly corporate welfare like handouts to the film and video game sectors. This spending does not deliver value for taxpayers and is certainly not as important as funding lifesaving medicines.

“Future budgets will need to find greater savings than what has been forecast in order to sort out the dire financial situation we are currently in. The Government must provide that clarity and certainty now rather than continuing the spend, borrow and hope approach of the previous Government.

“It is pleasing to see that the Government has held firm and decided against breaking the Pharmac model which would end up costing taxpayers significantly more and ruin our ability to successfully negotiate for medicines in the future. The earlier proposal would have cost lives in the long term. It is heartwarming to see commonsense prevail.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Charities Commission to open an investigation into the new allegations relating to Te Pāti Māori’s alleged campaign use of a charity’s van, as reported by TVNZ’s Q+A yesterday.

“The Charities Commission has previously come down like a ton of bricks and deregistered charities for advocating for conservative viewpoints. Here, it is so much worse: allegedly misappropriating charitable resources to directly support a political party and candidate.”

“There is already a perception by many New Zealanders that the Charities Commission is politically slanted. Here is the test for whether the same law applies to all groups. So far, in refusing to comment to the media or announce that it is investigating, it is failing that test."

Last week, I emailed you about some of the ridiculous wastage of taxpayer money by the Health Research Council.

We received an absolute barrage of emails in response – with 99% having the same reaction as us: things need to change in Wellington.

I promised you there'd be more to come, and today we're turning our attention to another of the great research quangos that our team has been looking into: the Marsden Fund, which is managed by the Royal Society of New Zealand.

What's the Royal Society and its Marsden Fund all about?

The Royal Society boasts a long and proud tradition of excellence, tracing its origins to the esteemed English counterpart established in 1660, with the New Zealand branch being founded back in 1867.

By way of example, the New Zealand physicist who split the atom, Lord Rutherford, was one of the original 20 Royal Society Fellows appointed in 1919 and is just one example of the organisation recognising scientific brilliance.

The Marsden Fund is reserved for top-tier research funding. The Fund (according to the Society's website) "Supports excellence in science, engineering, maths, social sciences and the humanities in New Zealand by providing grants for investigator-initiated research".

The Marsden Fund is supposed to be the crème de la crème of New Zealand academia, showcasing the highest standards of scholarly excellence and innovation. Managed (apparently) with the utmost integrity and a steadfast commitment to advancing knowledge, the Marsden Fund stands as a beacon of academic prestige and intellectual rigour.

{{recipient.first_name_or_friend}}, you can see where this is going can't you?

Although a private not-for-profit, the vast majority of funding for the Royal Society comes from you, and other humble taxpayers. The Marsden Fund money is all from the Government taxpayers.

Last year, the taxpayer funding amounted to $83.5 million – almost exactly what's needed to fund the 13 cancer drugs that we, apparently, "can't afford" ***(although that could be about to change, if media speculation that an announcement is coming this afternoon is correct)***.

Here is some of the "research" the Royal Society has "invested" your tax dollars in:

First up, let's look at how the guardians of the Marsden Fund are tackling the scourge of crime – crime podcasts that is... So-called 'sofa sleuths' will love this research grant – as will one lucky academic, who will be paid to listen, and write about, crime podcasts from around the world! 🎧

Grant ID: 23-MAU-004  Recipient: Dr CS Bjork, Massey University Sound Judgments? Assessing the Rhetorics of Civic Deliberation in True Crime Podcasting With nearly one billion downloads globally, the skyrocketing popularity of true crime podcasting has sparked intense debate among scholars. Some decry the genre’s perpetuation of racist stereotypes and misogynistic narratives, while others celebrate its potential to advocate for social justice. But true crime podcasting also illuminates important recent developments in the longstanding relationship between rhetoric and civic discourse in democratic societies. Through the lens of rhetoric, Sound Judgments? will explore how true crime podcasting provides significant insights into the perplexing yet fundamental civic process of making collective judgments in a digital age. Approved funding: $360,000

Education is a big focus:

Grant ID: 23-UOA-164  Recipient: Dr A Pasley, University of Auckland Co-designing and Decolonising Gender Education: Exploring What It Means for Gender Diverse Students to Thrive in Schools "Collaborating with gender diverse students, this research operationalises whole-school approaches to gender diversity-affirming education... Fundamentally, this research acknowledges the colonial inheritance of gender norms, providing gender diverse young people with a platform to decolonise conventional approaches to sexuality education and how gendered expectations permeate education" Approved funding: $360,000

You read that right. Gender norms (i.e. "boys" and "girls") being, in fact, just an inheritance of colonisation is, we understand, a very widely held view by those in charge of New Zealand's premier scientific fund. 🤷‍♂️

Or what about housing? That's an important issue facing New Zealand right now. Especially the "experience of homes"...  🏡

Grant ID: 23-UOO-037  Recipient: Dr ES Chisholm, Otago University Making a home in employer-provided housing Across the world, people in a broad range of professions live in housing provided by their employers. Yet little is known about life in employer-provided housing. This project will draw on theories of power to investigate how a single relationship that secures both housing and employment affects experience of homes, and analyse differences over time and between different sectors of working. Approved funding: $360,000

360 grand to interview people on "their life" and "experience" in an employer-owned home! Crème de la crème research, indeed.

Now for this one, the only explanation is that someone has selected the random words "sexuality", "food", "identity", and "socialisation" and, somehow, by putting it in a word blender (AI perhaps?) submitted it for a grant.

And for the effort, they won a 360 grand grant! Creative, yes! Worthy? Scientific? Enlightening? You be the judge. 🤪

Grant ID: 23-MAU-082  Recipient: Dr HL Black, Massey University Kua kī taku puku, ko te waha o raro kei te hiakai tonu: The de-sexualisation of te reo Māori domains "...founded on tikanga Māori and kaupapa Māori, this research will identify how sexuality was traditionally expressed and defined by examining... harihari kai (happy eating), pao (singing), haka, pūrākau (legendary, mythical stories), ngeri (chanting) and idiomatic expressions... contribut[ing] to a body of mātauranga on te reo Māori and sexuality by investigating how sexuality, food, identity, and socialisation are all part of a complex and interwoven Māori cultural worldview." Approved funding: $360,000

Here's another one also involving food, which is pretty critical for New Zealand's economy, right?

Grant ID: 23-VUW-122   Recipient: Associate Professor JT Smit, Victoria University of Wellington Seeding Hope: The Diverse Roles of Indigenous Women in Food Systems "Women are the key seed savers, knowledge keepers and advocates in Indigenous food systems which acknowledge the sovereign capacities of nature, treat food as medicine, as a teacher and a relative. Yet there is little research that investigates the work Indigenous women do within these food systems. We develop a mana wahine analysis that draws on kōrero from Indigenous food growers and advocates across five diverse Indigenous food systems (Aotearoa, Hawaii, India, Peru and Turtle Island). Our global approach offers a new Indigenous-to-Indigenous framework to more deeply understand Indigenous women’s roles, values and practices regarding food, seed and soil sovereignty." Approved funding: $861,000

Before you say $861,000 is too much, remember that this research will necessarily involve having to (god forbid) travel (business class, of course) to India, Hawaii, Peru, and Turtle Island (Fiji) to speak to indigenous woman and try their food.

Let's turn to a more respectable subject. Like legal research:

Grant ID: 23-UOO-218  Recipient: Professor BJ Schonthal, Otago University Mapping Buddhist Law in Asia  "Despite decades of scholarship documenting the influences of Christian law on Western legal culture, scholars have ignored... Buddhist law on legal cultures in Asia. This project... produc[es] the first comprehensive account of Buddhist law as a complex transhistorical, transregional legal tradition... [and] will yield crucial new knowledge about a tradition of law that has shaped human societies..." Approved funding: $660,000

Who knew Buddha had in mind New Zealand's taxpayers when he said "Give, even if you only have a little." 🙇‍♂️

Okay, more serious now. Let's turn to kids books – surely they can't screw that up, right? Right?! 👀

Grant ID: 23-UOW-011  Recipient: Associate Professor N Daly, University of Waikato Picture Books in Aotearoa: The design and content of picture books reflecting indigenous language, culture and evolving national identities "Picturebooks are a powerful form of children’s literature... Our project... explor[es] best practice for authentic respectful representations of Indigenous languages and identities throughout the publishing process. Our interdisciplinary team will... undertak[e] a Kaupapa Māori driven investigation, to document and explore the ways in which Indigenous voices are and can be authentically represented in picturebooks." Approved funding: $660,000

So indigenous language but in picture books? The poor Associate Professor got $660,000 to discover that there are not a lot of words or language in picture books (that's kind of the point, eh?). 😂 😂 😂 

We looked up the Associate Professor, and according to her bio: 

I am a sociolinguist interested in the language hierarchies present in children's literature. I am also interested in the pedagogical potential of picturebooks for social justice in educational contexts from early childhood settings through to tertiary contexts. I teach courses in children's literature and supervise Masters and PhD students in children's literature and language-related topics.

You'd think if anyone knew picture books lack language, it would be the good Associate Professor.

And, just like the Health Research Council, you can't do science anymore without religion... ☪️ (and any views to the contrary are hate-speech).

Grant ID: 23-VUW-025  Recipient: Dr AZ Arrkillic, Victoria University of Wellington Embracing Islam: Conversion, Identity, and Belonging in Aotearoa New Zealand Conversion to Islam in Aotearoa remains under-researched… Co-designed by a born Muslim and a Māori Muslim convert... The study will challenge prevailing political interpretations of Islamic conversion that emphasise radicalisation. Ultimately, by improving our understanding... and exploring the role of religion in a decolonising, post-Christian Aotearoa, it will offer novel insights into national identity, demographics, and citizenship. Approved funding: $330,000

How did this rot set in? You can thank our old friend, Grant Robertson 🙏

The problem with the Marsden Fund can be traced back bill introduced in 2010 when a (then) little known Labour MP, Grant Robertson, put up the rather innocuous-sounding Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill.

Eventually unanimously passed in 2012, the main thing it did was to change the Object of the Royal Society from "the advancement and promotion of science and technology..." to "the advancement and promotion in New Zealand of science, technology, and the humanities."

It defined "humanities" to include "languages, history, religion, philosophy, law, classics, linguistics, literature, cultural studies, media studies, art history, film, and drama”.

That change has given tofu-munching, climate-striking, purple-haired academics carte blanche to get funding for all manner of 'research' projects that simply don't bring any return on investment to the taxpayers who pay for them.

Thanks to your support, we will lobby the new Government to reverse the 2012 law change and re-focus science money on, well, SCIENCE.

The National Party can't escape blame for this. Despite MPs expressing doubts about the Robertson-sponsored law-change, the then John Key Government backed the widening of the scope which has seen science money diverted more and more into ridiculous humanities projects like those listed above.

With the new Government, we can get them to see sense and repeal the changes.

National, ACT, and NZ First promised to get a handle on wasteful spending. Here's an excellent opportunity for them walk the talk!

{{recipient.first_name_or_friend}} it's time we got the Government to scrap the nonsense and redirect the money to actual science or, better yet, the cancer drugs Australians get, but we (apparently) cannot afford.

Thank you for your support.

Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

 

A new Taxpayers’ Union – Curia poll has revealed that a majority of New Zealanders believe that the final decision maker on the introduction or disestablishment of Māori Wards should be local voters via a referendum as opposed to local mayors and councillors.

Voters were asked: “Who should be the final decision maker on the introduction or disestablishment of Māori wards and constituencies on local councils? Local mayors and councillors or local voters in a referendum.”

58% of respondents believed local voters should be the final decision maker while just 23% believed it should be left to local mayors and councillors. The remaining 19% were unsure.

The full polling report can be found here.

Commenting on the poll, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“This poll makes it clear that voters across the political spectrum believe that fundamental changes to the rules of how politicians are elected should be decided by the people, not politicians.

“Labour Party MPs, such as Willie Jackson, have been vocal in arguing against this proposal, claiming voters don’t want it. But this poll shows that even among Labour supporters there is strong support for local community decision making via referenda. Labour Party voters were 51% to 25% in favour of local voters having final say on the issue, as were a majority or plurality of voters in all other parties.

“The arrogance of some mayors, councillors and LGNZ is staggering. They don’t trust local voters to decide what’s best for them and their communities. The Government can take comfort in knowing that the people of New Zealand are behind them on this issue and should continue working to reverse Labour’s hijacking of local democracy as soon as possible.”

The Taxpayers’ Union understands that the Government is today making an announcement of additional funding for medicines and is urging them to ensure that it is funded through a reprioritisation of spending, not loaded onto the taxpayer credit card.

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

“Promising a funding boost for Pharmac would be a good start, but Nicola Willis needs to front up on where the money will come from. Every household is already paying nearly $5k a year in interest on government debt, so whipping out the credit card isn’t an option.

“Peter Jackson doesn’t need another handout. Scrapping corporate welfare, including film and gaming subsidies, would more than save enough to cover the cost of life-saving treatments.

“National boxed themselves into a corner by pledging to break the Pharmac model and fund specific medicines. The Government must let common sense prevail and a provide generous boost to Pharmac funded by cutting wasteful spending. There’s more than enough room for savings to ensure that there is sufficient funding to get far enough down Pharmac’s wishlist to fund the cancer drugs, and other medicines, that New Zealanders desperately need.”

Responding to repeated incidents and mismanagement with the Interislander ferry service, the Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Government to sell off the Interislander ferry service instead of funnelling even more taxpayer money into it.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“The government has proven, yet again, that is is not a good operator of ferries. There is no doubt New Zealand would get a better service if we had multiple competing private operators on the Cook Strait.

“They should be selling the Interislander ferry service while it’s still worth something, not repeating the mistakes of the previous government and pouring more money down the drain where Kiwirail is clearly not competent enough to manage it.

“There is no reason that taxpayers must be kept on the hook for the Interislander. Bluebridge already operates a commercially viable service without taxpayer funding, demonstrating a privately owned and operated service is possible.

“This government was elected to make the tough but necessary decisions to sort out the country’s finances. Instead they are simply doing the same as before but promising to manage it better.”

The (very) slow progress on slimming down Wellington's bureaucracy 🐢

For all the talk of 'brutal cuts' and 'savage job losses', the latest figures from the Public Service Commission show that most of the Government's savings are yet to materialise.

When you add all the extra people still being hired, plus all of those you read about in the media being "fired", I'm sad to say it's not coming to very much.

From December last year until the end of March, the Public Service Commission report that the bureaucracy reduced by just 416 full-time equivalents (FTEs).

That's just meagre 2.3 percent of the 18,418 hiring extravaganza that took place under our old friend, Mr. Robertson. 

Erm... is that it? 👀

Now the Government will say that many of the savings decisions are yet to flow through into these numbers. While that may be true, the total number of proposed job losses is still well short of what's required.

Even when you account for population growth we are still going to be left with a Public Service that is much, much larger than it was under last Labour Government. How much larger? Connor's explains it all with the infamous "Parliamentary cardboard boxes" here.

What kind of performance-related pay sees everyone get a boost?

Here at the Taxpayers' Union, we are all for performance-related pay – especially in a Public Service where they haven't been known for, well, decent performance. 

But, usually performance-related pay means that those who get an increase are the ones that have performed well. It's not really rocket science. 

But earlier this week, it was revealed that the Government is planning to give all the already highly paid chief executives a pay boost. In the last financial year, Public Service departmental chief executives were paid, on average, a cool $489,000. 🤑

Yes, Chief Execs who deliver exceptional bang-for-buck should be rewarded, but the rest of the hangers-on shouldn’t get an increase to their massive handouts simply for doing what they were employed to do in the first place.

UPDATE: Nicola Willis doesn't rule out funding medicine over movies

But at the moment, it's not her Minister for the Public Service portfolio that is giving Nicola Willis the biggest headache, it's the decision not to allocate money for the 13 cancer drugs available in Australia but not New Zealand that National promised to fund during the election campaign. 

Last week at Fieldays, on behalf of the thousands of New Zealanders who have signed our petition calling for the $100 million for movie and game studio subsidies in this year's Budget to be reallocated to medicines.

We challenged the Finance Minister to scrap funding for film and gaming subsidies and use that money to fund lifesaving medicines, such as cancer drugs, instead.

It’s a simple equation: We spend $100 million a year on handouts to Hollywood bigwigs and gaming sector executives. The cost of funding an additional thirteen cancer drugs, for example, is just $70 million. It seems an obvious area for reprioritisation.

Here's what Nicola Willis had to say:

While the Finance Minister said cutting the film subsidies "wasn’t on the agenda", she didn’t rule it out and even said that reprioritisation is something that the Government will continue to do. 

Will you force this issue onto the agenda by taking two minutes to send an email to the Minister demanding change?

Redirecting film and gaming subsidies towards essential medicines is not only the economically responsible thing to do, it is the morally right thing to do. We've created a tool to email Nicola Willis directly:

✍️ SEND YOUR EMAIL NOW ✍️

School principals sunning themselves in Fiji while standards plummet

The Government has made a flurry of announcements around improving educational standards and new figures released just yesterday showed some improvements in school attendance. 

But it seems that some of our school principals have other priorities...

This week it was revealed that a company called Growth Culture is offering a School of Transformation conference in a five-star resort in Fiji. This course coincidentally costs $5700 – just under the $6,000 a year allowance that taxpayers fund to support principals' professional development. A whole cottage industry seems to have sprung up to 'help' principals use their $6,000 allowance. 

While no one would deny that our teachers need to keep their training up to date, the description of the course on the company’s website suggests improving educational standards might not be at the forefront of the principals’ minds…

If you like the sound of being coached under swaying palm trees, brainstorming with colleagues against the backdrop of a Fijian sunset, and leaving with a renewed sense of mental clarity, wellness, and purpose… Then get your togs, snorkel and passport packed as I look forward to connecting with you at this transformative experience. 

During the five-day course, principals are only required to do formal learning for 13 hours (6 of which are going to a local school) I'm sure there's a word for this but it escapes me at the moment. Maybe it begins with an H...?

On Tuesday Jordan called out this latest taxpayer-funded jolly for what it is on Heather du-Plessis Allan’s Drive show.

The economy is growing (just) but we're still getting poorer in terms of per-person GDP 😔

Yesterday we got the latest GDP figures and if you’re hoping for a good night’s sleep, I wouldn’t read them before bed tonight.

Although GDP growth has been teetering around 0%, for more than a year GDP per person has been in free fall. That means Kiwis keep getting poorer.

Some back-of-the-envelope calculations show that in the space of just the last 12 months, we’ve each got nearly $1,900 worse off on a per-person basis.

New Zealand's productivity continues to be one of the worst in the developed world, and that shows no signs of changing.

Last month’s Budget saw the Government increase the size of the deficit, spending and government debt. If this isn't the wake up call the Government needs to get serious about growth, what will be?

No need for the sky-high cost of replacing Air Force plane

The economy isn't the only thing struggling to get off this week. Once again we saw the New Zealand Air Force’s Boeing 757 break down while carrying the Prime Minister’s delegation to Japan, which meant Mr. Luxon had to catch a commercial flight to Tokyo.

This has lead to the inevitable calls from some quarters for taxpayers to stump up for a brand new plane. But this would be madness. We say that getting the Defence Force to buy VIP jets for, at most, half a dozen trips a year simply isn’t worth the cost and we need to come up with a creative solution.

For the vast majority of international trips, prime ministers rightly fly with commercial airlines (granted first or business class). The problem arises when Ministers want to take a large delegation with them, such as on trade missions.  

New Zealand Ministers used to have a deal with the Australians to use federal VIP land transport. If we can do that for the limos, why not for planes too? As we suggested in The Post, we could lease one of their planes for business delegation trips.

Under the Key Government, the successful tenderer for long-haul preferred carrier for Ministers was Qantas rather than Air NZ. If Australia’s national carrier is good enough for commercial, why not their VIP jets?

Council officials at it again: Tolley and McKerrow go rogue 🚩

It looks like the wheels are falling off councils up and down the country.

Earlier this week, we slammed outgoing Tauranga City Council Commission Tsar Chair, Anne Tolley, for abusing her unelected position of power to influence the upcoming election. She joined Jack Tame on Q+A where she badmouthed candidates in the upcoming council election.

Throughout her tenure, Tolley has shown nothing but contempt for the local voters who didn't elect her. She just can't help herself playing politics in what is supposed to be a politically neutral office. We say the sooner she is out of this job, the better. 

And it wouldn't be a Taxpayer Update if there wasn't something nutty also going on at Wellington's council. Not to be outdone, our friends at the Wellington City Council, Chief Executive, Barbara McKerrow, has again denied councillors from accessing the information they need to do their jobs. This time she withheld ratepayer-funded legal advice on selling airport shares to elected council officials until the last possible minute. 

If that weren't enough, as revealed in another great investigation piece by Andrea Vance in The Post, Barbara McKerrow is now trying to impose a new code that would restrict the official advice that councillors are allowed to see. A code that legal expert Dr Dean Knight described as “unlawful and unconstitutional.”

Who does this council CEO think she is to prevent the people Wellingtonians elected to represent them (and make decisions on their behalf) from accessing the vital information they need to make well-informed decisions?

We say enough is enough.

Media Mentions:

Newshub Aotearoa's rich list shows New Zealand is 'a little out of balance' - E tū union organiser and ex-Labour MP Michael Wood

RNZ Te Pāti Māori inquiry: Six government agencies in the spotlight

RNZ PM calls inquiry after claims Te Pāti Māori misused census info (02:55)

NZ Herald National drops post-Budget, Chris Hipkins pulls ahead of Christopher Luxon in new poll

The Post The Post politics live: New poll and He Waka Eke Noa abandoned

Newshub National, Labour lose support in new poll, support for Christopher Luxon plummets

RNZ Opposition makes gains in new political poll

Pacific Media Network News PMN News 11 June 2024 – Poll

NewstalkZB The Huddle: What do we think of He Waka Eke Noa's scrapping?

NewstalkZB Barry Soper: The newest poll was all about timing

The Working Group Fast Track powers, more budget talk and the Act Party's dreams | GUESTS: Shane Te Pou, Barbara Edmonds & Simon Court (27:35)

The Spinoff Australia’s hardline deportation policy and what it means for the government

Radio 531pi Will’s Word - Alarm bells for coalition Govt

Waatea News 12th June 2024 English News Bulletin 12:30pm – Poll

Greymouth Star Opposition makes gains [print only]

Waatea News Luxon lagging in likeability poll

RNZ The Panel with Sue Bradford and Stephen Franks (Part 1) – Jordan on MPs' Allowances (02:57)

Newsroom Hipkins says Labour has ‘very good chance’ in 2026

Radio 531pi Barbara Edmonds, Labour MP (16:28)

NewstalkZB Politics Thursday: David Seymour and Ginny Andersen debate MPs accommodation and oil and gas exploration – Poll (14:47)

Stuff Tova: Scams, fraud and deception: Are we tough enough on white collar crime? (02:09)

RNZ The Week in Politics: Data misuse, MPs' perks and talks with China

NewstalkZB John Barnett: Former South Pacific Pictures Boss on whether the Film Commission is funding the right projects

The Platform Government breaks second cancer drugs promise

NewstalkZB Morning Edition: 16 June 2024 – Poll (00:59)

Kiwiblog Guest Post: The Budget we should have seen

NZ Herald Labour leader Chris Hipkins tells party faithful of hopes for a one-term National-led Government

The Post How police alcohol activism risks overstepping the mark

The Spinoff Can Labour win back Auckland?

The Post Defence Minister Judith Collins says replacing broken 757 ‘horrendously expensive’

NZ Herald Public sector cuts: More than $8 million spent on one government ministry’s redundancy plans

Waatea News Hipkins stronger as Opposition leader

NewstalkZB 'Not a good look': Taxpayers' Union on the optics of sending principals on a five-day leadership trip to Fiji

NZ Herald KiwiSaaS report sees export billions from cloud software – as Technology Minister Judith Collins confirms defunding

NZ Herald Auckland train disruptions: Strikes, track issues slammed as third-world by deputy mayor

Bassett, Brash & Hide JORDAN WILLIAMS: We can't afford cancer drugs, but can afford this?

Kiwiblog This is what taxpayers fund as health research

Duncan Garner: Editor-in-Chief Worst government for conservation in our history? - 21st June 2024 (31:41)

Responding to reports that the Government is expected to announce a $600m increase in Pharmac medicines, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“The announcement of additional funding would be welcome but must come from reprioritising exisiting spending, not further increasing the deficit.

“An obvious area for these savings is cutting the $341 million in film and gaming subsidies budgeted for over the next four years.

“If the savings to provide further funding for Pharmac do not come from cutting film and video game corporate welfare, the Government should take the opportunity to further increase the reprioritisation to allow Pharmac to purchase even more of the medicines on its wishlist.

“The Government is currently making a political decision to continue to prioritise funding for movies over medicines. Taxpayer money should always be put to its best use. Handouts to New Zealand richlisters does not meet that standard.”

Despite the number of protests over the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, a Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll shows that significantly more Kiwis support than oppose the Bill.

The full polling report can be found here.

Voters were asked: "The Government has introduced a Fast-track Approvals Bill that it says will speed up the process for consenting infrastructure projects and reduce costs. Opponents of the bill say that it gives too much power to Government ministers and that it does not have sufficient environmental protections. Do you support or oppose the Fast Track Approvals Bill?"

44% of respondents support the Fast Track Approvals Bill, whilst just 32% of respondents opposed the Bill. 24% of respondents were unsure.

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

“New Zealand’s economy is limping along, and we need to get building again. That can only happen with wholesale planning reform, but for now this Bill offers a partial stop-gap solution to get the country’s cogs turning.

“People want to see action on the large-scale projects we can’t afford to wait years to be approved. They might want to see some tinkering around the edges of the Bill, but far more of them support the Government speeding up the process than continuing to just sit around twiddling its thumbs.

“Despite protests from a very vocal minority, Kiwis want action from their Government. The Fast Track Approvals Bill isn’t perfect, but people can see that this is a Government which is taking steps to get the wheels in motion again

MEDIA SUMMARY STATEMENT:
Any media or other organisation that reports on this poll should include the following summary statement:

The poll was conducted by Curia Market Research Ltd for the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. It is a random poll of 1,000 adult New Zealanders and is weighted to the overall adult population. It was conducted by phone (landlines and mobile) and online between 04 June and 06 June 2024, has a maximum margin of error of +/- 3.1%. The full results are at: www.taxpayers.org.nz/fast_track_poll

NOTES TO EDITORS:
The scientific poll was conducted by Curia Market Research and commissioned by the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. As is well known, but for full disclosure, David Farrar co-founded the Taxpayers’ Union and previously served on its board. He is also a Director of Curia Market Research Ltd.

This Taxpayers’ Union – Curia issue poll was conducted from Tuesday 04 June to Thursday 06 June 2024. The median response was collected on Wednesday 05 June 2024. The sample size was 1,000 eligible New Zealand voters: 800 by phone and 200 by online panel. The sample selection for the phone panel is from those who are contactable on a landline or mobile phone selected at random from 15,000 nationwide phone numbers plus a random selection from an online panel (that complies with ESOMAR guidelines for online research). The results are weighted to reflect the overall voting adult population in terms of gender, age, and area. Based on this sample of 1,000 respondents, the maximum sampling error (for a result of 50%) is +/- 3.1%, at the 95% confidence level. Results for sub-groups such as age and area will have a much higher margin of error and not seen as precise. 

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is an independent and membership-driven activist group, dedicated to being the voice for Kiwi taxpayers in the corridors of power. Its mission, lower taxes, less waste, more accountability, is supported by 200,000 subscribed members and supporters.

Following allegations of inappropriate behaviour from the Invercargill mayor, Nobby Clark, the Taxpayers’ Union is renewing calls for the Government to implement a recall option in local government to allow residents to remove embarrassing, inappropriate or incompetent representatives quickly. .

Taxpayers’ Union Local Government Campaigns Manager, Sam Warren, said:

“Behaviour like the kind displayed by Mr Clark risks reputational damage to the council, can wear down council culture and lead to dysfunction, distraction and worse decision making.

“Local residents in all councils deserve to have the choice to remove their elected representatives if they aren’t meeting expectations in terms of either performance or behaviour.

“He appears unwilling to fall on his sword and answer calls for his resignation. It may be appropriate for this decision to be made for him. But this decision should be made by the voters who elected him.

“Introducing recall elections would give voters the chance to remove elected representatives who they have lost confidence in, and ensure a higher standard is kept throughout their term – not just during election periods.”

Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has rebuked Wellington Regional Council after discussions were held around purchasing Wellington Airport shares from the City Council.

Commenting in support of the Minister, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Councils shouldn’t be taking on debt and gambling with ratepayers’ money, full stop. If they’ve got the ability to consider buying hundreds of millions of dollars worth of airport shares, they don’t need to be milking ratepayers dry.

“Wellington Regional Council crying poverty and demanding a 20% rates hike this year has been shown up for the nonsense it is.

“Minister Brown’s calls for councils to focus on core priorities hit the nail on the head, especially in a region whose water pipes are leaking like a sieve.

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, Nancy Lu. 

Nancy was National’s highest ranking candidate who wasn’t already in Parliament and was elected on the list in unusual circumstances following the death of a candidate in the Port Waikato electorate during the election that created an overhang seat. Nancy moved to New Zealand from China in as a child in 1997. She went on to become a chartered accountant working for large companies like PwC, EY and Fonterra and graduated with a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Nancy and Connor discuss her career before politics, why she decided to stand for election and what drives her as a politician.

Nancy's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow Nancy 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. 

 

I have a major update to our campaign to get the Government to scrap the film and video game subsidies and redirect that money to fund medicines like cancer drugs.

Last week, Jordan and I were with the team at Mystery Creek Fieldays and ran into Finance Minister Nicola Willis! Jordan used the opportunity to interview her and press the issue. 

Jordan put our campaign position to Nicola Willis, and she did not rule it out. In fact, she said that there would be continued "reprioritisation of spending".

I am writing to ask for a few seconds of your time to send an email to Nicola Willis urging her to act now and prioritise funding for medicines like cancer drugs over corporate welfare for Hollywood rich-listers and and gaming executives. 

Watch Jordan press the Minister on why she is prioritising funding movies over medicines. 

Elsewhere, Ms Willis has claimed that there simply isn't enough money at the moment to stick to her pre-election promise to fund the cancer drugs. But looking at her spending priorities, it's clear that there are areas where money could be spent much better.

It's about priorities, Minister

National's promise to fund the thirteen cancer drugs that are available in Australia but not here would cost around $70 million a year. 

This year's budget committed more than $100 million a year towards subsidies for the film and gaming sectors. 

It doesn't take a political scientist to work out what's wrong with that picture...

📧 Fund medicine, not movies 📧

This is about saving lives

I wanted to be the one to lead this campaign because this cause is near to my heart. Like most New Zealanders, I have friends and family who have needed access to life-saving or life-extending treatments for terrible diseases.

Sometimes, they have been lucky enough that the medicine they need is funded by Pharmac. But sadly, in too many cases they have had to forego the best treatment because there has simply not been enough money in the Pharmac kitty to fund it.

Will you send an email demanding change?

It is a reality of life that the best way to get money for the things people expect their taxes to go towards, like medicines, is through economic growth. More prosperous countries have more money to spend – that is the long-term solution to ensuring everyone gets the treatment we need.

But right now, we don't have that privilege and many of those suffering from treatable diseases simply cannot afford to wait. That means that we must ensure that every dollar the Government is spending is put to the best possible use. Funding subsidies for movies and gaming do not meet that standard – and we say it's time for it to go. 

Redirecting film and gaming subsidies towards Pharmac isn't just the economically responsible thing to do, it's the morally right thing to do. 

I have already written to Nicola Willis, but it is people power that makes things happen in politics. Will you take two minutes to send an email to the Finance Minister urging her to make the right decision? 

✍️ SEND YOUR EMAIL NOW ✍️

Thank you for your support.

Connor Molloy Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

Ps. With enough people-power we can win this campaign. If you know anyone who would also be willing to email Nicola Willis, click here to forward them a link to our email tool. 

Responding to today’s release of the latest New Zealand GDP figures, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“The economy keeps limping along, and people keep getting poorer. GDP per capita has fallen yet again, and it's now been in freefall for well over a year.

“New Zealand might be a fairly rich country now, but that’s not written in stone. Our productivity is already one of the worst in the developed world, and unless we change tack times are only going to get tougher.

“The Budget last month saw spending, deficits, and government debt all increase. Growth needs to be the name of the game, and Nicola Willis needs to go further and faster to be the Finance Minister that finally stops kicking the can down the road.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming today’s announcement of further corporate welfare from Regional Development Minister Shane Jones who announced $20 million in handouts to iwi, hapū and Māori businesses.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“The $3.1 million for a visitor centre in Taranaki does nothing except shift funds to less productive areas of the economy while the bureaucracy clips the ticket along the way.

“We have already seen the failure of these kinds of projects with the Hundertwasser Art Centre in Whangārei that attracts just 40,000 visitors a year, compared with a promised 450,000. Ministers should not be gambling with taxpayer money.

“Handing out $600,000 to convert land into a kiwifruit orchard will leave a sour taste in the mouths of taxpayers. This is public money for private profit.

“The Government is rightly concerned about some of the barriers to investing and developing land faced by Māori entities. The answer is to reduce these regulatory and legislative barriers, not hand pick special interests to get a leg up over all other businesses.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Government to remove all price controls from the auction of carbon credits under the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) following the most recent auction failure.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Simon Watts is either has no idea what’s going on or he simply doesn’t care enough to ensure that we have a well functioning carbon market that enables the country to lower its emissions at the lowest possible cost.

“The price controls on carbon credits at auction do absolutely nothing except make it more expensive to reduce emissions and bring instability into the carbon market. The Government already sets the quantity of credits available, it does not need to set the price too. Why does the Climate Change Minister think he is Robert Muldoon?

“Removing the floor price for carbon will restore confidence to the market by ensuring credits are able to be traded at the market price. When that price is lower than the current floor price, consumers will benefit from lower prices, rather than the government arbitrarily propping up prices for no environmental gain.”

Christchurch City Council has become the latest council to vote to withdraw from Local Government New Zealand. Commenting on LGNZ losing its largest remaining member, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“After years of lobbying to strip local bodies of control over water infrastructure through supporting Three Waters, it’s clear LGNZ has long-since lost its way.

“No one would trust a trade union which took government money to lobby against the interests of employees, and no council should trust LGNZ after it did the same to campaign against their members’ interests.

“The chickens are coming home to roost for LGNZ. Councils across the country should follow the example set by Auckland, Christchurch and many others, and finally cancel their memberships.”

 

While cancer patients wait for the Government to "find the money" to fund desperately needed modern drugs, the very money meant for health research and saving lives is being flushed down the toilet.

At our weekly staff meeting this morning, the research team took me through the latest batch of grant funding decisions by the Health Research Council.

My heart sank.

I wanted to get the information in front of you ASAP so you can judge for yourself. I'm emailing to ask for your support so we can expose the wasteful spending and force the Government to redirect the cash to modern cancer medicines.

You won't believe the nonsense Wellington is getting away with!

But first, let's remind ourselves what the Health Research Council is. 

According to their website, their purpose is to "support high-quality, high-impact research by investing in People, Ideas and Priorities." They describe themselves as "the home of health research in New Zealand" and "here to improve the health and wellbeing of all New Zealanders through our process of identifying and supporting high-quality, high-value research that delivers far-reaching impact within the health and science landscape."

You can see where this is going...

Here are a few examples of just the first round of 2024 funding:

Hapai te hauora: Breathing your ancestors into life "Hāpai te hauora’ as ‘breathing your ancestors into life’, captures the breadth & connections of a generation – rangatahi Māori–a generation moving forward together. This proposal builds on an HRC funded project (18/651) exploring the ways rangatahi Māori make sense of & live hāpai te hauora through navigating journeys of hauora & wellbeing." Approved funding: $649,992

Sounds like high quality science! 👀

Timely access to rongoa Māori in cancer care services for Māori "Prior to Europeans arriving in Aotearoa, traditional Māori way of healing was the only hauora practice Māori knew. Today, traditonal Māori healing is known as Rongoā Māori. Rongoā Māori is diverse and can include karakia [prayer], wai [water], waiata [music], himene [hymns], access to the ngahere [forest] and whenua [land]. For Māori health consumers, patients and whānau accessing cancer care service; seldom they are made aware of or referred early to rongoā Māori practitioners at the beginning of their cancer care journey. Using tikanga Māori methodology and codesign with Māori health and iwi providers, our method will include interviews, and hui with rongoā Māori practitioners, Māori and Iwi providers, Māori health consumers, patients, their whānau, and health professionals in primary and secondary care in the MidCentral region to explore ways for timely access to rongoā Māori in cancer care services for Māori." Approved funding: $398,771

Rather than fund the actual cancer medicines, the Government is funding "timely access" to cancer treatments witch-doctor cancer treatments. Ka pai!

If that doesn't work, there is always music therapy 🎶

He Whiringa Māramatanga: Kaupapa Māori Music and healing "‘He Whiringa Māramatanga’ examines Kaupapa Māori music theories and practices as a pathway to accelerating Māori well-being. Music theory is primarily located within Western music notation, harmony, and tonality. However, Māori Music, particularly through oral forms such as waiata, karakia, ruruku, haka, pūrākau and whakapapa, illustrate that Māori have unique key elements of musical theories to create oral legacies and that traditional Western definitions of ‘music’ may be confining for true Māori creative expression." Approved funding: $377,550

Or maybe barbershop is more your [cancer's] thing? 🎤💈

Health Promotion Interventions for Pacific men in a Barbershop "A rapid review and qualitative interviews with Pacific men, Pacific heath promoters and Pacific barbers will inform the development of a Pacific health promoting behaviour change framework and intervention programme in a barbershop setting owned by a Pacific health provider. This first of its kind research in New Zealand brings together an underserved population, a non-traditional setting for health promotion and culturally unique health promotion interventions delivered by an unconventional health and wellbeing workforce (barbers)." Approved funding: $150,000

Or how about, rather than fixing hospitals, or building nicer family waiting rooms, we splurge $150k on a study to understand the space?! Thanks to the Health Research Council, a very well paid 'space cadet' is coming to the rescue. 🏥

Building room for equity: Culture centred design of hospital waiting rooms "Hospitals in Aotearoa New Zealand have a legacy founded in colonialism and are designed to Eurocentric principles of health and well-being – as such they are inequitable by design and represent culturally unsafe spaces for many people who need to access them. Hospital waiting rooms represent one such space. Our project is premised on understanding how physical spaces in hospitals shape people’s experiences of care." Approved funding: $150,000

For our religious taxpayers, there's one for you too! 🙌

Research into Hine te Iwaiwa (who was the wife of Tinirau and is known as the spiritual guardian of childbirth who assists at the entrance into, and the exits from this world) is, as we understand it, worth a lot of money cutting-edge science.

Guided by Hine te Iwaiwa: Exploring Maramataka [traditional Māori lunar calendar] influence on pregnancy Outcomes "This research aims to explore the effects of incorporating the maramataka, a traditional Māori lunar calendar system guided by the goddess Hine te Iwaiwa, into the context of pregnancy care for wāhine Māori and Maori Midwives." Approved funding: $400,000

And then there's the help for our Pacific friends. 🌴

Remember, these grants are not for front-line services to help Pacific communities, but rather to "support high-quality, high-impact research"...

Development of a Fijian Model of Health "The research seeks to develop a Fijian Health Model to address Fijian peoples health in Aotearoa New Zealand." Approved funding: $649,561

Here's a thought: why not get New Zealand's own health model right (to serve everyone living here) before we start ethnic segmentation of our health system?

Then there's this grant, for nothing other than to support an academic's professional development! 

He Kaakaakura Whakamaatau [Translation: An Experimental Green] "This programme of senior leadership research and training for Dr Belinda Borell will build on her expertise in kaupapa Māori research and enable her to pursue a development and capacity building plan to grow both her expertise and that of emerging researchers. Focusing on historical trauma, mixed methods will explore poverty and abuse in care." Approved funding: $649,997

We had a quick look into Dr Borell. If you thought her work was, well, scientific, I've got some bad news.

This is her Massey University profile:

Belinda (Ngati Ranginui, Ngai Te Rangi, Whakatōhea) has recently completed her PhD, The Nature of the Gaze: a conceptual discussion of societal privilege from an indigenous perspective.  The thesis explores how Kaupapa Māori paradigms can make important contributions to research topics that may not be of direct or immediate relevance to Māori communities. Insights gained from a Kaupapa Māori investigation of white privilege in Aotearoa New Zealand are discussed. The thesis argues that cultural hegemony is maintained through structured forgetting, silence, and suppression of dissent which has dire consequences for dominant cultural groups as well as marginal. Structural racism and privilege are amenable to analyses utilising similar frameworks albeit from opposite sides that can provide valuable insights to understanding inequity more broadly. I also examine ways in which Kaupapa Māori analyses of white privilege can illuminate pathways of redress that will benefit all New Zealanders and provide more embracing perspectives of nationhood.

Dr Borell was also recently awarded the Hohua Tutengaehe Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Health Research Council of New Zealand to further her research into societal privilege.

Congratulations to Belinda for the $649,997 for her 'professional development'. Who knew naval gazing paid so well!? 🥳 🎉

That's just a taste!

These are just a selection of the nutty grants that the Taxpayers' Union will be highlighting over the coming weeks.

But make no mistake, while we can laugh about the decisions being made in Wellington, for the parents of those kids sitting on oncology wards, there is no humour in this. 

More than $30 million of the Health Research Council's annual budget of $125 million seems to have very little to do with health. That money alone is nearly half what is needed to fund the 13 cancer drugs that weren't in last month's budget.

The cancer drugs are not unaffordable, it's a matter of priority.

If you agree that the sorts of grants listed above are not a good use of your money, I'm asking you to chip in so we can put an end to this madness and redirect this money to front-line health and actual scientific research.

Support us to force the Government to take on the academic establishment and vested interests running these rorts

We all know the "experts" will scream to the media the moment the Government touches so-called "science money". That's why the Taxpayers' Union is needed to counter their spin and expose outfits like the "Health Research Council" for what they're doing with our money.

Like so much in government, things get captured. The Health Research Council is now just a group of self-interested academics giving our money to other self-interested academics (if you can call them that).

Will you support the Taxpayers' Union to force fiscal reprioritisation so that this money goes to actual scientific research and front-line medicines like cancer drugs?

>>> Donate to the campaign <<<

While Nicola Willis can shift some of the blame for the underfunding of Pharmac onto the last Labour Government, it simply isn't good enough to suggest there isn't enough to plug the gap, when we are still spraying money up the wall on nonsense like this. She needs political pressure to make the tough decisions and push back against the woke bureaucracy and academic establishment making these decisions.

As you can see, the money isn't going to where they say it is. We can win this – are you with me?

Thank you for your support.

Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

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Responding in support of Transport Minister Simeon Brown’s comments that the second Mt Vic Tunnel is likely to be tolled, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“If Wellington drivers want a new tunnel, Wellington drivers should pay for a new tunnel. A user-pays system like tolling means that those who get the benefits of a new road also carry the cost.

“Why should people in Gore, Napier and Kerikeri have to pay for a new tunnel through Mt Victoria they’re never likely to use, all whilst their own roads are falling to bits?

“However, tolling can’t become just another tax-by-the-back-door to fuel Government’s addiction to spending. Tolls should cover the cost of building and maintaining a road, and not a cent more.”

Responding to Nicola Willis’ comments about performance pay for public service chief executives, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“KPIs might force public servants to pull their thumbs out, but performance bonuses should only be for Chief Execs delivering exceptional value for taxpayers’ money.

“This Government was elected to tackle bloat in the public service, not to promise pay hikes for Chief Execs barely delivering normal service levels.

“Talking about pay bumps for good performance is less than half the equation. Nicola Willis needs to get sacking chief executives who fail to deliver time and again.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming today’s announcement that the Government will make it easier to build granny flats without a resource consent.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“For too long, it has been effectively illegal to build affordable housing in New Zealand. Today’s announcement is a good first step to providing more choice and competition in the housing sector which will bring down the price of what is many people’s single largest expense.

“While some groups call for economically illiterate proposals to impose rent controls, new regulations or new taxes, it is encouraging to see a Government committed to addressing the root cause of the housing problem – supply. The answer to any shortage is simply to get government out of the way and cut the red tape that makes it too expensive, too difficult, or even impossible to increase supply.

“While granny flats won’t be suitable for all people, allowing more choice will mean that those wish to take up that option will have the ability to do so which will also free up accomodation elsewhere in the housing market for others.

“We saw with Kiwibuild that government is not competent enough to build houses. It is a welcome change to see more power handed back to the private sector where people have more freedom to do as they wish on their own property. Today’s announcement, along with wider reform of our resource management, zoning and infrastructure systems will do far more to fix the housing crisis than anything achieved over the past six years.”