The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming the National-led government for giving in to well-connected gaming lobbyists and continuing to subsidise the gaming sector to the tune of tens of millions of taxpayer dollars each year.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Subsidising an infant industry doesn’t help it to grow up. Instead, you end up with a lazy adult still living in mum’s basement and doing nothing productive. Giving an industry money when it can’t stand on its own two feet may prop it up, but it also swells the size of the subsidy required to keep it afloat. This vicious cycle forces taxpayers to fork out more and more each year.

“Investment should be occurring where it makes the most sense, which is best determined by markets not Ministers. The only way to ensure money is being allocated efficiently is by letting people decide for themselves what they value.

“Subsidising one sector simply forces the allocation of resources away from industries that are more productive or where New Zealand has a greater comparative advantage. Politicians are falling into the same trap as they did with the film sector by growing an industry dependant on subsidies that then become near impossible to remove.

“We call on ACT to stick to their principles and push back against the Government’s approach of subsidising the wealthy elite and instead cut all corporate welfare to fund an across the board reduction in the company tax rate for all businesses.”

The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the Ministry of Health spent $249,267.50 on legal fees for a court battle against a vaping retailer who they wrongly threatened for selling non-compliant products.

The issue arose from the Ministry of Health incorrectly interpreting their own regulations in relation to maximum nicotine salt levels, eventually leading to an expensive court case where the Ministry conceded they were in the wrong.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:  

“The Ministry appears to have been playing silly buggers here after refusing the retailer’s repeated requests to meet with them to clear the issue up – something that would have saved the taxpayer hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“The Ministry’s justification for refusing to meet with the retailer is laughable. Despite having met with the company in the past, the Ministry tried to use the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control as reason for it not being appropriate to meet. The issue with that is that it does not apply to vaping suppliers.

“It is especially damaging for business confidence when retailers are threatened despite following the letter of the law. Fortunately, this company was willing to challenge the threats but a similar situation could easily result in a business being too scared to do business in New Zealand.

“If we want people to start businesses in New Zealand, we can't force them to put up with the incompetence of regulators who put people in a position where they, despite their best efforts, can’t be certain that they are obeying the law. The Minister of Regulation must figure out what went wrong here and ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is questioning why New Zealand taxpayers are forking out millions of dollars in foreign aid to countries that have state-sponsored space and nuclear weapons programmes.

A recent Taxpayers’ Union OIA reveals that in the past year, India has received $1,178,000 from Kiwi taxpayers, Indonesia has been granted a whopping $25,068,402.67 and Pakistan has been given $3,500,000."

Oliver Bryan, Investigations Coordinator at the Taxpayers' Union, said:

“It is concerning to see the government’s priorities in relation to foreign aid with millions of dollars going to countries who have state-sponsored space and nuclear programmes.

“If a foreign government has enough money to invest in ambitious space programmes, it should not expect to be receiving payments from New Zealand taxpayers that is earmarked for helping the world’s poorest.

"Our new Ministers must reconsider and refine our aid policies, putting genuine need at the forefront."

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the government to give boaties a break and bring fairness to how they are taxed by ending road-related taxes on marine fuel.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Boaties enjoying their time out on the water this summer are being hit twice by the government’s punishing 48% fuel taxes. First when they fill up the ute, and again when they fill up the boat.

“When Winston Peters said he’d never seen a Waka on the road he was onto something. It is completely unfair that boaties should have to pay for the upkeep of roads that they don’t even drive on. He, and the government should commit to scrapping the tax on a beloved pastime of many Kiwis.

“Those using fuel for off-road commercial purposes such as fishing can already claim back their fuel tax, all we are asking is that a similar claims process be provided to recreational boaties too.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is shocked to discover that the New Zealand police have no idea how many people downloaded their $634,000 ‘Virtual Cop’ app intended for recruiting new police officers.

The costs of the app included $315,000 on concept creation and development, $265,000 on the development of new experiences and $54,000 on gear and hardware.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Despite spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on the app, we have no way of knowing whether or not it was actually worth it.

“With such a significant level of investment, you would think that at least the app would be a high-quality and enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, the reviews say otherwise,

“One user stated in a review entitled ‘Boring’ that the app had ‘probably some of the worst graphics I have ever seen, even my potato has better graphics. I like the idea but the game seems really budget. It’s got stupid and boring mini games. Overall it’s a boring and trash game DON’T GET’ – not exactly glowing feedback.

“Many other similar comments express frustration at bugs in the game suggesting it is not well developed and a waste of taxpayer resources. A sense check is needed at the police with the number of overzealous campaigns focusing too much on wasting money and not enough on catching criminals.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is encouraging Kiwi’s to get away for one last holiday before National’s app tax kicks in this year.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Kiwis better make the most of their stay in an Airbnb or bach rental because it is about to get a lot more expensive. Adding GST to the cost of app-based services like Airbnb and Uber is distortionary, unfair and will punish Kiwis with higher prices.

“Despite campaigning strongly against the app tax, National’s dramatic u-turn will see families paying more to be a part of an increasingly digitised economy. Rather than cutting wasteful spending to fund its tax cuts, National is trying to do a bait and switch by reducing taxes in once place while hiking them up somewhere else.

“This year, the Taxpayers’ Union will campaign strongly against the new app tax, urging the National to revert to their original position while in opposition of opposing the app tax and to scrap it completely."

The Taxpayers’ Union is today celebrating the end of Labour’s ute tax and tesla subsidy that saw money being taken away from hard-working farmers and tradies and given to Wellington champagne socialists buying Teslas.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy said:

“At last this costly, ineffective and unfair tax has come to an end. Not only did it punish those who had little choice but to drive a high emitting vehicle but it didn’t make a shred of difference for the climate either.

“Transport emissions are already governed under New Zealand’s capped Emissions Trading Scheme so any reductions from driving cleaner vehicles will simply free up carbon credits to drive up emissions elsewhere in the economy.

“While the removal of this tax will be a welcome result for many of those wanting new utes, it will offer little reprieve to those farmers and tradies who lost vehicles in the flooding last year and were forced to pay thousands of dollars more for a replacement.

“The Taxpayers’ Union is willing to meet with any journalist or MP to explain how the ETS works and help work towards the lowest-cost pathway to emissions reduction.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on politicians and public servants to commit to increased transparency and accountability as we head into the new year by reforming the Official Information Act and improving proactive release policies.

Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“The Government must start the new year delivering on its commitment of fiscal responsibility and reducing government waste. A core part of that is ensuring that taxpayers are aware of how their money is being spent to ensure value for money and demand accountability for poor spending choices.

“The first step must be beginning work to reform our long out of date official information regime. Expenditure by the Parliamentary Service and individual MPs must be brought within the scope of the OIA and the grounds for refusal across all public agencies must be narrowed.

“More widely, departments should be told by Ministers to proactively and regularly release details of all non-payroll financial transactions to allow close scrutiny of expenditure. Most of this information is already collected and the practice is common in many US states.

“For too long, taxpayers have been forced to rely on the leaks from the inside or fortunate OIA requests to become aware of egregious abuses of taxpayer money. If this government is committed to cutting waste, they should allow us to help.”

The Taxpayers' Union is questioning the rationale behind the New Zealand Police's extravagant expenditure of $320,000 on their 'Offbeat' podcast series. The series has garnered a mere 15,400 downloads since its launch, costing taxpayers approximately $21 per download.

Oliver Bryan, Investigations Coordinator at the Taxpayers' Union, said:

“The $320,000 would be far better spent on visiting high schools and encouraging students to join the police and answering student’s questions. Any kid dedicated enough to endure an episode of the podcast is one who is likely to join the police anyway.

"It's concerning to see that despite the podcast's availability on multiple platforms—Spotify, iHeart, and Apple—yet it still failed to attract a larger audience. What's even more egregious is that of the $320,000 total campaign cost, a staggering 57% was allocated to advertising, which still yielded poor results."

"While it may be too early to determine if the downloads will translate into recruitment, at only 15,000 downloads since its launch it seems unlikely that there will be a high enough conversion rate to justify this extravagant expenditure.

“Unless the Police can demonstrate a direct and meaningful impact of this podcast on recruitment, it's safe to say that this project is an egregious misuse of taxpayer money."

A Taxpayers’ Union Official Information request can reveal that ACC's 'Have a Hmm' campaign has cost taxpayers an astounding $2.4 million from January to July 2023. The campaign's primary objective is to encourage individuals to exercise caution before engaging in potentially risky activities in order to prevent injuries.

Oliver Bryan, Investigations Coordinator at the Taxpayers' Union, said, "ACC’s 'Have a Hmm' initiative appears to be an extravagant undertaking with minimal results, essentially patronizing the taxpayer and billing us for the privilege."

“As part of the campaign, social media videos were created, featuring scenarios such as one person contemplating whether to jump off a waterfall and another pondering the idea of climbing household furniture. This patronizing style of messaging not only raises questions about the campaign's effectiveness but also calls into question its respect for the public's intelligence. The fact that this video series alone cost $549,590, including production expenses of $239,165, gives the impression that this campaign was designed to irritate rather than assist.”

"Despite the campaign's lavish budget, engagement levels have been surprisingly lacklustre. Only 10,640 individuals completed the 'Attitude to risk' quiz, amounting to an approximate cost of $225 per quiz completed."

“Every year, government agencies spend millions of dollars on expensive advertising campaigns with no accountability as to whether this money is delivering results. The new government must ensure that these campaigns actually reducing injuries and if they aren’t the funding for them should be cut.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is warning of the social costs and impacts on crime of this years’ 5.64% increase in tobacco excise tax.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“The goal of reducing smoking and preventing smoking-related illnesses is a laudable one but this latest tax hike will do little more than punish people and drive up crime.

“Those still smoking are the most committed smokers who understand the risks and more than pay their way. This latest hike is unlikely to push them to quit. Instead, the hike will push more smokers to the black market to source untaxed, unregulated tobacco where the proceeds can be used to finance organised crime.

“Already, one in eight cigarettes smoked in New Zealand comes from the black market, this will only make the problem worse. As demand for illicit tobacco increases, retailers are more likely to be targeted in what are now highly-lucrative robberies.

“It is worth noting that it is not just the smokers who suffer from these tax hikes. Their families feel the burden too with less money is left over at the end of the week for other things once cigarettes are paid for.

“A better approach would be to follow what is already working by continuing to promote vaping as an effective and less harmful smoking cessation tool.”

The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that University Council at Victoria University has approved an $8 million increase to their already massively over-budget Living Pā project, bringing the total spend to around $60 million – nearly twice as much as the initial $35m price tag set out in 2019.

According to an OIA and subsequent email correspondence, the institution has spent $27,175,000 so far, including $5,550,000 in consultation costs. It plans to have the entire project finished by the end of 2024.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“At a time when the University is struggling with record-low enrolments, low revenue, and sky-high deficits, it continues to recklessly funnel money into a needless vanity project where the budget alone could cover the university’s entire fiscal hole, and then some.

“The University Council must be financially illiterate if it thinks that continuing to pour funds into this wasteful endeavour will result in anything other than more blowouts and more pressure on staff and students.

“The Living Pā project has been a financial disaster from the get-go. Following the pandemic, the budget increased by nearly $20 million to accommodate ‘rising building costs’, and will now cost nearly two times as much as was initially planned.

“Over the last 2 years, Wellington’s University has been churning out shockingly high deficits, subsequently forcing hundreds of its staff into resignation to ‘keep costs down.’ It’s a damning insult to students, staff, and New Zealand taxpayers, that the University Council has continued to prioritise a wasteful development project over the provision of education.

“Victoria University should halt all work on the Living Pā, get a hold on its finances, and instead of selling out its staff for the sake of a new building, focus on what our tertiary institutions are really meant for.”

The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union is expressing astonishment at an OIA response revealing that police vehicles have been incorrectly fuelled 19 times in the past year, incurring costs of $7,570.48 for the taxpayer.

Oliver Bryan, the Investigations Coordinator at the Taxpayers' Union, said:

“Filling a vehicle with the correct fuel is a routine task accomplished daily by thousands of New Zealanders seamlessly. The fact that our police, expected to demonstrate meticulousness and thoroughness, have consistently stumbled in this fundamental duty is perplexing and, frankly, absurd.

“Police have spent the last couple of years spending taxpayer money on fitting “dieselhead” devices to their vehicles yet the misfuelling has continued. Either the modifications were ineffective and a waste of taxpayer money or those refuelling their vehicles showed a magnificent display of incompetence.

"This scenario would be laughable if it wasn’t taxpayers’ money. When taxpayers fund vehicles for the police, they expect that property to be treated with respect.

"Taxpayers are owed an explanation and a pledge to avert such preposterous errors in the future. That would seem an ideal New Year’s resolution for our Police Force.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is astounded at the staggering cost of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise spending $809,450 seven ‘Regional Team Meetings’ over two years, but the cost breakdown is even worse.

A Taxpayers’ Union OIA can reveal:

• Meals for these 2-3 day meetings totalled $185,696 and averaged $217 per person, per day, but for some meetings were as high as $296 per person per day.
• Accommodation costs totalled $292,295
• Key agenda items for the meetings included:
  • Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament
  • Silent Disco
  • Scavenger hunt
  • Yoga
  • Song contest
  • Team Trivia Night
  • Animal Sanctuary Visit
  • Wellbeing Teambuilding challenge
  • Creativity session
  • Personal purpose and reflection time

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Despite the exorbitant costs charged back to taxpayers, it seems like the jaunts were little more than children’s holiday camps rather than getting down to business.

“Reading the information response, we thought someone was playing a joke. Rock, paper, scissors tournaments, silent discos and scavenger hunts? Seriously? You couldn’t make this stuff up.”

“How this kind of expenditure was allowed to go on across multiple years is simply unfathomable. It is time for NZTE to grow up, front up and stop acting like children.”

As we wrap up the year and before the staff knock-off, the team are reflecting on a challenging but successful 2023 and looking to the year ahead. 

Some highlights of what our supporters made possible this year

• The Labour Government extended the fuel tax cut (and then did it again!) after months of petitioning, emails to Ministers and lobbying from our supporters. 
  
  
• During the election campaign, hundreds of supporters bought and put up our "Wants to Hike Fuel Taxes" signs highlighting Labour's plans to increase fuel taxes by 14 cents per litre if re-elected. The new Government has cancelled this planned hike. 
  
  
• We held our Annual Jonesie Waste Awards highlighting the best of the worst in Government Waste.
  
  
• The Government put the costly new jobs tax on ice when Chris Hipkins became Prime Minister. The new Government is scrapping it altogether.
  
  
• We beat back Willie Jackson's undemocratic, expensive RNZ/TVNZ mega-merger which was scrapped by Chris Hipkins – preventing further state influence in the media. 
  
  
  

How we Scrapped Three Waters

• The pressure from the public surrounding Three Waters became too much for the Government. Our polling when Chris Hipkins became PM revealed we had turned it into the number one policy voters wanted Hipkins to scrap – including among Labour supporters. Labour substantially watered down their Three Waters policy (but still kept the worst elements). 
  
  
• Labour were so worried, they re-branded Three Waters to 'Affordable Water Reform'.  But no one was fooled...
  
  
• National and ACT's Three Waters proposals were in line with our alternative.
  
  
• We made significant progress in drafting our replacement Three Waters bill which will end co-governance, restore local ownership and lead to higher quality, more efficient delivery of water services. 
  

And in the new year, the work will continue. We've scrapped Three Waters – but we need to ensure the replacement is up to snuff.

Three Waters 2.0 – Stopping David Parker's 'Central Planning Committees' power grab

• Our petition and nationwide Hands Off Our Homes: Stop Central Planning Committees roadshow bought the issues surrounding David Parker's resource management reforms into the public eye. On the same day we launched the roadshow, David Parker back-tracked on one of the most contentious elements of the reforms that would have seen a National Māori entity with power to review the Environment Court!
  
  
• The new Government has repealed David Parker's RMA reforms and is beginning work on a replacement that will (if we have anything to do with it!) make it easier and less bureaucratic to get things done in this country. 
  

And more...

• Tens of thousands of New Zealanders signed signed up to our campaign to Axe the Ute Tax that punished farmers and tradies in order to subsidise Teslas for wealthy elites. We got a strong commitment from Chris Luxon at Fieldays, along with other National Party MPs that it would be gone by Christmas – they delivered on that promise.
  
  
• We successfully campaigned for Minister Michael Wood's resignation following the scandal of him holding undeclared shares in Auckland Airport and failing to sell them despite being told to 12 times.
  
  
  
• Our election debate series, co-hosted with Damien Grant and Martyn Bradbury from The Working Group podcast received national media attention and reached hundreds of thousands of voters online. 
  
  
• Our 2023 Ratepayers' Report held councils all across the council accountable for how they are spending money on staff, consultants and contractors and allowed ratepayers to compare their rates with other councils. 
  
  
  
• We launched our Debt Clock outside Parliament and took it all around the country to election debates, rural shows and political events.
  
  
  
• We started a (tongue firmly in cheek) new moving company, Robbo's removals, to highlight the number of skilled Kiwis leaving New Zealand due to the bad policies of the previous Government. 
  
  
• We lived rent-free in Chris Hipkins' head -– and he showed off our work to the national media.
  
  
• Our research team exposed the fiscal holes in Labour's GST policy while Taxpayers' Union research fellow, Jim Rose, produced a report outlining why the whole thing was a bad idea – even if the numbers do add up. 
  
  
• Our book, The Mission: Taxpayers' Union at 10 was launched to celebrate 10 years of the Taxpayers' Union. Get your copy here.
  
  
• Lord Hannan (Daniel) came over from the UK to celebrate our tenth birthday and delivered a must-watch speech on the role of the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand.
  
  
• Supporters like you have sent hundreds of tips through to our confidential tipline exposing countless cases of government waste (we'd forgotten about the wallabies!), corporate welfare and council extravagance. 

A Christmas feast that satisfies the government health tsars

While Kiwis are busy preparing for a day of eating and drinking with loved ones, one of our interns has been busy preparing a Christmas feast that abides by all of the government’s dietary and health guidelines.  

Among the hundreds of pages of guidance and bureaucratic jargon, there is a whole range of health guideline suggesting that the almighty health overlords know how you should live your life better than you yourself. 

And the result is frankly depressing. You're gonna have to put the Christmas ham away, and alcohol? Don't even think about it. 

For breakfast, you're allowed two wheatmeal slices of bread with 40 grams of peanut butter and a 200ml cappuccino with 100ml of milk on the side.

The Tax on Christmas 

For most of us, Christmas is about giving. But, for the Tax Man, it’s all about taking. Connor wraps up the year with a special video revealing the incredible reach of the “Tax on Christmas”.

Looking for some summer listening?

This year we released 19 new episodes of our podcast, Taxpayer Talk, featuring MPs, councillors, bureaucrats, policy experts, Taxpayers' Union board members, a Lord, and more. 

If you find yourself with any spare time over the break, you can catch up with Taxpayer Talk on our website | Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio

One last thing🎅🏻🎄

As you've seen {{recipient.first_name_or_friend}}, no one can say we haven't worked hard this year! But everything done and accomplished has been thanks to the support of hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who support our work, and the tens of thousands who donate and make our work possible. 

If you agree that it is important that we keep up the momentum next year –  and ensure the government delivers the fundamental reforms required to get New Zealand back on a path to prosperity – please embrace the holiday giving spirit and chip in to our 2024 fighting fund with an end of year donation.

From all of the team at the Taxpayers' Union, wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

 

Media coverage:

NZ Herald Govt announces review of Kāinga Ora, Christopher Luxon responds to criticism over publicly-funded te reo lessons

Otago Daily Times Taxpayers foot bill for Luxon's reo Māori lessons

RNZ The Panel with David Cunliffe and Nalini Baruch (Part 1)

1 News PM denies his taxpayer-funded te reo Māori lessons are hypocritical

RNZ PM in hot water over tax payer funded te reo tuition

NZ Herald Gerry Brownlee off to a solid start as Speaker - Audrey Young

Rural News Tough Times

Interest.co.nz Finance Minister Nicola Willis wants Treasury to report fiscal risks more clearly

While Kiwis are busy preparing for a day of eating and drinking with loved ones on Monday, the Taxpayers’ Union has been busy preparing a Christmas feast that abides by all of the government’s dietary and health guidelines.  

The Nanny State-Approved Christmas Feast has been prepared following a comprehensive analysis of hundreds of pages of government health advice, and hours of trial and error perfecting the perfect Christmas meal that every Health New Zealand bureaucrat should be happy with. The full report can be read here.   

The Christmas feast contains four courses to enjoy throughout Christmas Day (Breakfast, Lunch, Dessert and evening snacks) and abides by the recommended maximum daily intake of calories, sugar, sodium, protein, carbohydrates and fats for a male aged 31-50 who partakes in light exercise.  

Christmas breakfast consists of two slices of wholegrain toast topped with 40 grams of peanut butter, coupled with your usual morning cappuccino (only this one contains lite milk). 

Christmas lunch consists of a succulent unsalted 60 grams of lamb roast (with the fat removed), cooked with two teaspoons of olive oil. Also fresh from the oven we have an unsalted baked potato, two unsalted baked kumaras, 61 grams of carrot, and 140 grams of cooked broccoli. Top this meal off with a generous 15ml of cheese sauce, 3.4 grams of gravy, and wash it all down with a pint of alcohol-free beer – you deserve it! 

Christmas dessert features many of your Kiwi Christmas staples, with 19 grams of pavlova, half of one piece of fruit cake (25 grams), one strawberry, one banana, one kiwi fruit, one quarter of a scoop of vanilla ice cream (the no added sugar kind), half of a fruit mince pie (27 grams), and to close the show – 8 grams of whipped cream. 

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, says: 

“Taxpayers are sick of having politicians and bureaucrats telling them how to live their lives. This Christmas, we’re revealing how sad and boring life would be if we took everything the Government said at face value.  

“Our analysis of the health guidelines showed just how strict these complex heath guidelines really are. The worrying thing is that it is often those very guidelines written with advice from lobbyists that are then used by those same lobbyists as justification to call for taxes and restrictions on sugar, salt or whatever the next target of these activists is.  

“If government health overlords had their way, families all across New Zealand would be missing out on the most festive day of the year. Rather than getting into the Christmas spirit, the government has become the Grinch instead.  

“There is a lot more to wellbeing than just people’s physical health. People trade off their health all the time for things they enjoy, and they should be free to do so. Of course, having clear guidance helps people to make informed decisions but what we get from the government is hardly easy to understand.  

“Recommended maximum daily intakes are hidden among hundreds of pages of documents and is often out of step with other countries or the latest health research. 

“In the age of the internet when information is so readily accessible, government health agencies would be better to be linking to reputable sources of health guidelines than spending millions replicating work to come up with their own.  

<<< Read the full report here >>>

The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that taxpayers will be paying in 48.08% of the pump price in fuel taxes these summer holidays and in Auckland the figure is 50.22% thanks to the Auckland Regional Fuel Tax.

Driving a 2014 Honda Accord with petrol costing 266.6c/L (278.1 c/L in Auckland), taxpayers will be paying $76.74 in fuel taxes for a 60-litre refuelling.

Commenting on these figures, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“Families and holidaymakers gearing up for their summer holidays have got a nasty surprise for them waiting for them. Despite many having to scrimp and save all year during a cost-of-living crisis to pull together enough money for a well-earned Christmas junket, the taxman isn't going to make it any easier.

“Wellingtonians heading out of the city up to Taupo will have to stump up $86 in fuel taxes straight into the Government coffers. Those fancying a rave in the sun at Rhythm and Vines are instead looking at over $120 just in tax to get there and back again.

“Christchurch residents journeying to Queenstown for a scenic getaway will certainly be feeling the burn of nearly $110 in fuel taxes alone before any other costs have even been accounted for. If you fancy a bit of fishing down in Milford Sound then you’re looking at over $170. Let’s just hope you’re not planning on towing your own boat down.

“For Auckland residents, it’s much worse. The regional fuel tax adds on an additional 11.5 cents per litre (including GST).

“Holidaymakers rifling through their wallets for a spare ten bucks for some fish and chips will have the government to thank when all they find is dust and moths. While families struggle to afford a holiday, it’s saddening to remember that instead of being spent on improving the roads to at least make the journey more tolerable, much of the fuel tax revenue is spent on areas completely unrelated to roads.”

Responding to the repeal of the Natural and Built Environment Act and Spatial Planning Act, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“David Parker’s resource management reforms tried to strip consenting, planning and resource management powers away from local communities and place them in the hands of unelected, co-governed regional planning committees.

“We saw with the creation of the failed Te Pukenga, centralisation of the health system and the ballooning costs of Three Waters just how costly and ineffective the ‘Wellington knows best’ approach is. The last Government had an obsession with centralisation at any cost, and it is promising to see the new Government on track to reverse that trend.

“Scrapping the NBEA and SPA will keep planning in the hands of local communities, and this will be welcomed with open arms by anyone who values democratic accountability. Forcing the incoming Government to scrap these power-grabbing pieces of legislation is a huge victory for grassroots Kiwi activism, but it won’t fix the underlying problems in the RMA itself.

“The RMA has fuelled a crippling housing and infrastructure crisis. We can’t unlock New Zealand’s potential for development and growth without taking an axe to all this red tape, and there’s a long road ahead of us before New Zealand gets the meaningful RMA reform we need to get New Zealand building again.”

The release of today’s Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update confirms the worst kept secret in Wellington; the fiscal challenges ahead are much worse than the public were told about prior to the election. 

From the Treasury lock-up, Executive Director of the Taxpayers’ Union, Jordan Williams, said: 

“Treasury has confirmed that the last government put New Zealand on a completely unsustainable fiscal path. Grant Robertson should be ashamed, as not since his mentor Mike Moore has a government been so dishonest with the public about what was really going on. He should be issuing an apology.” 

“It is very clear that tough decisions – and a brave Minister of Finance – are necessary to get the books back into shape.” 

“The economic backdrop is nearly as bad, with high net migration dragging us into positive growth – but only just.  On a per person basis, New Zealand still faces getting poorer in the short term.”   

“Now that we know that the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update was in fact a fantasy land, we need to ask ourselves how our fiscal reporting model and institutions have failed taxpayers.” 

“After Mike Moore lied to New Zealanders about the state of the books in 1990, the Fiscal Responsibility Act was put in place to ensure there were no post-election ‘nasty surprises’ like those which we have seen today.  Like back then, it is not so much the numbers, as the laundry-list of fiscal risks that are only seeing the light of day now. Items that Treasury has disclosed today were absent from the pre-election update; that is clearly not good enough.” 

“This feels a lot like 1990, which led to Ruth Richardson’s ‘mother of all budgets’ the following year. Budget 2024 is going to require Nicola Willis to be made of stern stuff.” 

“While responsibility for the poor state of the books rests with Grant Robertson, Treasury too must accept some responsibility for the lack of transparency.” 

“Under the last Secretary, Treasury became far more politicised and less reliable.  The new Secretary is an improvement, but this dropping of the ball in not being willing to deliver unwelcome news prior to the election suggests she has a long way to go to get Treasury’s former status back.” 

“We have previously called on the Government to conduct a ministerial or government inquiry into Treasury’s performance and public finance transparency. Today’s documents demonstrate the reason it is needed.” 

Waitaki District Council has approved the $32 million Network Waitaki Events Centre in Oamaru, despite lacking a sound funding plan.

The Council has pledged $15 million to the project, which when combined with the input of some outsider funding, still leaves a $2.7 million shortfall as well as an additional unfunded $4 million for the second stage of the project.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“Waitaki District Council have now decided to rush headfirst into the Event Centre project with next to no regard for those pesky things called finances. Given their current financial position, this will likely mean borrowing at high interest rates and figuring out the details later.

“The Waitaki Ratepayers & Residents Association have been calling on their council from the beginning to come up with a workable plan that does not involve demands for ratepayers to foot the bill. No one will be shocked to learn that calls to put the back pockets of ratepayers first are falling on deaf ears.

“With 20% of staff on salaries above $100,000 and an annual consultant and contractor bill of over $34 million, rather than lumping ratepayers with this enormous bill in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis the Council must instead cut back on its bureaucratic bloat.”

Figures released show that there are currently 60,000 people who have been waiting for more than four months to be seen for a first appointment with a health specialist. This is up from 36,000 from just last year.

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“Te Whatu Ora’s failure to fulfil its core function – to provide urgently needed healthcare to those most in need – is just the latest symptom of the same sickness that has overtaken much of the public sector. Government spending on health has been untargeted and ineffective and the decision to completely restructure the health system during a pandemic seemed reckless at best; now the chickens are coming home to roost.

“Since 2017, spending on health has rocketed by around 80%, but over the same time outcomes have been in freefall. It’s no coincidence that in the same six years, the number of pencil-pushing managers in health, education and social services has increased at nearly twice the rate of frontline staff.

“All this money wasted on bureaucrats could have been spent cutting waiting lists. Instead, Labour’s parting gift to New Zealand has been a failing health system and a wait-list blowout of 60% over just a single year. Timely delivery of vital services must be the top priority.”

 

Responding to news that David Parker’s Tax Principles Reporting Act is due to be repealed under urgency, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“David Parker claimed that his 7 ‘tax principles’ were universally agreed upon. Given the degree of backlash, it's clear these actually amounted to little more than the personal preferences of one man with very little idea of what effective legislation looks like.

“With such nebulous and subjective concepts as “equity” and “flexibility” being offered as pillars of the tax system without any prior public consultation whatsoever, this shameless power play was always destined to fall at the first hurdle. Politics aside, this poorly designed act simply could not work in practice.

“This act was nothing but an attempt to shut down democratic debate about what our tax system should look like. Trying to legally define Labour Party opinions as objective fact and hand the power to dictate tax policy to an unelected and unaccountable commissioner should never have been allowed to stand in a modern democracy.”

 

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to pay back the cost of his Te Reo tuition fees following revelations that he has been getting his lessons paid for by the taxpayer.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Prime Minister Luxon has clearly been caught out saying one thing but doing another. He should do the right thing and pay the money back.

“Taking taxpayer money for Te Reo lessons while criticising public servants for doing the same undermines the credibility of the Government who proclaims to be focused on reducing wasteful spending. The culture of respect for taxpayers’ money must be set from the top.

“If a proficiency in Te Reo is necessary, of course tuition should be funded by the taxpayer but there is no real justification as to why Mr Luxon should have taxpayer funded Te Reo that would not also apply to public servants. If Mr Luxon wants to learn Te Reo, he should do so from his own pocket.”

The Parliamentary Press Gallery had their end of year knees-up that went well into the night on Wednesday, and most of the major news shows have have now wrapped up for the year. 

But the political year is far from over! Indeed, the real moment of truth on whether Nicola Willis is serious about getting the economy back on track by slashing the costs of government will come with her so-called mini-budget, micro-budget, nano budget out on Wednesday.

Grant Robertson's fiscal traps: How bad are the books? 🧾

At the same time we see the Nano Budget, we'll also get to see the latest set of books from Treasury on the Government's true fiscal situation. As Jordan talked about on Newstalk ZB on Thursday with Heather du Plessis-Allan, we are hearing about more fiscal landmines all over Wellington  – with the KiwiRail Cook Strait mega-ferries mega-cost overrun being just one of many.

Your humble Taxpayers' Union will still be at work and inside the Treasury lock-up to report to you the moment the embargo is lifted on Wednesday. Just how large will the sea of red ink be that Mr Robertson has left us (and our kids).  

Tick tock, tick tock... goes the national debt clock... 👀

Taxpayer Victory Trifecta! Previous Government's policies scrapped 🎉

Much of Wellington is already off on their pre-booked summer fiestas because, by this time of year Parliament is usually winding down. But the new Government's rubber is just hitting the road with its 100-day plan, and announcement that the summer (at least for Wellington) is to be cut short.

Not only will Parliament be back in January (we can't recall this being the case in a generation), but Christopher Luxon is calling Cabinet back to the Beehive to meet in the second week of January!

Earlier this week in a Wellington cafe, one of our staffers overheard the grumblings of a very grumpy mandarin who had made the usual seven week-long summer holiday booking and was very upset at the prospect of having it cut short. 

Welcome to the real world, Sir Humphrey!

Reserve Bank refocussed on tackling inflation 📈🏦

New Zealand was world leading with the creation in 1989 of a Reserve Bank with a single mandate of keeping inflation down. Scores of countries around the world have followed our lead. But the last Labour government sought to tinker with the system and give the Bank another target of keeping unemployment low. And we all know how that worked out. 

The problem is that Grant Robertson had effectively given Reserve Bank one lever – setting interest rates – and asked the Governor to pull it in two different directions. Up to bring inflation down or down to bring unemployment down. Clearly the experiment failed and inflation has spiralled out of control over the past two years – helped of course by Mr Robertson’s own fiscal recklessness pouring money into wasteful projects that simply make inflation worse. 

The new Government's return to the single mandate is a good first step towards getting inflation (i.e. the rising costs of living) under control. But, if the new Government is serious, the next step must be slashing wasteful spending. That's why Nicola Willis's nano budget on Wednesday is so significant.

Unfair Pay Agreements scrapped 📄❌

Also this week we saw the repeal of Labour so-called 'Fair Pay Agreements'. 

This is the right thing to do. A bit like the 'Public Interest Journalism Fund', 'Fair Pay Agreements' are the opposite of what it says on the tin. Labour's scheme would have effectively forced compulsory unionism across the entire economy, stifling productivity, creating complexity and reducing labour market flexibility.

You can’t sustainably increase wages by simply increasing costs on employers. The only path to a high-wage economy is to ensure productivity increases. The last government was putting the cart before the horse. 

Making it harder (more expensive) to employ people with a 'one-size-fits-all' approach disproportionately harms the very people that government claimed it wanted to help – such as young people and those on the outer edges of the job market.

Workers have voted with their feet in rejecting unionism over the past 30 years with membership reducing from almost 50% of employees in the 1980s to less than 20% today. On the other hand, there is one union that is both worth joining and is making sure Kiwis can take home more after-tax income and promoting policies that improve New Zealand's productivity and prosperity. Maybe you should join up... 😉

We Axed the Ute Tax 🪓🛻

And we celebrated a taxpayer victory following our two-year campaign to 'Axe the Ute Tax'. Jacinda Ardern's tax unfairly hit farmers and tradies in order to subsidize flash new Teslas for Wellington and Remuera elites. The tax saw thousands of dollars piled onto the cost of a new ute, and other emissions-emitting vehicles, despite the fact that many people who use these vehicles have no other option. 

While Labour and the Greens loved to claim that this tax was reducing emissions and preventing climate change, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Our Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) caps New Zealand’s emissions at a set level that gets reduced over time. Any emissions reductions in the transport sector brought about by subsidized electric cars simply frees up emissions to occur elsewhere in the economy.

The video Julie Anne Genter needs to watch! 📺 🚲

We can't tell whether the Green Party MPs flailing about claiming that the scrapping of Tesla subsidies and the Ute Tax will cook the planet, are being dim or dishonest.

We suggest they take a few minutes to watch this fantastic video by our Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, on how the ETS works and the 'waterbed effect'.

Speaking of climate change, it seems the Climate Change Commission has drunk the Kool-Aid too. 

Put it out of its misery and cut it: Climate Change Commission swerves out of lane to tackle social justice ✂️

You would think that the Climate Change Commission would have its focus squarely on reducing New Zealand’s emissions right? Wrong.

Their latest report out this week – 2023 Advice on the direction of policy for the Government’s second emissions reduction plan – dives headfirst into a range of issues well outside their remit. Road injuries? Social justice? Population health?  You name it, it's in there.

Here we thought the climate change officials wanted us to ride to work to save the planet. But now that electric cars are coming along, that's still not good enough. We must ride to work (or take public transport) because it's good for us. The Climate Change Commission cites studies that suggest the new goal is to reduce crash injuries. 🤦‍♂️

Sure, some of these things might be worthwhile causes but we have literally tens of thousands of bureaucrats in other agencies who are meant to be dealing with that stuff 

To the extent that the Commission does focus on emissions, they even get that part wrong. Rather than focusing on net emissions (the total amount of emissions from things like car exhausts minus any reductions such as from trees), they instead focus solely on the total gross emissions without looking at the other side of the equation. It should not matter if emissions are reduced by someone sucking one tonne of carbon out of the atmosphere or emitting one tonne less in the first place, the effect is the same. The Commission's obsession with forcing people to change how they live their lives and run their businesses is absurd, ineffective and expensive. 

This week ACT’s climate spokesperson called for the Commission to be scrapped completely. We agree. 

Recession: GDP figures make for grim reading 📉💲

The latest batch of GDP figures were released on Thursday. It doesn’t take an economist to tell you that Kiwis have been doing it tough recently, but this data backs it up and then some. For four quarters on the bounce now, New Zealand’s economy has shrunk on a per person basis.

While immigration has kept our head nearly above water on the headline figures, on a per person basis (which is the only measure that matters in the long term) our standards of living are in free fall.

This goes to show the damage that an anti-growth government can cause when they do everything in their power to stifle innovation and growth, and drive investment running for the hills. Grant Robertson made his bed but its the rest of us that are having to lie in it.

It’s all well and good making noises about responsible finances, but that’s not going to be anything close to enough to turn the ship around. We say the new Government needs to commit to shrinking the cost of government further and faster, and to slashing the red tape which is holding our country back.

Auditor General blasts previous government's spending 💥💰

If there’s one thing in this life you can rely on, it’s that Government projects will run over time and over budget. So it shouldn’t be too hard to imagine what happened when Jacinda’s mob created a multi-billion dollar slush fund to chuck money hand over fist at any project that wanted it.

It’s not often you’ll find me taking the side of a bureaucrat, but when even Wellington wonks are telling you that perhaps spending vast sums of money without any idea what you’re spending it on is a bad idea, you ought to listen. 

Jacinda got her headlines and we got the bill. A $15.9 billion ($8,092 per household) bill to be precise.

The latest Auditor General’s report made the wildly outlandish recommendation that perhaps this shouldn’t be allowed to happen again. We have been promised that Shane Jones's new Regional Infrastructure Fund will be different this time, but you can be rest assured that the Taxpayers' Union will be keeping a very close eye.

The Interislander Ferry fiasco is another example of a ludicrous Government cost blow out. The costs are already four times what was originally quoted and we all know the blowout wasn’t going to end there. So well done to Nicola Willis for pulling the plug this week.

News in Brief ⏰

• We welcomed the announcement from Simeon Brown, Minister of Local Government, that the Government will repeal Three Waters early in the new year. This is great news, but we cautioned that we still need to have a workable replacement for water infrastructure. As luck would have it, the Taxpayers' Union has come up with one. 
• More disappointingly, was the announcement from Judith Collins, Minister of Science, Innovation & Technology, of another round of corporate welfare from Callaghan Innovation. We argued that it is not the role of government to pick and choose winners using taxpayers' hard earned dollars.
• One of the fiscal cliffs that Nicola Willis has found in the Government's accounts is no ongoing funding for film subsidies. We said this week that it is time to let them fall over the cliff. The Government should be focussed on making New Zealand more competitive across the board rather than giving taxpayer-funded handouts to favoured industries, however glamorous they may be. 

One more thing: Casey Costello’s maiden speech to Parliament

Earlier this week, we had the pleasure of watching our former Chair, now NZ First MP Casey Costello give her maiden address to Parliament.

I know a lot of our supporters will be interested in Casey’s path to Parliament and her words about the Treaty, public service, and not tiptoeing around difficult conversations.

Watch her maiden speech here.

Merry Christmas 🎅🏻🎄

I'm heading to the UK to visit family for a few weeks so this is my last missive before the festive period. Jordan and Connor will be holding the fort while I am away.

May I take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support throughout the last year (and hasn't it been a big one?!) and wish you and your family all the very best for Christmas and 2024 when it comes. 

See you on the other side!

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Head of Campaigns New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

Media coverage:

Wairarapa Times-Age Rates relief is unlikely says review

Newstalk ZB Tory Whanau: Wellington's mayor on her drinking problem, commits to a life of sobriety

The Spinoff Our bold political predictions for 2023, revisited

Newstalk ZB The Huddle: Was it a good idea for the Government to scrap the Interislander ferry project?

Newshub Leaving presents for Department of Conservation's former director-general Lou Sanson cost more than $5000


Press releases:

Taxpayers’ Union calls for outcomes-focused mental health spending rather than a cash splash

Government Must Let Film Subsidies Fall Off Fiscal Cliff - Taxpayers’ Union

Too Little Too Late From Meddling Treasury Mandarins

Bay Of Plenty Paves Way For Councils To Sell Off Their Assets As Rates Soar

Tory Whanau Is Out Of Touch With Struggling Ratepayers

Poor Leadership Putting Democracy At Stake In Wellington

Taxpayers’ Union Backs ACT’s Calls To Scrap Climate Change Commission

Government Applauded For Turning Off The Tap For KiwiRail’s Doomed Ferries

Judith Collins Crushing Taxpayers With Latest Round Of Corporate Welfare

Scathing Auditor General Report Backs Up What We All Saw Coming From Massive Infrastructure Fund

New Zealanders' Standard Of Living In Freefall

Taxpayers’ Union Welcomes Announcement Of Three Waters Repeal – Still Work To Do

Waipā District Council has set the hands of fiscal irresponsibility spinning with the historic town clock refurbishment in Cambridge. Originally budgeted at a modest $450,000, this project has wound up to an astounding $721,000.

Investigations Coordinator at the Taxpayers’ Union, Oliver Bryan, said, “The Council seems to be aiming for a Guinness World Record in money burning. We’re not just talking about tightening a few screws here – this is the Big Ben of budget blunders.

“It would take several ratepayer lifetimes, about 225 years, to cover the cost of this towering mistake. It’s almost as if the Council expects residents to pay a ‘time tax’ spanning centuries, a fiscal legacy that outlasts the very clock they’re attempting to preserve.

“This isn’t just a wake-up call; it’s a siren. It’s high time the Council reset its priorities. This is not just a blow to the budget; it’s a blow to the trust that the community places in the council to manage their rates wisely.

“The Council needs to wind back this project and rethink their approach before Waipā ratepayers find themselves with higher rates and a never-ending debt spiral.”

The Taxpayers’ Union expresses deep concern over revelations that Department of Conservation (DoC) spent $5,159 on retirement gifts for its former director-general, Lou Sanson.

Oliver Bryan, Investigations Coordinator at the Taxpayers’ Union, said, “Whatever happened to the usual whip-round of the staff? The cost of the parting gift is staggering: it's more than a third of what was previously shelled out for a DoC turtle funeral. This clearly shows that the organisation is still imbued with a culture of disrespect for taxpayer money.

“The Department of Conservation's lavish spending on retirement gifts is just the latest in a series of tone-deaf and extravagant expenditures by public agencies across the country. This type of behaviour, which has become all too common in recent years, demonstrates a disturbing lack of regard for the public's money.

“At a time when New Zealanders are facing increased financial hardships and struggling with the rising cost of living, such wastefulness is not just irresponsible, it's an insult to every taxpayer in the country. It's high time this ended and the new Government needs to get a handle on this.”

The Taxpayer’s Union is today welcoming Local Government Minister Simeon Brown’s announcement that the Government will scrap Three Waters in the new year but says there is still work to be done to ensure that its replacement protects property rights, ensures sustainable investment and infrastructure and removes undemocratic co-governance.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“We have spent the better part of two years campaigning to stop Three Waters including a nationwide roadshow, more than 100,000 petition signatures and almost 70,000 submissions to the select committee. The announcement to repeal Three Waters is a welcome one, the Department of Internal Affairs should immediately halt all work relating to Three Waters in order to prevent further wastage of taxpayers’ money.

“But there is still work to be done. The Taxpayers’ Union’s technical advisory group, chaired by Malcolm Alexander has been working hard drafting replacement legislation, which will be presented to the Minister in the near future. There is no point repealing Three Waters if its replacement is just a watered-down version of Labour’s proposal. We encourage the Minister to engage constructively with those in the local government sector and experts, including our Technical Advisory Group.

“While we remain optimistic, we will not rest until we see Three Waters repealed and a workable replacement has been passed through all stages of the house.”

Responding to today’s release of the Q3 2023 GDP figures, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“New Zealanders have years of economic mismanagement by their government to thank for them getting poorer and poorer by the day. In just the 3 months to September alone, GDP per capita fell by an eye-watering 0.9%. With GDP per capita plummeting for the fourth quarter in a row, our standard of living is in freefall.

“In a country which already has one of the lowest productivity levels in the developed world, an anti-growth government has been doing everything it can to stifle innovation and growth; this strategy is now bearing its sour fruit as New Zealand is deep in the belly of a crippling per capita recession.

“There’s no more time to waste, and the simple fact of the matter is that Kiwis cannot afford three more years of the same ruinous economic negligence. National need to quit just paying lip service to the idea that an economy should grow, and to do so they must commit to significantly shrinking the cost of government and slashing the red tape which is holding our country back.”

Responding to the latest Controller of the Auditor General report criticising the decision-making process that led towards $15.9 billion worth of investment projects to be delivered over the pandemic period, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“It should have been obvious to the then Labour-led Government that rapidly pulling together a bunch of massive infrastructure projects, against advice from officials, was a recipe for disaster. Sadly, it seems that the ministers of the day were more concerned with the glamour of an announcement than they were with ensuring that they would actually receive value-for-money from their investment.

“We could see from the outset that without focused timeframes and transparency measures, the fund was always doomed to fail. Now, more than 3 years later, many of the various projects have blown way over budget and are either still ongoing, haven’t been started, or have been ditched altogether. The dismal rollout of this fund only highlights the outrageous disrespect the previous Government had for taxpayer funds.

“We welcome the Auditor General’s recommendation for Treasury to provide more regular updating on the delivery of major capital spending projects. Given the complete failure from the previous Government to deliver on their infrastructure promises, it is critical that taxpayers can be sure their money is being spent effectively and responsibly going forward.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming today’s announcement from Judith Collins that the Government is doling out more corporate welfare via Callaghan Innovation instead of cutting waste and delivering tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders.Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Any hope that this Government would be one for the taxpayer rather than caving in to crony capitalism and its special interests is fast going out the window.

“Grants like these simply pick winners by gambling with taxpayer money rather than allowing the market to determine what businesses should succeed based on their ability to provide a product people want at a price people are willing to pay.

“Arguments that we need more taxes, such as the app tax, ring hollow when millions of dollars are frittered away giving millions in handouts to those who need it least. Wasteful spending like this simply fuels the cost-of-government crisis, driving up inflation for the struggling taxpayer.

“Judith Collins and Christopher Luxon have some serious explaining to do – are they going to be a government that supports free markets and private enterprise or one that puts a select few special interests ahead of the taxpayer? We urge the ACT Party to stick with their historically principled stance of opposing corporate welfare and push from inside Cabinet for this kind of buffoonery to come to an end.”

 

Reacting to the announcement from Finance Minister Nicola Willis that KiwiRail’s request for additional funding to replace the InterIslander ferry fleet, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“We applaud the government for turning off the tap for this KiwiRail project that has gone well off track. With costs ballooning from $775 million in 2018 to approximately $3 billion today, it is clear that KiwiRail does not have the competence to deliver a project on budget and the tap of taxpayer money should be turned off.

“Nicola Willis has done well not to fall into the trap of the sunk cost fallacy that catches out far too many politicians. Committing even more money to this doomed project would be a bad idea even if we were in good economic times. In the context of the current cost-of-living crisis and eye-watering levels of government debt, it would be completely reckless and irresponsible to allow KiwiRail to continue with the ferry fleet replacement on the taxpayer dime.“

This announcement comes in stark contrast to the Auditor General’s report released today highlighting a complete disrespect for the taxpayer from the previous government in relation to various infrastructure projects that blew massively over time, over budget or were never completed. The ability to say no to wasteful spending is one of the most powerful tools Ministers have and hopefully this will send a strong message across the entire public sector – the time for wasting money is over.”

 

Responding to the Climate Change Commission’s latest report providing advice on the direction of policy for the Government’s second emissions reduction plan, the Taxpayers’ Union is backing the ACT climate change spokesperson, Simon Court, in his calls for the Commission to be scrapped.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“The latest report from the Commission reveals their incoherent obsession with gross emissions reduction rather than simply reducing the country’s net emissions – a viewpoint that will do nothing more than make the fight against climate change more challenging and expensive to no material gain.

“The Commission has recognised that if they can’t demonstrate why they should exist they will be scrapped, so with emissions reduction already dealt with under the ETS they are scrambling to find any other reason to justify their jobs, regardless of whether or not this has any relation to climate change. The Climate Commission has no business wading into road injury policy and social equity. We already have tens of thousands of bureaucrats in other government agencies dealing with this stuff, the Climate Change Commission adds no value whatsoever and therefore must be scrapped.

“The new Climate Change Minister must restore confidence in the ETS by making sensible changes that allow it to function as a free and open market. Removing arbitrary minimum and maximum price controls, along with allowing international offsets and introducing a universal carbon dividend would all work to make emissions reduction cheaper and more politically durable.”

Responding to the increasing number of calls for a Crown Observer to be installed in Wellington City Council, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“Budget blowouts and service failures are just par for the course in Wellington these days, and people are starting to notice. Calls for a Crown Observer are getting harder to ignore, and this is setting the city on a very slippery slope.

“A Crown Observer might be little more than putting WCC on the naughty step at first, but as the council’s finances continue to slide further out of control whispers about installing Commissioners are starting to follow.

“WCC’s only saving grace at the moment is that they are accountable to ratepayers every three years. As inept as the council are proving to be, Wellington cannot end up like Tauranga. Whanau and McKerrow’s mismanagement is now putting the future of local democracy at risk.

“If councillors lack the spine to chuck a failing Mayor and Chief Executive, then ratepayers need the right to elect a council that will ASAP. Recall elections must be a top priority of the new government, as Wellington simply cannot afford to wait another two years.”

Responding to Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau’s comments regarding Chief Executive Barbara McKerrow on NewstalkZB this morning, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“The incompetent Wellington City Council Chief Executive was last year granted an almost $50,000 pay rise, and Mayor Whanau has the gall to claim that this amount “really is nothing”.

“Tory Whanau would do well to remind herself that 16 residential ratepayers’ entire rates bill for the year is not “nothing”. Wellington residents struggling through a cost-of-living crisis need to look no further than this to see the disdain in which they are held by senior figures at their own council.

“Defending this inexcusable payout by claiming that Chief Executive Barbara McKerrow is a high performer simply doesn’t stack up. Instead, McKerrow has time and again prevented the flow of official information to elected representatives in what seem to be attempts to push her own agenda, leading to repeated budget blowouts such as the extra $147 million rushed through for the Town Hall in October.

“Whanau insists the council has been well managed, but the crumbling roads, leaking pipes and dying high street whilst hundreds of millions are wasted on senseless vanity projects tell a completely different story.”

 

Responding to reports that the Bay of Plenty Regional Council plans to sell half of its shares in the Tauranga Port, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“This is a sign that Bay of Plenty regional councillors have their finger on the pulse and are putting ratepayers first. Councils all around the country should be taking the opportunity of the cost-of-living crisis to sell off assets and deliver rates relief to families.

“But the council should go further and sell their entire stake in the port, rather than just some of the shares. Councils have no business in owning ports. If ratepayers wish to invest in the port personally they are free to do so, there is no reason why the council would be able to invest ratepayers’ money better than ratepayers themselves.

“As they propose some of the highest rates rises in New Zealand history, Christchurch, Wellington, Hamilton and others should also be making asset sales and reminding themselves that they should be putting the livelihoods of their ratepayers first.”

 

Responding to comments from Treasury officials suggesting that returning the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to the single mandate could undermine faith in its political independence, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“RBNZ has failed for 29 months on the bounce to hit its inflation targets, and it is clear that Labour’s dual-mandate experiment has failed. Prices have been spiralling uncontrollably for years on end, and it is ordinary working Kiwis who have been made to suffer. This crippling instability is what undermines faith in the New Zealand economy.

“If Treasury officials were genuinely concerned about RBNZ’s political independence, then the time to raise this was when Labour decided to vandalise our world-leading system for their own political gain and not as New Zealand tries to return to the status quo.

“Retaining the Monetary Policy Committee is not an acceptable compromise. For far too long, Adrian Orr has been able to hide behind his lackeys and avoid any fallout for his failures, but it’s high time we returned some accountability to the top.”

 

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Government to let film subsidies come to an end as the corporate welfare programme hits its fiscal cliff next year.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Film subsidies are a sad legacy of the Key government that saw the pockets of wealthy elites being lined, rather than making New Zealand a more attractive place for all businesses and industries to operate.

“Robbing Joe Bloggs to pay James Cameron was never a prudent use of taxpayer money, it is time for this farce to end. The film industry must be able to stand on its own two feet rather than sucking money away from more productive areas of the economy.

“National campaigned on cutting back on wasteful spending, now will be the test to see if they have the intestinal fortitude to carry through on that promise. We urge ACT to maintain their principled opposition to handouts for the film sector and push strongly in Cabinet to bring this funding to an end."

 

Responding to reports that a landmark $2 billion investment in New Zealand’s mental health system by the Ardern government has had little effect on services and delivery, Connor Molloy, Campaigns Manager at the Taxpayers’ Union, says:

“We warned at the time that the incredible amount of taxpayer funds that were being invested could disappear into a black hole. Unfortunately, we were vindicated with a prescient reminder that improving health services takes much more than a mega cash splash – it requires smart investment and a game plan to ensure that not a single cent goes to waste.

“It seems as if these funds were channelled into various government departments with spurious attachment to mental health treatments, rather than being targeted towards New Zealand’s struggling health system as it should have been. Setting aside approximately $480 million for Kāinga Ora to respond to mental health issues is a symptom of the endemic bloat of the public service, with every department and office a one-stop shop for every need and want.

“Bravery is needed from Matt Doocey, the new Minister for Mental Health. If a programme is not working, it must have its funding cut so that the money can be redirected to more impactful areas rather than letting fear of backlash drive continued expenditure on ineffective programmes. Additionally, with mental health being unique to each individual, it would be prudent to allow more choice and control for New Zealanders over the services they receive by allowing them to take their public funding to the provider of their choice, rather than being damned to the waiting list in the public sector.”

Nicola Willis adopts 'App Tax' policy previously slammed by Nicola Willis 👀📱

Well, that didn't take long, did it? The new Government's backsliding has begun in earnest. Despite comments as recently as last week that "except for" the changes made in the coalition agreements, the National Party was sticking to its pre-election "fiscal plan".

But apparently not...  A wise woman once said:

“Airbnb have estimated that Labour’s new tax could have a half-billion dollar hit on the New Zealand economy. A $400 accommodation bill for a weekend away booked through a digital provider could be up to $60 more expensive.

“Rather than hitting multinationals as Labour claimed it would this tax will instead hit Kiwi app users and the Uber drivers, Bookabach providers and the like who use apps to connect with their customers.

“We will fight against this new tax every step of the way. National opposes the App Tax and if elected we will reverse it.”

Those were the words of one Nicola Willis just prior to the election. But the newly minted Minister of Finance has made an about turn and is set to pass legislation to enable the App Tax from 1 April.

This isn’t a tax on the big players like Uber and Airbnb as they already charge GST on their service fees – this new tax is set to be charged to the little guy (the Uber drivers etc). Inland Revenue has told the Government that this cost will be passed entirely onto consumers, which means higher prices for you.

How the new tax will work 🤑

Businesses are only required to register for and charge GST when their revenue is more than $60,000. The new tax will force providers of app-based services (such as ride-share drivers and Airbnb hosts) to charge GST even if a provider earns just a few hundred dollars. 

For many, being an Uber driver or Airbnb host is a side hustle to help make ends meet, not a full-time gig. Higher prices will see less people using these services and is economically unprincipled. How is it fair that a taxi driver earning $50,000 isn’t required to charge GST but a part time Uber driver earning $10,000 will? 

While in opposition, Nicola Willis labeled the tax as “simply another tax grab from Labour to fuel their wasteful spending.” So much for tackling the wasteful spending!

What about sales of goods through apps such as Trademe and Facebook Marketplace? 🧾

This is a question we are already fielding and the answer remains unclear (the IRD are still working on the details!). While there is a carve out for second-hand goods, those who sell even a small amount of new goods through online auction sites, or intermediaries such as Shopify, appear to be caught by this new tax.

That means that a part-time home baker who sells a few thousand dollars of jam at a stall doesn't have to register for GST, but the moment they do so online through an app, they will have to charge GST. How is that fair?  

Nats caught trying to rewrite history? 🤐

Hypocrisy in politics is one thing, but it's the coverup that always comes back to bite. National hasn't just made a screeching U-turn, it is trying to purge the internet of references to its previous opposition to the App Tax.

The National Party even set up a petition against the change.

But don't look now...

Here's an alternative to the tax grab ✂

Here at the Taxpayers' Union, we always aim to be helpful. Today we are writing to Ms. Willis to point out that if she needs the money, she could, for example, get the same amount of savings that revenue from the new tax will generate by sacking slightly over half of the extra 661 bureaucrats hired just at the Ministry for the Environment since 2017. You're welcome! 💁‍♂️

Hot AIR: More climate hypocrisy from the previous Government 🌬️💸

Just like Christmas, the annual COP climate jamboree seems to roll around quicker each year. While this year's delegates are sunning themselves in Dubai, we can reveal the bill for last year's trip.

MFAT sent a delegation of ten to the COP27 climate conference for the princely sum of $201,496.59, complete with business class flights and accommodation costs ranging from $10,762.95 to $12,781 each.

Without commenting that it now takes nearly a year for this sort of information to come to light, the irony is that the official government guidance that comes from these climate conferences on international travel suggests that New Zealanders (by that, they mean you!) should avoid business class travel due to its larger climate footprint. 

Brooke versus The Blob 🩷👾

You may remember from back in June that Department of Internal Affairs officials had been found secretly altering Three Waters legislation to suit their own agenda. Parliament be damned!

Just 10 days in to the new Government, it seems the mandarins are at it again and are already trying to play puppet master by leaking the Cabinet Paper on Fair Pay Agreements in an effort to undermine democratic decision making. 

Let’s be clear: Ministers are elected representatives with a democratic mandate, and officials, no matter how highly they think of themselves, are there to facilitate that. Nothing more, nothing less. And it’s certainly not to dictate policy from their Ivory Towers. 

We say heads should roll over this to send a message to the bureaucrats that they don’t run the show anymore. With Three Waters, central planning committees, and public sector cuts still to battle over, Ministers are going to have a tough fight against the blob over the next three years.

Congrats to Brooke van Velden for leading the charge.

One for the Price of Two? Seems about right for Wellington 🧐💰

Why have one person running the utterly useless and unnecessary Human Rights Commission when you can have two? Well, that's exactly what they did this week with the appointment of Julia Amua Whaipooti to 'share' the role of chief executive with the one they already have to, in their view, uphold the Treaty. 

Two shared CEOs will now be overseeing such vital rights-protecting work as demanding economically-illiterate rent controls and establishing a cloak-and-dagger Independent Accountability Group charged with snuffing out free speech online. 

Two people are sharing a role, but at least they’ll be sharing a salary, right? Don’t be silly, this is Wellington we’re talking about. The half-job was advertised with a gob-smacking salary of $287,000, almost two-thirds more than a MP. It’s good work if you can get it, eh...?

Our policy man, James, spoke to Stuff about the appointment.

While new Justice Minister, Paul Goldsmith, has condemned the appointment and said he will not re-appoint the Human Rights Commissioner, ACT's policy of scrapping the Commission all together did not survive their agreement with National. The coalition should get real on this one and abolish the taxpayer funding of the far-left campaign hub named the Human Rights Commission.

News in Brief ⏰

• Hamilton City Council had the bright idea to put a bus stop used by children right outside an adult toy store. When parents were unsurprisingly unhappy about this, the Council had to spend an eye-watering $700,000 moving the bus stop 100 metres up the road. Connor called out this monumental cock up.
• This week saw the release of the international PISA scores that see how we rank compared to other countries on the education basics: reading, writing and arithmetic. It's fair to say that the results weren't good. Ollie asked why taxpayers' are paying more for education yet getting less.
• The Government confirmed plans to do away with bonuses for fluency in te reo in the Public Service. James argued that while it makes sense to hire fluent speakers for jobs that require proficiency in te reo, we shouldn't be paying bonuses for skills unrelated to a person's actual job.

And one more thing: Still looking for that Christmas stocking filler? 📖🎄

Last week we launched a book to mark our 10th anniversary: The Mission – The Taxpayers’ Union at 10. With your support, together we have grown the Taxpayers' Union to the largest centre-right pressure group in New Zealand. This book by political author and journalist David Cohen gives you a behind-the-scenes look at how we made this happen. 

This warts-and-all book charts our highs and lows with insights from our co-founders, key staff, and high-profile board members, including new cabinet minister Casey Costello and former finance minister Ruth Richardson. The book also features a foreword by former Finance Minister and Prime Minister Sir Bill English.

If you have family or friends who are supporters of the Taxpayers' Union or simply buy into our mission of lower taxes, less waste, and more accountability, then this would be a great stocking filler. Order now to get your copy in time for Christmas.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Head of Campaigns New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

Media coverage:

RNZ Taxpayers' Union offer to redesign Government department logos for free

Newstalk ZB Afternoon Edition: 01 December 2023 (2:33)

Newstalk ZB Taxpayer Union Offers Free Re-Brand For Government Departments

NZCity The Taxpayers Union has offered themselves up to re-brand Government departments on the cheap

The Post The Wellington Power List

Waikato Times Political insiders lift the lid on what lobbyists do in the shadows

Basset, Brash & Hide LORD HANNAN: Equality, the Treaty, and imported problems

Politik Cooking the books

TVNZ PM has 'every confidence' in Cabinet as leak inquiry launched

The Post Council chief executive’s $50k pay rise in the midst of budget cuts

RNZ Te reo Māori: Govt seeks to halt extra pay for public servants fluent in the language

NZCity The Taxpayers Union argues implementing the app tax will hurt both customers and providers

The Press Motorists losers, environment winner from $1b carbon auction flop

Stuff Human Rights Commission appoints shared leader to honour Te Tiriti

Newstalk ZB The Huddle: Can Police Commissioner Andrew Coster meet expectations?

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the National Party to front up to consumers who will face 15% higher prices for some services from the likes of Uber, Airbnb and food delivery apps after their app tax U-turn rather than trying to erase all traces of their past opposition to the tax.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“National is trying to pull the wool over New Zealanders’ eyes by removing references to the App Tax from their website including their Axe the App Tax microsite and associated press release.

“This new tax will mean that a $300 Airbnb for the weekend could soon cost $345 or a $20 Uber will be pushed up to $23. National must front up and explain why they took the principled position and campaigned against the tax while in opposition but have now u-turned when in Government.

“The size of Government and wasteful spending has grown massively over the past 6 years and there is ample room to find savings rather than needing to impose even more costs on hard-working families. National must recommit to axing the app tax."

Responding to news that Wellington City Councillors have voted down a proposal to reduce business rates in the capital, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“When Mayor Tory Whanau comes out with a line like ‘I couldn’t in good conscience allow the cost to be put on households’, ratepayers know she’s just blowing hot air. Whanau has never had any qualms whatsoever lumbering the extortionate costs of her vanity projects on hardworking Wellington families.

“Take a town hall revamp costing every household over $4,000. Where were her objections then? Or where were they for the billions being wasted on Let’s Get Wellington Moving?

“Between some of the highest business rates in the country relative to residential rates and the inability for companies to navigate WCC’s byzantine bureaucracy, the costs of doing business in Wellington are exorbitant. When prices jump as a result, who does the Mayor think pays?

“Business rates and residential rates both need to come down to breathe some life back into the struggling city, but that can only happen once the Council stops burning billions on wasteful pet projects.”

Responding to Hamilton City Council’s decision to spend $700,000 moving and re-developing a bus stop due to its location outside an adult toy store, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Only a couple of weeks ago, Hamilton City Council advised that they were looking to make savings to slash debt and finally balance the books. If the Council was actually serious about righting the ship, they wouldn’t spend a moment considering this outlandish upgrade. Sadly, it’s clear that Hamilton City’s councillors are completely unwilling to do anything more than pay lip service to fiscal restraint.

“While the relocation of the bus stop may be justified given the backlash from where it is currently situated, the problems were easily foreseeable and it should never have been built there in the first place. The Council could quite easily repaint a few road markings and dig a new hole for the sign at next to no extra cost. Instead, Hamilton ratepayers are being forced to needlessly funnel money into what has turned out to be a laughably costly makeover.

“Even with cuts to maintenance and cleaning budgets, the mayor has signalled that an enormous 25.5% rate hike will still be required to whip Hamilton’s finances back into shape. It’s abundantly clear from vanity projects like these that there is still plenty of waste to axe first before the Council starts hacking away at core services.”

The Taxpayers' Union is dismayed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's (MFAT) outrageous expenditure on its delegation to the COP 27 climate conference. New information revealed under the Official Information Act shows that the total travel and accommodation cost to the taxpayer was an eye-watering $201,496.59. The kicker? All New Zealand-based staff flew business class.
 
Oliver Bryan, Investigations Coordinator at the Taxpayers' Union, said, "This jaw-dropping cost is an affront to New Zealand taxpayers. Spending over $20,000 per person for ten staff members to attend a single climate conference, with the added irony of opting for business class flights, epitomizes extravagance. The accommodation costs for each member ranged between $10,762.95 and $12,781. It's enough to make one wonder whether it was really about climate or just another public sector junket.

"But of course the environment is what matters when discussing COP. The hypocrisy of flying ten staff members internationally to attend a conference designed to combat climate change is laughable. International travel is the only mode of transport not included in our Emissions Trading Scheme, so flights like these simply add to global net emissions.
 
"This expensive escapade not only reeks of financial recklessness but also undermines New Zealand's reputation in the fight against climate change. The public deserves better than this flagrant misuse of taxpayer money and woeful lack of environmental consideration. We will be watching to see if this year's COP takes as big a toll on the public purse."

Responding to Wellington city’s earthquake-strengthening crisis, which sees the city on track to upgrade just 20% of vulnerable buildings, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“Hundreds of millions of dollars are being burnt upgrading earthquake-prone buildings, whether the owners want to keep the building or not. Heritage status binds the hands of owners, giving them no choice but to sink unbelievable amounts of capital into non-profitable projects.

“In dozens of cases, the owner is Wellington City Council itself. For just one example, a town hall described as of “dubious merit both historically and architecturally” is draining up to $329 million of ratepayers’ money on a gold-plated revamp at a time where billions in savings are needed to repair years of negligence to critical water infrastructure.

“Neither private owners nor cash-strapped ratepayers should be forced into exorbitant vanity projects such as these against their will. Councils must have the ability to de-list heritage buildings where preserving these is not in the public interest.”

Commenting on the Human Rights Commission’s appointment of a second “shared leader” to work alongside the existing Chief Executive, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said: 

“The cushy jobs-for-lefties culture at the top of the public service is well documented, but even by the incredibly low standards of Wellington bureaucrats this appointment at the Human Rights Commission takes the cake.  

“Having two people share the leadership of a Crown Entity is a deeply questionable choice in and of itself, but one thing is clear: if these two officials are going to share a job, then they should be sharing the salary as well. Instead, Whaipooti’s position was advertised with a salary almost two thirds higher than an MP’s. 

“The Human Rights Commission far too often uses taxpayer resources to stifle human rights rather than facilitate them, and that alone is more than enough reason for them to be scrapped. But this complete and utter disregard for the public’s back pockets goes to show that the Commission’s ethos is rotten right to the top.” 

 

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, in celebration of its ten-year anniversary, is releasing a book entitled “The Mission – The Taxpayers’ Union at 10”, edited by prominent political author and journalist David Cohen. Among David's other recent works is a book on former Prime Minister Jim Bolger.

The book features a foreword by former Finance Minister and Prime Minister Sir Bill English. The book provides an account of the 10 years of the Taxpayers’ Union to date and includes chapters from co-founders Jordan Williams and David Farrar, as well as former staff, board members and mentors that have shaped the movement’s growth and casts an eye forward to what's in store for the next decade.

Jordan Williams, Executive Director of the Taxpayers’ Union, says:

“This book captures the highs and lows of keeping the Fifth National and Sixth Labour governments accountable and honest. This warts-and-all book gives a behind-the-scenes insight into growing the Taxpayers’ Union to become the largest centre-right organisation in New Zealand.

“The Taxpayers’ Union has been fighting hard for taxpayers for the last ten years, starting out as a basement operation run by an overworked lawyer and a prominent pollster, it has evolved into hundreds of thousands of subscribers supporting an 18-strong staff, that has outlived four prime ministers.

“We thank all of those supporters who have made our work possible over the years and look forward to the next 10 years of fighting on the side of lower taxes, less waste, and more accountability.

The Mission – The Taxpayers’ Union at 10 can be found in all good bookstores – that is, to say, the Taxpayers’ Union website at www.taxpayers.org.nz/book  Wholesale orders can be made via email to [email protected]

Synopsis:

In 2013, a couple of political troublemakers called David Farrar and Jordan Williams created what they called the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union. The country had never had anything quite like it. Taking a cue from similar advocacy groups abroad, the new group set itself against unaccountable government spending, fiscal wastefulness, and unnecessary tax. They have since been joined in their quest by 200,000 Kiwi well-wishers along with an absolute pig of a mascot called Porky the Waste Hater.

And they've just celebrated their 10th birthday.

The Mission tells the story of what happened in the words of the founders, staffers, and key board members. The work takes stock of what has been achieved and casts an eye forward to what's in store for the next decade.

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Government to remove all price controls from carbon credits following today’s auction failing to clear the minimum reserve price for the fourth quarter in a row.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“The government already sets the quantity of credits available, so they should let the market decide the price. Setting arbitrary minimum and maximum prices makes the market less efficient and drives up prices for businesses and consumers.

“Today’s failed auction will put pressure on the carbon price, further adding strain to the cost of living. Removing price controls would help to ensure the lowest-cost pathway to emissions reduction and ensure maximum freedom for people’s decision-making over what products to consume, within the sinking cap on net emissions.

“If we want to be world leaders in climate change we must ensure that the Emissions Trading Scheme is simple and efficient so that other countries are able to use the New Zealand model as a blueprint for emissions reduction in their own country. Anything else is simply a virtue signal that punishes families for absolutely no environmental gain.”

Commenting on the incoming Government exploring plans to scrap Māori language bonuses for public servants, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“If a role requires proficiency in te Reo Māori, then of course fluent speakers should be hired. But when proficiency isn’t relevant to the role in question, it is simply unacceptable that Kiwi taxpayers’ hard-earned money should be wasted encouraging skills which have absolutely no bearing on a bureaucrat’s ability to do their job whatsoever.

“Six years of untold levels of government waste resulted in spending increasing 70% whilst outcomes nosedived. Departments need to be looking for ways to trim the fat, and wasteful schemes like this must be first on the scrap heap.

“It doesn’t take a trained accountant to tell you that paying bureaucrats thousands of dollars a year in bonuses for skills which don’t improve outcomes does not provide value for money.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is expressing deep concern over New Zealand’s declining education standards as revealed by the latest OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results.

Taxpayers’ Union Investigations Coordinator, Oliver Bryan, said:

“If education funding were a maths problem, it seems we’ve got the equation wrong – more dollars doesn’t equal better scores. Despite a 38.7% increase in the education budget from 2018 to 2023, and spending per student rising from $16,413 to $22,145, New Zealand’s performance continues to deteriorate.

“The latest PISA scores are a wake-up call. Despite pouring more money into education, we’re witnessing a decline in standards. It’s a clear indicator that throwing money at the problem isn’t the solution. The new government needs to get a hold of this, scrutinize where this funding is going and ensure it’s being used effectively to improve educational outcomes.

“With the economic problems facing New Zealand, we cannot afford for our education standards to decline and keep declining. Our youth deserve better and the taxpaying public demand better for their kids."

This episode of Taxpayer Talk is slightly different as it is a recording of a fantastic speech given by Lord Hannan at the Taxpayers' Union's 10th Birthday at Gibbs Farm.

Lord Hannan is a member of the House of Lords and former member of the European Parliament. He is an advisor to the UK Board of Trade and is President of the Institute for Free Trade.

In his speech, Lord Hannan discusses the Treaty of Waitangi as New Zealand's founding document and how ahead of its time it was in promoting equality before the law and protecting property rights.

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 today’s release by the so-called Human Rights Commission of a previously secret work programme to undermine New Zealander’s freedom of speech online. The HRC announced today that it has created a so-called “Independent Accountability Group” (IAG) to review the NZ Code of Practice for Online Safety and Harms – an initiative led by Netsafe which has the agreement of international social media companies, including Google, Meta and X.

Based on the report released today, HRC’s main contention is with an apparent lack of Treaty context and approach by international social media companies, despite the report itself actually noting the Code’s inclusion of New Zealand’s context and role of the Treaty.

Reacting to the HRC’s release, Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union said:

“Basically, the organisation tasked with protecting New Zealanders’ ability to speak freely has created a group of activists to try and bully private industry to censor any speech that is inconsistent with the HRC’s preferred view and meaning of the Treaty of Waitangi. Orwell couldn’t make this up.

“The HRC is yet again using taxpayers’ money to backdoor fund political activism – literally paying far left campaigners to try and force the likes of Twitter to ‘recognise’ the Treaty, and label inconsistent views as ‘dangerous’. It is disappointing that ACT’s policy to abolish the HRC did not make it into the coalition agreements. This off the reservation work programme by the HRC should make the Government think again.

“Like the Productivity Commission, the Human Rights Commission sounds like a good idea but it has clearly lost its way. The real tragedy is that its efforts to politicise and force its world view onto social media companies has taken the focus off real harmful content like child sexual exploitation and abuse, bullying and harassment, and incitement of violence.”

Responding to the leaking of information suggesting that Workplace Relations Minister, Brooke van Velden, is having to battle her own officials to deliver on the manifesto pledge of scrapping Fair Pay Agreements, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“Ministers are elected representatives with a democratic mandate, and the role of officials is to give effect to that mandate. However, unfortunately far too many bureaucrats seem to think their role is to dictate policy from their ivory towers regardless of what the public thinks.

“The fact that Wellington mandarins are leaking information just ten days into this new Government in an effort to undermine democratic decision-making shows how brazen many officials are in their belief in their own moral superiority.

“When it is discovered who is trying to subvert democracy, there can be no question that heads must roll. Ministers seeking to institute major reform will have a tough battle ahead of them against the blob, and Brooke van Velden should be commended for leading the charge.”

 

According to Wellington City Council’s 2022/23 annual report, Barbara McKerrow received a $46,216 pay rise from 2021/22 to 2022/23. Her total renumeration now sits at $513,970.

Responding to this revelation, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“At a time when Wellington City Council’s financials are in disarray, and with ratepayers set to face a 15-20% rate hike next year, the Council should be using every cost-saving measure possible to get Wellington back on track. Instead, we’re seeing one of the worst performing chief executives in the public sector rewarded for her unequivocal failings.

“Not only has McKerrow overseen almost every budget blowout under the sun, but she has repeatedly withheld critical financial information from elected councillors in what seems like an attempt to manipulate key decisions and advance her own interests. Her disgraceful behaviour over the past year should have seen her sacked, not gifted a massive pay boost.

“Wellington City Council’s appalling lack of leadership has burdened Wellington residents for far too long. Officials at the top end are clearly more concerned with furthering their own agenda than they are with serving Wellington, and it’s costing ratepayers more and more each year. It’s high time that councillors reclaim their authority, sack Barbara McKerrow, and replace her with someone who actually understands the role of a council official.”

 

Responding to reports that the National-led Government has decided to scrap its plans to reverse the previous Government’s app tax, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“We don’t have a tax problem in New Zealand, we have a spending problem. The new Government is proving to be gun-shy about making much-needed spending cuts, instead choosing to keep ineffective and inefficient taxes that they campaigned so hard against to plug the fiscal gaps.

“The app tax creates a distortion whereby an Uber driver earning less than $60,000 a year will be forced to pay GST while a taxi driver doing the same won’t. This will hurt those who provide app-based services, especially those for whom it is only a part-time gig – such as parents, retirees or students – who will see their incomes drop as the Government drives consumers away from higher-priced app-based services.

“The u-turn will also punish those who rely on services like Uber to get around, including those with mobility issues or people who can’t rely on the bus network to get them to work on time. We can’t tax our way to prosperity; the new Government must focus on cutting spending and increasing productivity to balance the budget, not taxing hardworking New Zealanders even more in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.”

Responding to Nicola Willis’ post-cabinet announcement that strengthening of the Public Finance Act is being considered, Taxpayers’ Union spokesman, Jordan Williams, said:

“Earlier today, the Taxpayers’ Union wrote to Nicola Willis calling for precisely what has been announced.  We need to know how Ruth Richardson’s pioneering Fiscal Responsibility Reform - explicitly intended to prevent post-election ‘fiscal surprises’ left for incoming governments – appears to have failed.

“It is absolutely essential for the public to understand the challenges faced. You can’t solve a problem, until you understand it, and it is a shame that this year’s HYFEU will be more significant than ever.

“We repeat our earlier call for a ministerial or select committee inquiry to call witnesses and get to the bottom of how the Treasury have let New Zealander voters and MPs down. Are changes to legislation is really required, or was this a case of the law not being followed? If the latter, clear public accountability – including heads rolling – is the best and only preventative measure.”

A copy of the letter is available here.

Responding to reports that film sector lobbyists are crying out for even more corporate welfare, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy said:

“Time and time again successive Governments have been warned about falling into the trap of becoming hostage to the film sector. Threats of leaving or fear-mongering of job losses are simply the realisation of the self-fulfilling prophecy of propping up an industry that can’t stand on it’s own two feet.

“New Zealand will always lose at the game of bidding against other countries to offer the most handouts to wealthy elites such as James Cameron and Jeff Bezos with taxpayers bearing the cost of a race to the bottom. We must instead cut all corporate welfare and recycle the savings into reducing the corporate tax rate making our country a more attractive place for all industries, rather than hand-picked winners from Ministers’ special interest groups. 

“If the government instead made it easier to film here, such as by respecting the freedom to contract into unique working arrangements for film workers, we would see films being developed here if it made economic sense to do so. Calls from the automobile industry to subsidise New Zealand car manufacturing would rightly be laughed off, just because the film industry is more hip doesn’t mean that they are entitled to special treatment."

Responding to reports that the Government has issued a stop-work notice on the $16 billion Lake Onslow Hydro-Electricity Scheme, Taxpayers' Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, says:

“This project was always a white elephant that would never pass the sniff test of fiscal responsibility, costing more than $8000 for every household in the country.

“The project would not have reduced New Zealand’s net emissions as the electricity sector is already governed by the Emissions Trading Scheme. If the goal is to make electricity more affordable there are far more efficient ways to do this than unnecessarily piling billions of dollars of debt onto taxpayers.

“Reducing regulatory barriers to building renewable energy and allowing foreign investment in renewable projects would bring the costs of electricity down, while providing a universal carbon dividend with ETS revenue would help shield consumers from unaffordable price rises.

“The new Government must not fall into the trap of substituting one white elephant project for another. The plans to subsidise electric charging stations are nothing more than expensive corporate and middle class welfare. The private sector is more than capable of delivering charging infrastructure, the government just needs to get out of the way and allow it to happen.”

 

Responding to reports that the Government has issued a stop-work notice on the $16 billion Lake Onslow Hydro-Electricity Scheme, Taxpayers' Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, says:

“This project was always a white elephant that would never pass the sniff test of fiscal responsibility, costing more than $8000 for every household in the country.

“The project would not have reduced New Zealand’s net emissions as the electricity sector is already governed by the Emissions Trading Scheme. If the goal is to make electricity more affordable there are far more efficient ways to do this than unnecessarily piling billions of dollars of debt onto taxpayers.

“Reducing regulatory barriers to building renewable energy and allowing foreign investment in renewable projects would bring the costs of electricity down, while providing a universal carbon dividend with ETS revenue would help shield consumers from unaffordable price rises.

“The new Government must not fall into the trap of substituting one white elephant project for another. The plans to subsidise electric charging stations are nothing more than expensive corporate and middle class welfare. The private sector is more than capable of delivering charging infrastructure, the government just needs to get out of the way and allow it to happen.”

Surprise! 💥 Grant Robertson's bombshells for the incoming government 💣 👀 

It's out with the old in with the new at Parliament this week. The new ministers are madly hiring new staffers for their Beehive offices, and the 'BIMs' (briefings to incoming ministers) are being worked through.

Our spies tell us that Nicola Willis's claims that not only is the fiscal cupboard bare, but that there are all sorts of fiscal boobytraps and unfunded liabilities across the portfolios are (sadly) correct. 

This situation is precisely what Ruth Richardson's Fiscal Responsibility Act was intended to prevent. Ruth inherited the Treasury following the 1990-election and thought she was inheriting a surplus. It soon became clear that thanks to undisclosed troubles at the then-government-owned Bank of New Zealand (that required an enormous bailout), the claims of the outgoing government that the books were in good shape were, in fact, a total nonsense. It took very tough decisions (and what became known as the 'mother of all budgets') to sort the fiscal situation out. 

Once we get our hands on the BIMs, and the Half Year Fiscal and Economic Update is out (just before Christmas), we'll know more. But given the situation, we already know that Treasury has failed in its job to ensure no post-election surprises. Here is our statement to media reacting to Nicola Willis's comments:

“We need to cut through political claims and point scoring and get to the bottom one way or another. It is becoming clear that Treasury has dropped the ball and we urgently need an updated assessment of the objective state of the books over and above HYFEU, due by the end of the year.

“A government inquiry, or at minimum, a select committee inquiry with the ability to call under oath the former Minister of Finance, and Treasury officials is called for. If the books are in the state Nicola Willis claims, clearly there has been a major failing within our public finance institutions. As well as getting to the truth, Wellington need to learn the lessons, if we are not to return to the 1980-style politicisation of public accounts.”

Call us fiscal nerds if you want to – but the public (and the opposition) are entitled to know the true state of the government books when they go into the voting booth. It seems that has not happened this year, and we need to ensure it's not repeated again. 

Grant Robertson’s Rugby World Cup jaunt cost how much? Competition Winner Revealed 

Speaking of Grant Robertson's fiscal blackholes, the former Minister of Finance took one last ride on the taxpayer-funded gravy plane. We have a winner of our competition asking how much Mr Robertson's last minute junket to the Rugby World Cup in France cost the taxpayer.

Congratulations to John Todd whose guess of $39,600 was just $5 off the actual cost of $39,605. John's tickets to the next ABs home game, complements of the Taxpayers' Union, are on their way. 🏉🎉

And unlike Grant Robertson's tickets, business class flights and luxury accommodation, John's tickets won't set taxpayers back a cent.

With the amount of money squandered on Robertson's last hurrah, the former Sports Minister could have funded a set of rugby balls for every high school in the country. Would that not be a better investment in the future of New Zealand rugby than sending a politician to France to jinx(?!) watch a final?

There is a solution to Public Interest Journalism brouhaha: Tell the media to Pay It Back 💰

Winston Peters has been dragged through the media all week for daring to criticize journalists. Mr Peters argued that the Public Interest Journalism Fund undermined the media’s independence, and on this one, its hard to argue that Winston was far off the mark.

The left-wing activists on NZ on Air’s board were given free rein to set the Ts and Cs to receive a slice of the PIJF slush fund, and boy did they go to town. The PIJF made no pretence to be impartial and has fundamentally damaged public trust in the fourth estate.

On that basis alone, we say that media agencies should do the decent thing and pay the money back.

Reasonable minds will differ on whether the PIJF actually swayed editorial decisions. But that isn't really the point. We know for a fact that New Zealanders' confidence and trust in, and the perceived neutrality of, the media is through the floor. And that's why this issue is so important.

Click here to sign the petition calling on Stuff, NZME, TVNZ, the Spinoff, and all the others, to do the decent thing and pay back the PIJF.

The media hounded companies that took the wage subsidy but recovered. Why aren't they practising what they preach? 🙉

We can speak to this issue as it is close to home. Despite all of our intentions never to take government money, when push came to shove in March 2020, our board determined that the ethical obligations to staff trumped our ideological preferences and desire to avoid bad publicity.

So Jordan and David had to swallow what we knew would be bad headlines and we took the wage subsidy. We could not say to staff (some of whom do not share our politics) that they had lost their jobs because their employer didn't want to take the support on offer.

But here's the thing: as soon as we bounced back and income recovered, we paid the money back.

The PIJF was introduced to keep journalists in jobs during the pandemic – and we are sure some media companies were initially reluctant to take it. But we say now that the pandemic is over and most are back in the black, it is time they did the right thing and regained their independence by paying back the money.

If you agree, take 30 seconds to sign the petition calling on media companies to pay back the money.

Agency rebrands are expensive – our offer to government departments 🏢🎁

The new government is promising to make all government departments undergo a rebrand to ensure that the English name is put ahead of the te reo name.

While reasonable minds will differ on the merits of the policy, we were interested to see that our pollster (and Taxpayers' Union co-founder) recently published results of a poll of 1,000 New Zealanders asking whether they know the English name of various government agencies in Te Reo. Here are the results for six agencies:

1.  Manatū Hauora, Ministry of Health: 8.1%
2.  Te Manatū Waka, Ministry of Transport: 7.7%
3.  Te Putea Matua, Reserve Bank of New Zealand: 5.7%
4.  Te Pou Hauora Tūmatanui, Public Health Agency: 4.6%
5.  Waka Kotahi, NZ Transport Agency: 50.1%
6.  Te Aka Whai Ora, Maori Health Authority: 11.1%

As David put it on Kiwiblog:

This reinforces to me how insulting it it to the public for media or the agencies to only use the Te Reo names. Taxpayers should not have to google an agency to know what it is.

These results are not at all an argument against government agencies having a Te Reo name. I personally think it is a good thing for agencies to have names in both English and Te Reo.

But again what it shows is that if the agency, or media, only refer to themselves using their Te Reo name, then most New Zealanders do not know what agency is being referred to, and hence they are deliberately making it harder for citizens and residents to access their services or make sense of the story.

A good example is this recent press release from the Reserve Bank:

Today Te Tai Ōhanga, Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga and Te Pūtea Matua are publishing a joint paper that provides an assessment of the key drivers of rents in New Zealand.

By deliberately excluding the names in English, they are producing a media release that almost no recipient will know what they are referring to.

It’s an obsession that is elitist and patronising. It shouldn’t actually need a coalition agreement to instruct government agencies to not deliberately be unhelpful to the public.

It might sound silly to suggest a name change could cost six figures, but here is just a sample of some of the recent rebrands that we've uncovered:

So, in the interests of saving taxpayers money, we have offered to redesign all government logos for free with common brand guidelines. This low-cost option would include the government Coat of Arms alongside the name of the organisation in standard font as is the approach of most government agencies in the UK and Australia.

Yesterday, Jordan was on RNZ's Morning Report to discuss our offer. Connor also spoke to Heather du Heather du Plessis-Allan on Newstalk ZB and sent her an example live on air!

Not only would this save money but it also helps to create a clear identity for publicly-funded organizations so that taxpayers can clearly identify which are part of the government rather than the smorgasbord of confusion we currently have.

MPs' Pay Review: Taxpayers' Union standing up for you 🥊🧐

A couple of weeks ago, we updated you on the Remuneration Authority's latest review of MPs' pay. Given the cost-of-living crisis facing many Kiwis, we don't think now is the time for a pay hike for politicians.

Our resident economist, Ray Deacon, and policy wonk (not his actual title), James Ross, met with the Remuneration Authority last week and put the case that now is not the time for the government to be borrowing to pay MPs more.

The system is stacked so that the Remuneration Authority cannot even consider Joe Public’s views on MPs’ pay, only what they deem 'authoritative sources'. Well that wasn’t going to stop us, so we made sure they had authoritative sources coming out of their ears telling them what the public have been saying for years.

The process will be going on for around five months, but our chaps were the first through the door to fight your corner.

Taxpayer Talk: MPs In Depth – Todd Stephenson 🗣🎙️

This week marks the return of our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, Taxpayers' Union  Investigations Co-ordinator, Oliver Bryan, sits down with newly elected ACT Party MP, Todd Stephenson. 

Todd grew up in the South Island and obtained a law degree from the University of Otago. Prior to becoming an MP, Todd worked in the pharmaceutical industry in Australia before moving back to New Zealand to stand for Parliament. 

Oli finds out what drives Todd, his aspirations as an MP and his interests outside of politics. 

Listen to the episode on our website | Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio

That's it for this week.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Head of Campaigns New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

Media coverage:

Hawke's Bay App  Taxpayers' Union Criticises Hastings District Council for “Staggering” Amount of Money Spent on New Logo

The Post Taxpayers’ Union takes swipe at ‘bonus’ for RNZ chief

Newstalk ZB The Huddle: Was Nicola Willis never in the running for Deputy PM?

Newshub LIVE - New Zealand's next Government revealed - the policy, ministers, and key information

Stuff Cheapest in NZ: Where to find lowest-priced fuel, power, rent, parking...

The Press Destination Mackenzie: ‘Quiet, sleepy - then it went boom’

Newsroom From outside politics to inside Cabinet in a day

Chris Lynch Council faces scrutiny over $6.5 Million staffing overspend amid rising rates

The Post MPs face ‘greenfields review’ in upcoming pay probe

Hawke's Bay Today Cost of $70,000 for Hastings rebrand a ‘tough balance’, councillor says

The Platform Media knives flashing for Luxon’s government

Newstalk ZB The Huddle: Does Winston Peters have a point?

Waikato Times Battle lines drawn in Hamilton City Council budget talks

The Working Group The Working Group with Jack Tame, Moana Maniapoto and Damien Grant (53:31)

RNZ Taxpayers' Union offer to redesign Government department logos for free

Waatea News Jordan Williams / Taxpayers Union

RNZ Taxpayers' Union offer to redesign Government department logos for free

Newstalk ZB Afternoon Edition: 01 December 2023 – Steve Maharey (02:33)

NZ City The Taxpayers Union has offered themselves up to re-brand Government departments on the cheap

Newstalk ZB Taxpayer Union Offers Free Re-Brand For Government Department

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling for Hastings District Councillor Damon Harvey to be reinstated in his committee chair role and the councillors to instead hold a vote of no confidence in the Mayor following revelations that he was stripped of his role after acknowledging the existence of a secret document.

The document referred to the council’s “normal practice” of dealing with complaints by “shutting up shop”, “ignoring” and to “await litigation”.

Responding to the news, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“The council has clearly been caught out by one of its own for trying to avoid transparency and accountability by hiding behind a veil of secrecy.

“Damon Harvey is a ratepayer hero for revealing this information, he should be held up in praise, not stripped of his position.

“Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst has been caught out and her only defence is to go on the offensive and use fear to keep councillors quiet. The elected representatives must not forget whom they represent and hold a vote of no confidence in the Mayor to ensure that ratepayers get the accountability and transparency they deserve.”

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is offering to redesign logos for any renamed government departments for free in an effort to save taxpayers money following concerns that requiring a name change of government departments will give them an excuse to undergo an expensive rebrand.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Taxpayer-funded organisations will take any opportunity to undergo an expensive rebrand which involves spending tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars on design and consultation fees – we will do this for free.

“Government branding guidelines say all departments should begin transitioning towards the NZ Govt logo mark, which incorporates the Coat of Arms next to the name of the department. But this is being ignored with many departments continuing to have free rein over their branding – racking up costs with every brand change and creating confusion among the public as to which departments are affiliated with the Government.

“We recently revealed that the Human Rights Commission spent $418,000 on a new brand and website while the Electricity Authority spent almost $100,000 on a logo that was was near identical to the old one. Standardising government branding, as is done in the UK and Australia, will increase accessibility and save taxpayers millions.”

This week marks the return of our MPs in Depth series where we get to know some of Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, Taxpayers' Union  Investigations Co-ordinator, Oliver Bryan, sits down with newly elected ACT Party MP, Todd Stephenson. 

Todd grew up in the South Island and obtained a law degree from the University of Otago. Prior to becoming an MP, Todd worked in the pharmaceutical industry in Australia before moving back to New Zealand to run for Parliament. 

Throughout the episode, we find out a bit more about what drives Todd, his aspirations as an MP and his personal interests. 

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

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

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

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

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

A breakdown of the travel costs can be found here. 

The Taxpayers’ Union is backing the Deputy Prime Minister’s criticism of the media’s acceptance of so-called “public interest journalism” funding and is calling on all profitable media outlets to pay the money back via a petition at www.taxpayers.org.nz/pay_it_back

Taxpayers' Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said:

“The issue was never about bribing newsrooms, it was about the public’s confidence in media and the perceptions of independence from Government.

“The pandemic is over and most media outlets are now back in the black. We say, not just for the sake of taxpayers, but the sake of ensuring the public keep both confidence in mainstream media, and are not driven into nasty or fringe alternatives, take the opportunity to pay the money back.

“And it’s not just Winston Peters stoking concerns. The fact that the left wing activists on NZ on Air’s board set the fishhooks and conditions of PJIF funding is further reason to for the media to break from the past, pay back the money, and re-commit to independence from government.” 

The Taxpayers’ Union welcomes the Government’s 100 day plan as a good start but is calling them to add issuing stop work notices for all corporate welfare programmes to the list.

For a start, this should include the EECA and Callaghan Innovation which currently have a large number of applications for funding open and closing soon. Once this money is committed, it will be wasted.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, says:

“Funds such as many of those from EECA have the stated goal of decarbonisation and reducing emissions yet don’t make a shred of difference due to the fact that the industries these grants are provided to are already covered by the Emissions Trading Scheme. This means that any reduction in emissions from recipient companies will simply free up credits to be used elsewhere.

“Schemes such as these pile all of the costs onto taxpayers with bureaucrats picking winners for no environmental benefit.

“Corporate welfare schemes such as this are a complete waste of taxpayer money and should be a prime target for a government that claims to care about cutting waste. At the very least, an order should be given that no further funding should be committed to until a review of the effectiveness of these corporate welfare schemes has been conducted.

“We are pleased to see the new Government taking positive steps towards cutting waste and repealing bad law, we hope that the exclusion of cuts to corporate welfare is simply an oversight, not a foreshadowing of another three years of continued cronyism.”

Responding to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s decision to freeze the Official Cash Rate (OCR) at 5.5%, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“Times are tough for Kiwi families, and that’s not going to change anytime soon. With the Reserve Bank still failing to hold inflation to anything close to its target range, interest rates are expected to remain punishingly high until August 2024 or beyond.

“More needs to be done and faster to tackle New Zealand’s unshakable inflation problem, which has been fuelled by runaway Government spending for far too long. If the incoming Government is as serious about helping struggling Kiwis as their election adverts had you believe, then they can't just pay lip service to stamping out the waste in Wellington.

“Labour’s RBNZ experiments have failed, and a return to a reserve bank focussed solely on tackling inflation cannot come soon enough. But there must also be a return to accountability at the top.

“A Governor who has failed to hit the target range for 29 months in a row cannot be allowed to hide behind his lackeys anymore; the Monetary Policy Committee must be next on the chopping block."

Taxpayers will be alarmed that the Minister of Finance has said the new Government has discovered “nasty financial surprises” despite Ruth Richardson’s Fiscal Responsibility Act that was specifically designed to avoid the exact situation the new Government appears to be in.

“Ms Willis is not prone to Winston Peters-style rhetoric so her comments are particularly alarming” says Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union.

“Given Treasury’s role to prepare the Pre-election Fiscal and Economic Update, it is inexcusable for a government to be greeted by economic surprises.

“We need to cut through political claims and point scoring and get to the bottom one way or another. It is becoming clear that Treasury has dropped the ball and we urgently need an updated assessment of the objective state of the books over and above HYFEU, due by the end of the year.

“A government inquiry, or at minimum, a select committee inquiry with the ability to call under oath the former Minister of Finance, and Treasury officials is called for. If the books are in the state Nicola Willis claims, clearly there has been a major failing within our public finance institutions. As well as getting to the truth, Wellington need to learn the lessons, if we are not to return to the 1980-style politicisation of public accounts.”

 

Responding to reports on Hamilton City Council’s cost-cutting measures ahead of threats of massive rates rises, with notable reductions to spending on road maintenance, landscaping and storm water drain cleaning, Connor Molloy, Campaigns Manager at the Taxpayers’ Union, says:

“It is commendable to see a council which, faced with rising costs and threats of massive rates hikes, has bitten the bullet and cut spending to avoid passing the pain onto its ratepayers. There is a serious lack of ambition to stand up for ratepayers across New Zealand during this cost-of-living crisis, and the fact that Hamilton City Council is willing to slash its spending by over $200 million over the last two years should be celebrated.

“However, Paula Southgate should take a walk around the council’s back offices if she wants to consider where spending could be prioritised. According to the 2023 Ratepayers’ Report, nearly one in four employees are paid more than $100,000 a year, and managerial staff are paid on average more than $117,000 each. This unimaginable cost for back-office administration should be an easy target for spending reductions and let public-facing staff get on with their jobs. We encourage Hamilton City Council, and Hamilton ratepayers, to consider staffing levels when taking submissions on the budget next year.”

The National Party’s admittedly soft touch promise to index income tax brackets to inflation every three years has failed to make it into either of their coalition agreements.

Indexation would ensure that working New Zealanders keep paying the same in tax in real terms, and the abandonment of this policy will mean that working Kiwis pay a higher and higher proportion of their income in tax with each passing year.

Commenting on this development, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

"National's promise of tax relief amounts to nothing more than a return of stolen income attached to a promise to keep on stealing.

“The inflation tax steals more and more from hardworking Kiwis every year. The nation voted at this election for tax relief and fiscal responsibility, but at the very first hurdle this Government has reneged on its promise and failed to deliver.

“Kiwis earning the median wage are paying 18.7% of their salary in just income tax, whereas someone on the exact same income in real terms when the brackets were last adjusted in 2010 paid 15.4%. This means someone earning no more money in real terms will be paying an over 21% higher income tax rate thanks to bracket creep.

“This stealth tax has allowed for runaway Government spending by gifting guaranteed tax hikes every year to waste-hungry politicians, side-stepping democratic debate in the process. National’s U-turn goes to show struggling Kiwis can just expect more of the same moving forward.”

Responding to news that Christchurch City Council’s Three Waters department has overspent by $6.5 million on staffing positions since July of 2019, while the council is warning of double-digit rates hikes in the next Long-Term Plan, Taxpayers' Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, says:

“The Christchurch City Council needs to regain the confidence of ratepayers, after an array of financial missteps and a barely existent executive team raises serious questions about their ability to actually govern their city. It is ridiculous that Mayor Phil Mauger is warning of 18% rates rises, or asset sales and the reduction of public services, such as closing libraries, when its departments can’t avoid massive overspends, or perform basic professional practice, such as taking minutes, using employment forms, or writing legible financial reports concerning their own economic performance.

“The lack of leadership of the Christchurch Three Waters department is hardly surprising when considering that two executive members responsible for service delivery have resigned this year. Combined with the resignation of Chief Executive Dawn Baxendale and Chief Financial Officer Leah Scales this week, it is impossible to hold confidence in executive management at Christchurch City Council.

"Councillors need to start steering this ship and start making cutbacks on unnecessary spending and make every effort to promote financial responsibility to avoid the gargantuan rates rises that they threaten their residents with.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming today’s Coalition Agreements as reflective of what kiwis voted for last month, and an endorsement for reform.

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director Jordan Williams said:

“If we have learned anything from the last Government it is that words are not enough - it is delivery that matters. Here at the Taxpayers’ Union, there is much to celebrate in these agreements furthering our core mission of lower taxes, less waste, and more accountability.

“So on Monday, let’s get on with it.”

Regional council Environment Canterbury has voted against introducing Māori wards for the 2025 elections. Instead, they have opted to retain the current system featuring two unelected appointed councillors with full voting rights.

Responding to this, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, commented:

“Whether a council has Māori wards or not is a matter for all residents to decide, and Environment Canterbury should be commended for not pushing ahead with this change at a time when Labour’s anti-democratic ban on binding referendums is still in place.

“However, clearly the current system is wholly untenable. Māori ward representatives would at least be accountable to their constituents, but there is no such luxury with Environment Canterbury’s appointed councillors.

“No council should have unelected appointees with voting rights on its governing body, and Environment Canterbury’s current set-up is an affront to New Zealand’s democratic principles.”

Christchurch Chief Executive Dawn Baxendale is leaving her role without working a contractual 6-month notice period. This follows a period of poor performance marked by rock-bottom resident satisfaction and high staff turnover.

A UK Government-ordered report shows that Baxendale’s tenure at Birmingham City Council was marked by similar council performance issues.

Commenting on Dawn Baxendale’s hasty departure, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“If Dawn Baxendale has been pushed out the door, then ratepayers have a right to know. Given the history of performance issues at Baxendale’s former employer, serious questions would need to be asked about Christchurch City Council’s poor judgement or lack of due diligence.

“In 2019, CCC refused to reveal how much they had paid in recruitment fees to bring Baxendale on board until forced to do so by the Ombudsman, and now 4 years later are refusing to reveal the circumstances of her departure.

“Christchurch City Council’s culture of secrecy has once again reared its ugly head. If Baxendale received a golden goodbye then ratepayers deserve to know how the council has once again wasted their hard-earned money.”

Yesterday, the UK announced that it would be making changes which allow businesses to deduct capital investment in plant and machinery investment against their corporate tax bill permanent.

Research by the Centre for Policy Studies suggests this will result in a 1.5% increase in investment, a 0.9% increase in GDP and a 0.8% increase in wages.

Commenting on this update, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“New Zealand has among the lowest productivity in the developed world. The result is that hardworking New Zealanders have seen their wages stifled and Kiwi families get relatively poorer with every passing year.

“Our anti-business tax rules at the moment send would-be investors running for the hills, meaning less investment in new technologies and machinery. Is it really any wonder that our living standards keep falling further and further?

“If the incoming Government is serious about closing the wage gap with Australia, then we desperately need to inject some life into our limping economy. Full expensing of capital investment is a surefire way to make that happen.”

According to RNZ’s latest annual report, Chief Executive, Paul Thompson, received a $65,538 bonus and a $13,628 pay rise for the 2022/23 financial year despite RNZ failing to meet its key performance targets and running an operating deficit of $739,000.

Responding to this news, Campaigns Manager Connor Molloy said:

“By all accounts, the last year at RNZ has been a shambolic disaster. Viewership is down, satisfaction rates are below target, and the organization is still recovering from an editing scandal earlier in the year. Under any profitable private company, Thompson would have been hauled over coals for such a shoddy performance. Instead, taxpayers are having to fork out thousands of dollars to reward his failings.

“At a time when Kiwis up and down the country are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, there is no reason why any taxpayer-funded executive should be receiving a massive hand out, let alone one that has failed to deliver on almost every metric.

“This is yet another embarrassing example of a state-funded entity refusing to engage in fiscal discipline and keep its costs down. It is plain to see that RNZ has failed to satisfy its audience. Paul Thompson should take responsibility for these inadequacies, pay back the bonus, and offer to take a pay cut not a pay rise."

 

Responding to revelations that Wellington City Council officials withheld an in-depth KPMG report into Wellington’s financial positions for months, giving councillors just 2 days to review the document before the Long-Term Plan meeting, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:
 
“Yet again we have Wellington City officials getting too big for their boots and unduly influencing the decision-making process at the council. Councillors are elected to make decisions, and officials are just there to facilitate them; that’s the extent of their legitimate role.
 
“In almost exactly the same way as happened with the town hall project, officials have taken it upon themselves to stuff critical information down the back of the sofa to try and force councillors into voting for their preferred outcome.
 
“The evidence of the complete and utter failure of leadership at WCC just keeps mounting. Councillors need to reclaim authority for the residents of Wellington and sack Chief Executive Barbara McKerrow.”

 

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

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

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

 

Responding to news that crown infrastructure delivery agency, Rau Paenga, is yet again opposing the release of documents concerning their legal battles over the money pit Metro sports centre project in Christchurch, Connor Molloy, Campaigns Manager at the Taxpayers’ Union, says:

“It’s bad enough that the Government is pursuing this white elephant that has seen hundreds of millions of dollars poured into it and continual cost overruns but the fact that it isn’t willing to be upfront with public projects and justify itself to taxpayers is utterly ridiculous.

“The Metro sports centre in Christchurch, the last remnant of infrastructure investment after the 2011 earthquakes, has run over budget and over deadline, reminding Christchurch residents of the lunacy of depending on the public sector for efficient, timely construction. Christchurch deserves to know why they should still support this increasingly burdensome pet project, but Rau Paenga has run roughshod over the public’s right to information and the truth, also denying access to documents concerning a request for an extra $212 million to finish the project earlier this year.

"Too often, projects of this magnitude surpass both timelines and budgets, leading politicians to succumb to the sunk-cost fallacy and pour additional funds into seemingly doomed endeavours. The new Government must prioritise transparency to ensure that major projects are not veiled in secrecy. Taxpayers deserve to know whether they are receiving value for money."

With both Callum and Jordan away today, the mantle of leading the fight on behalf of taxpayers has been left to me. 

As we play the waiting game for coalition negotiations, the Taxpayers' Union is still hard at work exposing extravagant waste and demanding accountability. 

In this week's edition, we highlight more failures in the health system following its centralisation, call out an attempted land grab from a local council, and provide an update on the Three Waters legal challenge. 

But first:

MPs preparing to line their pockets with a hefty pay rise 💰📈

While you and I struggle with the costs of living, MPs look set to share the pain get a massive pay increase. 

Back in 2018, the Government made a decision to freeze MPs' pay which was continued by the Remuneration Authority in 2020 due to the economic uncertainty arising from Covid-19. 

But now, MPs are expected to get a hefty pay hike that will pay a premium to make up for all those years – at the very time when our economy is slowing and government debt is reaching eye-watering levels.

Our MPs are already among the most highly paid in the world, and when you add in their additional perks and spending allowances such as free travel (all of which are not subject to the Official Information Act 😠), taxpayers aren't getting a fair deal.

We say Christopher Luxon and his new government should follow Jacinda Ardern's lead and continue the pay freeze until the economy is in better shape and Kiwi familes aren't going without. Add your name to the petition here.

So what else are we doing about it?

We have also written to the Remuneration Authority (the agency responsible for deciding MP pay) urging them to consider their legal requirement to be fair to taxpayers and also to take into account the wider economic mess we are currently in. Next week, we will meet with the Authority to argue that now is simply not the right time for taxpayer-funded pay hikes. 

Sadly, for too many in our Parliament, being an MP will be their best paid job in their lifetime. So much for service... 

You may have seen our social media adverts campaigning against the pay hike. If you would like to help us get the ads in front of even more people, you can support the campaign here.

You can also help by signing the petition and sharing with your friends on Facebook.

Chaos, confusion, and delays following health centralisation 👩🏼‍⚕️🤢

As many predicted when the last Government decided to centralise the health system (in the middle of a pandemic...), we are now seeing the result of more bureaucracy and worse health outcomes for people seeking medical treatment.

Two different reports published in the last week lambasted the new Public Health Authority and National Public Health Service (Te Whatu Ora) for the omnishambles that is the current health system.

It is damning, but not unsurprising. The reviews show a culture of chaos, confusion, and delays. Some of the things revealed in the report seem more like something from a political satire than about one of our key public services, but the sad reality is that this is the state of our health system.

The report provided examples of the bureaucratic mess that was created including an instance when 10 different groups were doing risk assessments on the same issue, and another where health agencies were arguing with each other over who was in charge during the recent measles outbreak.

Taking health matters out of residents' hands has proven to be a massive mistake. The previous government’s obsession with centralisation has only sapped vital resources from our health system, generated more bureaucracy, and resulted in higher costs over improved health outcomes.

The new Government must focus on delivering improved health outcomes rather than continuing down the same path of pouring money into the backroom bureaucracies and making life harder for doctors and nurses.

Proposed land grab in Western Bay of Plenty – is your property next? 🏝️🤏

The Taxpayers' Union found itself having to stand up against a ludicrous suggestion from the Western Bay of Plenty District Council that would see its residents' private property confiscated without any compensation. If you live near the coast, your property could be next.

The proposed scheme would see the Government legislate away your rights to ownership of your own property and then rent it back to you on a long-term lease. Even though the lease cost would be almost nothing, it would tank your property value and could potentially lead to further restrictions around what you can do on your own property. 

The justification for the proposal was that climate change would soon make some areas unsuitable to live. We pointed out that these risks should be up to the property owners to decide, not for the Government to take control of the land by force. Land owners can take out insurance, sell the land, or move away – all of these decisions deal with the problem without any council or government involvement.

Some councillors slammed the idea, but unfortunately it was too late to change the submission given it had already been sent off to the Government. The Mayor appeared to justify this decision by saying that it had been raised with councillors in a workshop – you know, the secret meetings where decisions 'definitely are not made'.

Taxpayer Talk: Stephen Franks Provides an Update on the Three Waters Legal Challenge 🎙️🔊

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Jordan sat down with lawyer Stephen Franks to provide an update on the Three Waters legal challenge. Stephen is a founding director of the commercial and public law firm Franks Ogilvie, a former member of Parliament, and spokesperson for the Water Users' Group. 

Stephen's law firm has been leading the legal challenge against Three Waters, attempting to force Nanaia Mahuta to release the legal advice backing up her claim that co-governance was required under the Treaty of Waitangi. Unfortunately, this challenge was unsuccessful and was appealed to the Court of Appeal where it was again dismissed. We have decided to drop the case in order to focus our resources and efforts on developing a repeal and replacement bill for Three Waters now that we have a new Government committed to its repeal. 

The Local Water Infrastructure Bill that we have been developing addresses the infrastructure issues that were used as the justification for Three Waters but without the co-governance, seizure of local assets, and other numerous problems in the Three Waters legislation. You can read about our Local Water Infrastructure Bill here.

The Court of Appeal judgment can be read here.

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

Thank you for your support.

Connor Molloy Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

whatsoninvers NEW POLL: Kiwis Overwhelmingly Support Inflation-adjustment Of Income Tax Brackets

RNZ: The Panel with Boopsie Maran and Peter Dunne (Part 1) [8:10]

Waikato Times Two day Ministry of Justice event cost taxpayers $150k

The Platform Jordan Williams on polling, Reserve Bank and vaping legislation

NZ Herald Election 2023: The cost of Parliament’s three seat overhang MPs - and how only 29% is salary

The Platform Should government departments be giving contracts to lobbying firms?


Media Releases:

Taxpayers' Union – Curia Poll: November 2023

Taxpayers’ Union willing to work with Greens on member’s bill to end Beehive to Lobbyist revolving door

NEW POLL: National/ACT/NZ First Hold Governing Position, Luxon Shoots Ahead To Become Easily The Preferred PM

Chlöe Swarbrick’s Pork Barrel Politics Deserves Criticism

Wellington City Council Wants Its Pound Of Flesh From Ratepayers

Further Headaches For Floundering Public Health System Demonstrate The Failures Of Centralisation

Western Bay Of Plenty Land Grab Proposal An Affront To The Right To Property

Taxpayers’ Union Calls For Prosecution Of Person Who Played Campaign Song At Polling Booth

Transparency Test Failed: Key Ministries Yet To Embrace Ombudsman's Tool

All Revved Up With No Trucks To Show: Hydrogen Project Gaslights Taxpayers

Kāpiti Coast Councillors Need Reminding What Democracy Looks Like

 

The Taxpayers' Union can reveal that the Hastings District Council has spent over $70,000 on its recent rebranding initiative. A staggering $46,512 was allocated to "Strategy & Creative" for the logo's design and development, with an additional $19,850 for signage guidelines development.

"It's both startling and disheartening to witness such a significant portion of ratepayer money—equivalent to 24 years’ worth of the average residential ratepayer's rates in Hastings —being used on mere branding," said Oliver Bryan, Investigations Coordinator at the Taxpayers' Union. "This comes as the average residential ratepayers' rates have gone up by 7% in the past year."

"Councils are not corporations competing for market share. They are service providers funded by ratepayers. This kind of extravagant spending on branding starkly deviates from their primary responsibilities. It's high time councils prioritize tangible community benefits over transient branding exercises, particularly during times when pressing challenges, like cyclone recovery, loom large.”

“In an era where every dollar counts and communities confront genuine challenges, it's crucial for local councils to demonstrate fiscal responsibility.”

 

Responding to Kāpiti Coast District Council’s plans to ignore the results of a local consultation and push through the creation of a Māori ward regardless, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“Democracy is a fragile thing, and it is not for councillors to decide how they are elected. It belongs to all residents, and no change to the electoral system should take place without a binding referendum first being held. Labour’s shamefully anti-democratic ban on binding referendums needs overturning immediately by the incoming Government.
 
“Public consultation showed that almost 70% of Kāpiti Coast residents are opposed to the watering down of their local democracy, and until that is no longer the case that should be the end of the matter. Councillors need to remember that they serve and represent local residents, not their own ideologies.
 
“Mayor Holborow’s twisted assertion that although the public opposed these plans, they’re fine to move forward anyway because younger voters support them is laughable. Picking and choosing who to listen to based on nothing more than which group happens to agree with them has revealed the disgusting lack of respect for democracy at this council."

 

The Taxpayers' Union can reveal that a $6 million taxpayer-funded hydrogen truck initiative has failed to deliver a single truck, despite promises that they would be on the road by 2022.

Oliver Bryan, Investigations Coordinator at the Taxpayers’ Union, expressed dismay, stating, "It's an affront to taxpayers that a project heavily funded by the outdated COVID Response and Recovery Fund has yielded nothing but empty promises. The corporate welfare for a project that wouldn’t even reduce emissions, due to transport emissions already being governed by the Emissions Trading Scheme, is bad enough. However, the fact that the government has nothing to show for it at all is even worse."

"This is not merely a case of unfortunate delays – it's a glaring example of misused public funds on a project that appears ill-prepared and poorly executed. This initiative should never have been funded in the first place, but after its clear failings, this money should be returned to taxpayers."

"The new government needs to intervene immediately. Every day that this project continues without results is another day taxpayers are left footing the bill for a scheme that was never going to be effective."

 

Taxpayers’ Union OIA's reveal that despite the Chief Ombudsman's introduction of a self-assessment tool in July, aimed at enhancing public sector transparency and adherence to official information protocols, prominent ministries and agencies including Waka Kotahi, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Justice have yet to utilize it as of September.
 
Oliver Bryan, Investigations Coordinator at the Taxpayers' Union, said, "It's a glaring irony: departments and Ministries hesitant to use a tool explicitly designed to enhance their transparency and reputation, especially concerning the OIA. It's truly baffling that ministries, which frequently find themselves under the public microscope, are dragging their feet on a tool that promotes better governance. Is it simply a case of old habits dying hard? Or is there an underlying apprehension about transparency?"
 
"While these ministries play catch-up with good governance tools, one wonders how many other departments and ministries are also stuck in the bureaucratic doldrums. This isn't a game of hide and seek; it's about ensuring transparency and building trust with the taxpayers who fund these agencies."
 
"We urge the incoming government to show leadership on this issue. It is imperative to ensure all departments, irrespective of their size, employ the Chief Ombudsman's tool. Beyond the immediate operational advantages, this is a clear way to signal commitment to openness and build faith with the New Zealand public."

 

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Electoral Commission to prosecute and fine the individual or organisation responsible for playing Te Pāti Māori’s campaign song at a polling booth on Election Day under s 197 of the Electoral Act 1993.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“The Electoral Commission must come down hard on this to send a message that breaches of electoral rules are a serious offence and any attempt, no matter how small, to interfere with the democratic process will be met with the full force of the law. Democracy is a sacred institution and critical for ensuring accountability for decision makers, we must not let public trust in it be eroded by what appear to be tacit political endorsements at state-run polling stations.

“What is particularly concerning is that this occurred at a polling station in an electorate that was won by a margin of just four votes. If even just a few people were influenced by this, we would have had a different election result. If strong action is not taken, future political parties or candidates may determine it is worth breaking the rules in a marginal electorate if the only punishment is a slap on the wrist.

“A swift and public investigation and prosecution must take place to send a clear message: New Zealand will not tolerate behaviour that breaches electoral rules.”

 

The Taxpayers' Union is slamming the Western Bay of Plenty District Council's suggestion that the Government forcefully take ownership of private property from its residents without compensation and lease it back to them as part of a climate change managed retreat framework.

Taxpayers’ Union National Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, says:

"While coastal erosion and other climate-related risks to properties are serious issues, it is an affront to the fundamental human right to private property – especially when managed retreat can occur without the need for confiscating private property.

"The council could simply state that they will not bail out owners of land or property in at-risk areas and leave it up to private citizens to decide whether to continue living there, get insurance, or build resilience infrastructure such as sea walls.

"Under the Council's proposal, families would be stripped of their ownership of their properties, and although they would be able to lease them back, the property value would significantly deteriorate over time. This ludicrous suggestion by the Council belongs in dystopian fiction, not in modern-day New Zealand."

 

Responding to two different reports published in the last week lambasting the struggles that the new Public Health Authority and National Public Health Service (Te Whatu Ora) are experiencing daily, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, says:

“Taking health matters out of resident’s hands has proven to be a massive mistake, with the previous government’s obsession with centralisation sapping vital resources from our health system and has generated more bureaucracy and cost rather than improved health outcomes.

"It is damning, but not unsurprising, that reviews of these new entities show a culture of chaos, confusion and constraints – a true bureaucratic mess, exactly as predicted when the decision to centralise control and decision making away from local communities.

“Having a publicly funded health system does not necessitate having the government providing every service. Where a service can be provided sooner, cheaper or to a higher standard than the public health system, patients should have the choice to take their funding elsewhere to bring much needed competition to our healthcare."

Responding to leaked sources claiming Wellington residents could face an annual rates rise of up to 20%, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“Wellington City Council rates have already risen by almost 40% in just three short years, and we’re now in a position where proposals for a 65% rise over just four years are reportedly being considered. If that doesn’t scream poor management, then I don’t know what does.

“With an estimated $1 billion a year needed to get the water pipes that the council has allowed to crumble back up to snuff, Wellington is facing a financial crisis. Now is not the time to be wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on vanity projects like Let’s Get Wellington Moving and the town hall restoration.

“The fact that discussions around rates rises reportedly took place in backroom ‘workshops’ closed to the public is a disgrace. There is no legitimate justification for any council to shirk their responsibilities to be open and transparent with the hardworking ratepayers who pay their wages.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling out the Green Party MP for Auckland Central, Chlöe Swarbrick, for engaging in pork-barrel politics in relation to her calls for regulation and subsidies for the Waiheke Island’s ferry services.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Waiheke Island is home to some of the wealthiest communities in the country, and taxpayers and local ratepayers should not be forced so subsidise those who choose to live on an island away from the central city. This looks and smells like pork-barrel politics from a local MP reaching for handouts for her most well-off constituents.

“If the local MP is concerned about affordability of ferry services, she should focus on advocating for the removal of barriers to entry that make it difficult for new competitors begin to operations. Another, more cost-effective option would be to instead target the support at those on lower incomes such as community services card holders rather than a blanket subsidy that applies just as equally to luxury home owners.

“This isn’t the first time we’ve seen pork-barrel politics from Swarbrick. Her members bill to ban alcohol advertising in sport included a carve-out that would exclude the America’s Cup from having to abide by the new rules – an event that is conveniently held in her electorate.”

National is down 1 point to 37% and Labour is up 1 point to 28% when compared with the election result. ACT is down 1 point to 8%, the Greens are up 2 points to 14% and NZ First remains unchanged on 6%.

The smaller parties are the Māori Party on 3.4% (+0.3 points since the election), TOP on 2.9% (+0.7 points), New Conservatives on 0.7% (+0.5 points) and Vision NZ on 0.3% (+0.3 points).

National is down 2 seats on the election result to 46 seats and Labour gain 1 seat to 35. ACT is down 1 to 10 seats while the Greens are up 2 to 17. New Zealand First and the Māori Party remain steady on 8 and 6 seats respectively.

The combined projected seats for the Centre-Right (now including NZ First) of 64 seats is down 3 from the election result while the the combined seats for the Centre-Left bloc of 58 is up 3. On these numbers, a National/ACT/NZ First Government would still be able to form.

Christopher Luxon has risen in this month’s preferred Prime Minister poll to 33% (+4 points). Chris Hipkins has dropped substantially to 18% (-9 points). David Seymour remains unchanged at 4% while 5.6% of people would still prefer Jacinda Ardern.

Chloë Swarbrick is up 0.2 points to 6.3%, Winston Peters is up 0.7 points to 5.0%, Nicola Willis drops 1.2 points to 1.3%, James Shaw is up 0.2 points to 1.4%, and Matt King has dropped 0.3 points to 0.4%. Marama Davidson has dropped 0.8 points to 0.4% while Chris Bishop has increased 0.5 points to 0.6%.

The net country direction is up 10 points to -20%. 29% (+1 point) of New Zealanders think the country is heading in the right direction while 49% (-10 points) say the wrong direction.

More detailed results are available on our website.

Here are the headline results for November's Taxpayers’ Union – Curia Poll:

Party	Support	Change compared to election result
National	37.0%	↓1.1
Labour	28.3%	↑1.4
ACT	8.1%	↓0.5
Green	13.8%	↑2.2
NZ First	6.0%	↓0.1
Māori	3.4%	↑0.3
Other	3.7%	↓1.8

Here is how these results would translate to seats in Parliament:

Party	Seats	Change compared to election result
National	46	↓2
Labour	35	↑1
Green	17	↑2
ACT	10	↓1
NZ First	8	nc
Māori	6	nc

Callum is taking a post election break this week (and he surely deserves it!), so I've taken the helm to fight for taxpayers as we wait and see what the new government will look like (and, more importantly, what pre-election promises are actually followed through on!).

In this week's edition, we have the first post-election poll (it seems New Zealanders are warming to the idea of "Prime Minister Christopher Luxon"), continue to tackle outright waste and lack of accountability in local government, and tackle the very thorny issue of vaping regulation vs the government's financial incentive to keep people addicted to smoking.

A $200k "golden goodbye" for CEO who got the job with a false CV

Last week the Taxpayers’ Union was contacted by The Press newspaper following up an old story about a former CEO of Christchurch City Holdings, Tim Boyd, having allegedly lied about his work history to get the job heading Christchurch City Council's investment arm.

It turns out that the former CEO received a $200,000 payout after just six months on the job, two months of which he was on leave! It is also alleged that he is wanted in the USA over unresolved drink driving charges.

The $200,000 payout, equivalent to the rates bill of 66 Christchurch ratepayers, appears more reminiscent of a lottery win than a disciplinary action for alleged dishonesty towards an employer.

Mr Boyd's short-lived tenure, earning a lofty annual salary of $430,000 despite the apparent circumstances raises serious questions about the CCO’s recruitment practices – especially with the string of resignations at the organisation last year it is clear that Councillors should be demanding answers.

Former CCHL CEO, Tim Boyd

We say that no public employee being paid more than a Cabinet Minister should be receiving a payout for what looks, on the face of it, a justified dismissal!

After the story was published, we were contacted by Tim Boyd who disputes the Stuff account in full (including that he’s been fraudulent or otherwise acted unethically). But he also says he is covered by a gag clause – despite the Council clearly briefing the media that Mr Boyd was shown the exit because of the honesty matter.

So which is it? A Council covering-up a wider agenda to get rid of a CEO? Or a CEO that should never have been hired in the first place? Either way, this is a terrible look for Christchurch City Council – and your humble Taxpayers' Union will keep digging...

Where is the accountability for failure? Inflation remains sky high, but Adrian Orr gets his bonus anyway! 📈 💥

If you or I missed our targets at work for more than two years, we’d be out the door quicker than a rat up a drainpipe, but we've discovered that the normal rules don’t apply at the Reserve Bank.

For 29 months, Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr, has failed to get inflation within the target rate set for him. The whole idea of the independent reserve bank is to avoid politicians manipulating the setting of the Official Cash Rate (which is the cost of borrowing for the banks, and therefore affect interest rates) so as not to 'overheat' the economy and run economic booms and busts around the electoral cycle.

But it doesn't take an expert in monetary policy to tell you that the current governor is the worst (and most outrageously political) governor of the Bank, in 40+ years.

Independence is one thing, but we face a situation where the governor is unwilling (or unable?) to do his job - we say it's time for Adrian Orr to move on.

You had one job, Adrian!  🤦

Not only has Adrian Orr ballooned out inflation, he's keen for the Bank to work on everything else, but, well, their job.

Instead of speeches on monetary policy, Adrian Orr has been flying around the world to give speeches about climate change and comparing the financial sector to a forest with himself as Tāne Mahuta – the god of the forest (yes, seriously, you couldn't make this up).

And Grant Robertson's ol' mate Adrian shows no sign of changing tack: Last week, Orr gave a speech on inflation and how the Bank plans to get on top of New Zealand's cost of living crisis climate change at the 'Chapter Zero NZ' breakfast.

Despite disastrously failing to control prices and continuing to stray outside of his responsibility, Adrian Orr still managed to bag himself a $20,000 pay rise this year putting his salary now at a very nice $853,810 – almost 13 times the average New Zealand wage and nearly double that of the Prime Minister.

We say the next Minister of Finance needs to make clear: do your job Adrian or get a new one. New Zealand needs a boring, old school, inflation-busting central banker. A Don Brash, or Roderick Deane, not a Greta Thunberg.

NEW POLL: National/ACT/NZ First hold Governing position, Luxon shoots ahead to become easily the preferred PM

The first political poll since the election, is good news for Prime Minister-elect Christopher Luxon. Here are the headline results:

Congratulations Casey! 🎉

With special votes counted, we now officially know who the new entrants to Parliament will be (subject to the few recounts).

Included in the class of 2023 is our very own Casey Costello (pictured) who is a former chair of the Taxpayers' Union Board – we congratulate Casey on her success.

Parliament's "new kids on the block" 🏫👶

We have written to the latest intake of MPs offering our support in helping them advocate for Lower Taxes, Less Waste and More Accountability – no matter which political party they belong to. We will work with and support any MP on policy or members bills that furthers this mission.

We also reminded them (including Casey!) that we are here to hold them to account for the decisions they make about taxpayer money. So welcome to Wellington! 😉

"Fiddling won't cut it – Fundamental Reform is Required"

"Fiddling won't cut it – Fundamental Reform is Required"

Those were the words of advice from Taxpayers' Union board member (and former Finance Minister) Ruth Richardson for the next Minister of Finance. 

Now that a new Government is merely a matter of paperwork, we need real and comprehensive reform that sets New Zealand on a new path towards prosperity and growth. Under Helen Clark, John Key, and Jacinda Ardern the gap between New Zealand and Australia continued to widen.

We shouldn't settle for being the poor cousin to Australia – looking over the ditch at what they can (and we can't) afford. We say Mr Luxon needs to get us on a new path, and get to work and deliver on his mandate from voters to slash wasteful spending, cut red tape, and unwind the damage of big, dumb, high-cost government. 

Along with scrapping Labour's expensive and undemocratic policies of the past three years, we also need comprehensive reform. That means slashing the size of the public service and reshaping it to be focused on delivery rather than serve the interests of the bureaucracy in Wellington.

With a 68% increase in Government spending since 2017 and nothing to show for it, it’s time to live within our means and force Wellington to embrace private enterprise, localism, and lean, efficient, accountable government. Only then can Nicola Willis balance the books, stop the Debt Clock, and get New Zealand 'back on track'.

Two minutes of Ruth should be compulsory viewing for every new MP and Minister!

Fighting back against World Health Organisation's campaign for Australian-style vape ban 💨

Later this month, thousands of bureaucrats from around the world (and a handful from New Zealand) will be meeting in Panama to discuss World Health Organisation proposals to all but outlaw vaping. Sounds noble, but it's another case of prioritising good intentions over real solutions.

New Zealand is one of the most successful counties in recent years at getting smokers to quit. How did we do it? Vaping.

But now the WHO and governments from around the world are trying to gang up and force Australian-style vaping bans regulations on all members.

We're beating Australia! But WHO wants us to copy them anyway! 😒🇺🇳

Compared to New Zealand, Australia has failed to slash smoking rates. Australia is one of the only countries with higher tobacco taxes than New Zealand, but unlike New Zealand their smoking rates remain high. That's because they, in effect, ban vaping – the companies that sell nicotine patches successfully lobbied for this, and the Australian Government is just as addicted to the huge revenue stream smokers generate.

An Australian-style ban on vaping would mean even more power and money to illegal criminal gangs, worse health outcomes for those trying to quit smoking and even more costs imposed on all taxpayers through increased crime as the black market for tobacco continues to grow. Already, one in eight cigarettes smoked in New Zealand is from the criminal market, imagine how many more smokers will be going to the gangs when the WHO slash the nicotine content of legal/regulated cigarettes while simultaneously making it harder to switch to the safer and cheaper alternative – vaping. 

So taxpayer groups around the world are joining forces with independent smokefree groups to resist what the WHO is trying to do.

Vaping has already helped tens of thousands of New Zealanders successfully quit cigarettes and our smoking rate is now one of the lowest in the world putting us well on the pathway to our smoke-free goals: we should be selling the success story, not selling out to big tobacco! 

In New Zealand, credit where credit is due. Helen Clark's anti-smoking group "ASH" has long pointed out that vaping is the most successful smoking cessation tool yet.

The WHO – despite the sea of evidence, and anti-smoking groups lining up with unlikely friends from the taxpayer movement – have failed to justify their claims when challenged. They have instead opted to cloak the conference in secrecy by limiting who can even see the conference agenda!

If you're a vaper (or smoker hoping to quit), we've created a simple email tool that allows you to email New Zealand’s WHO delegates and urge them to take an evidenced-based approach to tobacco harm-reduction rather than giving in to the pressure from WHO bureaucrats and countries who export tobacco plants. Use our fully-customisable email tool at www.NoVapeBan.nz

One more thing: although I am a huge fan of vaping for the reasons above, as a parent I worry too about kids taking up vaping. But the two aren't mutually exclusive. The short point is, do we want to force vaping underground as it is in Australia, or actually ensure the age restrictions are in place and enforced? (the government is clearly currently doing a terrible job at that!).

Taxpayer Talk: Dr Oliver Hartwich On How The Incoming Government Should Reform The Public Service

This week on Taxpayer Talk, I sat down with the Executive Director of The New Zealand Initiative, Dr Oliver Hartwich, to discuss how the incoming Government should reform the public service. Despite a mandate for change and a desire to unwind many of the policies of the previous Government, the new National-led government may face challenges with navigating the complex and bloated bureaucracy of the public service – something that may prove to be a roadblock to much-needed reform. 

In the podcast, Dr Hartwich discusses a range of potential ways to make the public service function better under the new Government ranging from bringing forward the retirement of the Public Service Commissioner, to bringing the Commissioner under direct ministerial oversight as part of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, to establishing ministers' offices in the relevant government departments rather than in the Beehive. 

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

Thank you for your support.

Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

RNZ  What stands in the way of the ACT Party plan for a referendum on the Treaty of Waitangi

Otago Daily Times Uni travel budget blows out
The Press Disgraced former CEO got a $200,000 ‘golden kiss goodbye’

The Conversation  National drops 2 seats on NZ final results, and will need NZ First to form government

Stuff Inside the National caucus, MPs are frustrated and want a radical change

The Platform Wakey, wakey, mainstream media!

Newsroom On water reform National and Act are sailing on same course

Politik Why Labour Lost

Democracy Project Should government departments be giving contracts to lobbying firms?

Media Releases:

Bureaucracy bloat continues – managers growing three times as fast as frontline staff

New Parliament must deliver comprehensive reform for a more prosperous future

Taxpayers’ Union congratulates former Chair on election into Parliament

Pipes Not the Only Thing Failing at Wellington City Council

Taxpayers' Union Calls for Probe into Commission's Favouritism for 'SenateSHJ'

Taxpayers’ Union celebrates Taxpayer Appreciation Day

Taxpayers’ Union calls on opposition to focus on good policy, not politics

 

Following revelations that Ministry of Justice officials are concerned that “[m]ovement between roles in government and lobbying agencies can result in misuse of privileged information and unfair access”, the Taxpayers’ Union is reaffirming its commitment to work with any MP, regardless of their party, to end the business of Ministers becoming lobbyists to sell access to and information about the beehive.

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said:

“New Zealand is out of step with countries we compare ourselves to. Allowing Ministers to resign from Parliament on one day and begin for-profit lobbying of their colleagues the next is a recipe for corruption and special treatment.

“In recent years, we have seen former Ministers Faafoi, Nash, and now Allan all moving into lobbying roles while their literal Beehive security passes still let them into the building. While no one would suggest they have acted in a corrupt way, the short point is that the revolving door should not be allowed.

“Being a representative in Parliament is a privilege, not a leg-up for politicians to get into the lucrative industry of selling access and information for personal profit. This political revolving door undermines our democratic institutions and must stop.

“If putting a door stop into place means that higher salaries are justified for MPs and Ministers, then so be it. The costs to our democracy, and reduced risk of corruption - whether real or perceived - are so much greater.

“Australia and the UK both require a cooldown period before Government Ministers can move into lobbying roles. We will work with and support any MP to sponsor a member’s bill that implements a cooldown period for Ministers. We’ll even fundraise to commission expert lawyers to do the drafting. This is too important an issue to leave hanging.”

 

Responding to news that a range of new taxes, including wealth and capital gains tax, are back on the table as potential Labour Party policies, the Taxpayers’ Union is calling on them to focus on good policy, not politics.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Taxes on wealth and capital are terrible policies that never achieve their intended goals and have disastrous unintended consequences for jurisdictions that do implement them.

“Instead, the focus for the new opposition should be on offering a principled critique of government policies and on offering practical solutions to the country’s problems.

“The Taxpayers’ Union will work with any opposition MP on issues of transparency, accountability or reducing wasteful spending such as corporate welfare. Rather than playing politics, we encourage the opposition to fight for good lawmaking processes, improved accountability for decision-makers and more transparency for those holding the purse strings and levers of power.”

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Taxpayers' Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, sits down with lawyer Stephen Franks to provide an update on the Three Waters legal challenge. Stephen is a founding director of the commercial and public law firm Franks Ogilvie, a former member of Parliament and spokesperson for the Water Users' Group. 

Franks Ogilvie has been leading the legal challenge against Three Waters that, among other things, aimed to force the Minister of Local Government, Nanaia Mahuta, to release her legal advice that co-governance of Three Waters infrastructure was required under the Treaty of Waitangi. Unfortunately, this challenge was unsuccessful and was appealed to the Court of Appeal where the challenge was again dismissed. We have decided to drop the case in order to focus our resources and efforts on developing a repeal and replacement bill for Three Waters. 

The Local Water Infrastructure Bill that we have been developing addresses the infrastructure issues that were used as the justification for Three Waters but without the co-governance, seizure of local assets and other numerous problems in the Three Waters legislation. You can read about our Local Water Infrastructure Bill here. 

The Court of Appeal judgment can be read here. 

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

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The Taxpayers’ Union is today celebrating Taxpayer Appreciation Day to recognise the hard work of taxpayers who pay the bills of politicians and bureaucrats each and every day.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“This year’s Taxpayer Appreciation Day is bittersweet for the team at the Taxpayers’ Union. We admire and celebrate the resilience of taxpayers who show up to work each day despite an ever-growing tax burden but is saddening to see that over the years more and more of their hard-earned money has been wasted away on fuelling an ever-growing bureaucracy that fails to deliver better public services.

“We are calling on those parties who are currently in negotiations to spare a thought for the humble taxpayer on this day and advocate for the side of lower taxes, less waste and more accountability. For far too long, those in the bureaucracy have had an easy ride with salaries well above the average Kiwi, extended holidays and hiding behind a veil of secrecy rather than openness, accountability and neutrality as the spirit of the public service intends.

“We hope that today all politicians and bureaucrats extend their gratitude to taxpayers, for after all without them they would not get paid.”

The Taxpayers’ Union’s Investigations Coordinator, Oliver Bryan, strongly condemns the recent revelations regarding the Commerce Commission’s engagement with SenateSHJ, a public relations and lobbying firm. “The Taxpayers’ Union finds it utterly unacceptable that the Commerce Commission, a regulatory body entrusted with ensuring fair play in the market, has seemingly allowed a lobbying firm to gain advantageous access. This firm, SenateSHJ, according to its own website, represents clients in the oil, gas and energy sectors – the very industries the Commission is supposed to regulate impartially.”

“When a regulatory body allows a lobbying firm - representing the very interests it is supposed to regulate - privileged access, it undermines public trust and questions the integrity of the regulatory processes."

"By embedding SenateSHJ directly inside the Commerce Commission and providing them with official resources, the Commission has effectively allowed a lobbying firm to infiltrate and potentially manipulate regulatory processes. This is a blatant conflict of interest, undermining the Commission’s role as an unbiased regulator and betraying public trust.”

“This situation is not just a matter of poor judgment but highlights a concerning breach in the ethical standards expected of such a regulatory body. It gives the impression that certain companies, through their lobbying representatives, might wield undue influence over the regulatory framework that should, in principle, treat all entities equally and fairly.”

“Adding insult to injury, despite the Commerce Commission’s $1.7 million expenditure on communications staff, they still felt the need to consult external companies like SenateSHJ. This decision not only questions the capabilities of the Commission’s internal team but also highlights a wasteful overlap in resource allocation.”

“We call for a thorough investigation into the nature of the relationship between the Commerce Commission and SenateSHJ. It is imperative to ensure that no undue influence has been exerted on the Commission’s decision-making processes. The public deserves transparency and reassurance that regulatory bodies like the Commerce Commission operate without bias or preferential treatment.”

 

Commenting on the news that upgrading Wellington’s ageing and leaking pipe network could cost a billion dollars a year, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“After years of financial mismanagement, Wellington City Council claims that it cannot afford to maintain core services such as water infrastructure. Why then if WCC can’t afford to do the basics it is still very happy to burn hundreds of millions on vanity projects like Let’s Get Wellington Moving?

“Mayor Whanau claimed that fixing the pipes was her top priority. Up to $329 million being wasted on the town hall restoration, let alone any Central Library and Michael Fowler Centre projects, shows the reality at WCC to be very different. The five councillors facing disciplinary proceedings shortly after opposing $32 million being wasted subsidising the multinational owners of the Reading Cinema can attest to that.

“The message from struggling ratepayers is clear; stop wasting hard-earned money on nice-to-haves whilst you let the need-to-haves fall apart.”

The Taxpayers’ Union congratulates the members of the new Parliament and is calling on them to immediately begin delivering on the mandate from voters by slashing spending, cutting red tape, and unwinding the damage of big, inefficient, and high-cost government.

Taxpayers’ Union Head of Campaigns, Callum Purves, said:

“Scrapping Three Waters, restarting resource management reforms and rolling back unaccountable ‘co-governance’ initiatives is not enough. The key focus should be to slash government spending, which has driven inflation and lead to New Zealand’s cost-of-living crisis.

“The cost-of-living crisis has been driven by a cost-of-government crisis. Only Parliament can fix it, and must do so if we are to avoid cripplingly high interest rates or continued high inflation.

“Along with reforming the Public Service to increase transparency and accountability, MPs need to tackle slashing the size of Wellington’s maze of back offices within the first 100 days.

“Mr Luxon was elected on the back of the outgoing government hiring 16,000 extra bureaucrats, and lowering the proportion of front line public sector workers. Those 16,000 should be served their notice – right now – that there is a new sheriff in town, and their time is up.

“Big government has yet again failed. With a 68% increase in Government spending since 2017 and nothing to show for it, it’s time to live within our means and force Wellington to embrace private enterprise, localism, and lean, efficient, accountable government so that the books are balanced and New Zealand can start to catch up with Australia.

“Incoming MPs can consider themselves put on notice by the Taxpayers’ Union – we will continue to staunchly advocate against, and expose, any policies or spending that are counter to taxpayers’ interests or conflict with the mission of Lower Taxes, Less Waste and More Accountability.”

The Taxpayers’ Union congratulates former Chair, and businesswoman, Casey Costello on her election to Parliament as a NZ First MP today.

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said:

“Those who have worked with Casey will know that she is an extraordinary woman. Hardworking, ethical, and principled, we are are delighted to see her in Parliament.”

“As is detailed in our 10-year anniversary book out later this month, Casey helped me and the organisation at a difficult time and set us up for the success that was the Three Waters campaign. While losing her from our Board was a blow, it is wonderful that Parliament will now have her skillset.

“I’m proud that the Taxpayers’ Union doesn’t fit the mould of any particular political party.  We know from our supporter surveys that our 200,000 subscribers vary as much as our staff, and board members, in supporting parties on the left, right, and centre. While reasonable minds may differ on the size and precise role of the state, all of us agree that New Zealanders are better off with effective, efficient, transparent and accountable public services.

“We will of course hold Casey’s feet to the fire just like we do for every decision maker who spends taxpayers’ money.  But I can say that in ten years of the Taxpayers’ Union, Casey is one of the most energetic but wise people we’ve come across.  We wish her every success as a new MP.”

The Taxpayers' Union is reiterating it's earlier calls for the need to slash the size of the Public Service following newly released workforce data from the Public Service Commission showing the number of public servants at its highest ever number and managers growing at three times the rate of frontline staff.

In the past year, the number of managers grew by 5.4%, while the number of social, health and education workers grew only marginally by 1.9%.

Responding to the release of this data, Taxpayers' Union Head of Campaigns, Callum Purves, said:

"These figures demonstrate that pouring more money into failing public services simply will not work when there is no accountability for how that money is spent or what outcomes are delivered for it.

"The eye-watering levels of growth in the public service, almost 16,000 since 2017, are a disgrace and an insult to the millions of taxpayers who work tirelessly each day only to see their money wasted away on backroom managers while core services crumble.

"While the blame for this growth sits squarely with the outgoing Government, if the incoming one does not take immediate action to reverse this growth and improve delivery then things will only continue to get worse. For the sake of our future, it is vital that National ensures its promises to cut wasteful spending were not hollow words and they must go even further. We simply can't afford another three years of the failed experiment of big, wasteful government."