Government must stop giving handouts to universities returning surpluses

Responding to news that a number of universities returned significant surpluses last year while still calling for government handouts, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“Universities across New Zealand have been crying poverty for months, and in response this week the Government announced it would be handing universities another $128 million of taxpayers’ money.

“As it turns out, a number of universities were not being particularly upfront with the public.

“For example, Victoria University has been one of the squeakiest wheels, when it turns out that last year they returned an operating cash surplus of $31.4 million. Worse still, last year they also found the spare money to spend a net $44.8 million on land and new buildings.

“Clearly this shows that some cash-grabbing unis are not in anything close to the financial dire straits their PR teams would have you believe.

“Rather than caving in to such demands, the Government should do its due diligence before throwing away hundreds of millions of hard-earned taxpayer dollars.”

Taxpayers’ Union exposes hypocrisy of High-Tax Campaigners

The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that none of the various wealthy people, celebrities, and former civil servants who signed a letter calling for higher taxes have put their money where their mouth is and contributed further from their own pocket to fuel Grant Robertson’s out of control spending.

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said:

“As signatories of a May letter that begins, ‘We write as people who are frustrated with how much tax we pay. We want to pay more.’, these people are clearly not as willing to pay more as they say they are and this whole exercise was cringy virtue signalling to gain public attention.

“When the letter was published, we kindly wrote to them with details on how they could do so via direct transfer into Crown treasury bank account to make the process as easy as possible. More than a month later, not a single one of them has donated as confirmed by the Treasury.

“The rhetoric of these individuals has proven to be nothing more than empty words. As we said at the time, we agree that good public services are important, but until it is clear that public money is being spent well and efficiently, it is not fair to demand fellow citizens pay more.”

Farmers need less red tape, not taxpayer handouts

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Government to prioritise reducing unnecessary and costly regulations for those growers, farmers and businesses affected by North Island weather events rather than providing them with taxpayer-funded handouts.

Commenting on today’s support package announced by the Government, Taxpayers’ Union Deputy Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“While we acknowledge that many farmers, growers and businesses have been badly affected by the recent weather events, today’s support package will significantly reduce the long-term viability of the farming sector by leading to increased costs and regulations in the future.

“Rather than playing the role of the bank, the Government should be speaking with farmers to see what red tape needs to be cut to make it easier for these businesses to do what they do best. Significant cutbacks to costly red tape would make farms more viable for the future and, in turn, would lead to an increased willingness for banks to lend right now.

“Minister McAnulty’s claim that ‘[m]any businesses severely affected by the weather events are likely to be commercially viable with the right support’ seems to espouse a view that Government is the only one who can provide support and banks are too short-sighted to look beyond the present situation. The whole purpose of a bank is to take well-informed investment decisions that look not just at the immediate term but also, in many instances, decades into the future. If these farms are likely to be commercially viable in the future, banks will recognise this and adjust their lending conditions appropriately.

“The Government may try to claim that taxpayers aren’t paying for this because much of the support is in the form of loans, or underwriting loans. For commercially viable farms, banks are already fronting up. The only loans that the Government could underwrite that a bank wouldn’t otherwise provide are those that are inherently the most high-risk. The Minister seems to think he knows more than the banks but it is ultimately taxpayers who will have to foot the bill in the event of default.

“We are concerned that this could lead to a similar situation as the leaky buildings debacle where the Government, knowing it will be expected to bail out farmers, will make even more costly and over-the-top red tape and levies for farmers to reduce the financial risk for the Government. This will only make farming harder and more costly in the future, jeopardising the long-term viability of one of our greatest industries and provide even more need for taxpayer bailouts in the future. Responsible farmers plan for events like this and should be able to work with their bank who has a vested interest in the long-term success of the business.

“If the Government really wanted to help farmers, they would start by cutting back on existing red tape that stops farmers getting on with the job and withdrawing their proposed replacement to the Resource Management Act, which would lead to even higher farming costs and even more red tape.”

Taxpayers' Union Exposes Outrageous Government Junket to Space Conference

The Taxpayers' Union has uncovered that the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE) indulged New Zealand's Space Agency in a recent trip to the USA, costing $36,760.07. An Official Information Request revealed that the NZ Space Agency flew business class to Washington DC and stayed in luxury accommodation while attending the 25th Annual Federal Aviation Administration Commercial Space Transportation Conference.

The lavish excursion saw MBIE officials staying at the Grand Hyatt Washington Hotel for five days, despite the conference lasting only two days. The hotel bill alone amounted to over $5,500, averaging more than $1,000 per night. Furthermore, taxpayers were burdened with a hefty price tag of over $31,000 for business class travel, which MBIE defended as being "in-line with policy."

Oliver Bryan, Taxpayers' Union Investigations Co-ordinator, expressed deep concern over this misuse of taxpayer money:

"This seems to have been an exercise in flying around the world trying to find a purpose for the Space Agency's continued existence. Their five days in Washington DC for a two-day conference that no one has ever heard of is a clear example of officials having a junket at taxpayer expense.

"It is outrageous that hardworking New Zealanders are footing the bill for a lavish jolly like this. It's high time the Ministry began focusing on its actual remit rather than wasting our money on once again proving the Space Agency's is nothing but a government vanity project."

Commenting on the news that the new Three Waters reform plan has already blown out costs by around $1 billion, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“Three Waters is adding layer upon layer of pointless bureaucracy. Inefficiency is baked into the design of these reforms, so is it really any wonder that they are already behind schedule and over budget?

“It has been clear from the get-go that Three Waters offered tremendously poor value for taxpayers’ money. More bureaucracy, no job losses, yet lower costs was a sum that never added up. McAnulty’s attempt to pull the wool over voters’ eyes with the changes introduced to Parliament earlier this month simply make this power grab even more expensive, and yet the Government is still failing to meet even these revised targets.

“The public has made it clear that they do not support seizing community water assets, whether they’re being handed to four distant entities or ten.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is today welcoming the news that National is joining the ACT Party in its commitment to repeal the Government’s replacement to the Resource Management Act if it is passed before the election.

The announcement comes as a Taxpayers’ Union – Curia poll undertaken earlier this month showed strong opposition to the Government’s planning proposals. 48% of respondents believed that planning rules should be set by local councils compared with just 26% who preferred that these rules be set by the proposed regional planning committees. 26% of respondents were unsure.

The full results and demographic breakdowns are available here. 

Reacting to National’s announcement, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“This is great news for the future of local democracy. We need to ensure that we have a resource management system that is fit for purpose, drives productivity, and makes it easier for people to get things done rather than tying them up in even more red tape and bureaucracy.

“Our nationwide roadshow raised public awareness of just how bad these reforms would be. We demonstrated to politicians that there was strong public opposition to these reforms, which would lead to higher building costs, more red tape, no local control and more co-governance.

“What is particularly interesting is that supporters of all parties and across all demographics – with the exception of Wellingtonians – had more people wanting planning rules to be set by elected local councils than by the Government’s proposed regional planning committees.

“We call on the Government to listen to their own voters who recognize that these reforms are a bad idea. The Government needs to withdraw these bills and restart the RMA reform process after the election with a replacement that prioritizes local control, certainty, simplicity and private property rights.”

Commenting on Grant Robertson’s and Jan Tinetti’s recent announcement of a $128 million bailout for the tertiary sector, Taxpayer’s Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“Rather than giving universities and polytechs a cheque, the Government could save a lot of taxpayer dollars by asking them to trim the fat. Given that both Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Otago have higher administration staff numbers than research and teaching roles, universities could easily make savings without cutting frontline roles.

“While the universities need to make savings, one of the primary drivers of funding gaps has been the drop in student numbers, which has been directly affected by the Government’s restrictive travel policies during the latter stages of the pandemic.

“We also need to have proper rethink about how the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) doles out subsidies to universities around New Zealand as it is becoming very clear that the current funding model is costing taxpayers more and more for diminishing returns.

"At the very least, this money should come from a reprioritisation from within the tertiary sector, specifically scrapping the fees-free policy that overwhelmingly benefits wealthy families without increasing enrolment numbers."

Now that the Public Journalism Fund's excessive spending has come to an end, which media companies received the most unneeded welfare? Here's our top ten government-funded media organisations for the last three years, and what that money has gone to!

Total - Top Ten Recipients
Media Organisation	What They Got:	Total Amount:
NZME	37 Journalism Cadetships for Māori, Pasifika and diverse journalists, an online tool detailing Pakehā land ownership over time, Kaupapa Māori and Audio Innovation role for accessibility for low-vision mana whenua, 15 roles for coverage of remote court proceedings, support for community journalists in provincial newspapers, weekly bilingual section in Rotorua Weekender about iwi issues. *Includes $635,020 in indirect funding.	$6,880,099.25
RNZ	New journalism unit covering topics in Hindi & Mandarin for Asian communities, strengthen Māori knowledge across the organisation, 20 local democracy reporting roles across New Zealand, The Detail podcast, the Party People podcast.	$5,800,207.00
Stuff Media	Stuff Circuit - project covering more risky topics in New Zealand, Te Reo Māori translator, 20 Pou Tiaki & Community reporters to cover Māori and minority issues, retaining community coverage in Marlborough, The Whole Truth - limited series covering public health, Xin xi Lan - multimedia project about first Chinese immigrants to Aotearoa, cultural competency course for Stuff journalists.	$4,806,528.00
Sunpix	Tagata Pasifika - flagship Pacific news program, two journalists for Tagata Pasifika, Ifoga - documentary on Pasifika abuse in state care, Maisuka - documentary about Type 2 Diabetes in Moana Pasifika youth.	$4,251,360.00
TVNZ	Q&A with Jack Tame - current affairs program, 2022-2023, News 2 Me - news program for children, series 1 & 2, Ohinga 2 - reo Māori-fluent show focused on Māori current events, Manutaki Māori role for cultural competency. *Includes $264,386 of commissioned projects	$3,187,649.00
Discovery NZ	Newshub Nation, 2022-2023 - current affairs programme, Pacific Affairs Correspondent for Discovery NZ TV shows, Newshub Cultural Partnership Navigator to bring kaupapa māori framework to newsroom.	$2,356,696.00
Newsroom	Newsroom Investigates - (2022-2023) series of investigative news videos, The Detail - near-daily podcast covering news issues (2021-2023), four Te Rito graduate roles for new journalists, Video Content Creator to share news stories wider, Climate Change Interview Series - videos about New Zealand's low-carbon future, Sub-Editor for more online content, four part-time South Island reporters and one Māori Editor, upskilling of two graduate journalists.	$2,189,301.00
Great Southern Television	The Hui Series 7 & 8 - weekly bilingual Māori cultural affairs programme, The Hui: Summer Edition Series 1 & 2 - six cultural stories and training for four cadet journalists.	$1,834,367.65
The Spinoff	Two Sub-editors for fact-checking, vetting, captioning and accessibility of videos, 10-month upskilling program for editors with partner publications, Local Elections 2022 coverage, The Quarter Million - series on royal commission into abuse in care homes, IRL - series covering online life after thepandemic, Nē? - Podcast and articles covering te ao Māori issues, Māori politics and Pacific communities reporters for dedicated coverage, mentorship programme for journalism cadets. *Includes $544,654 of commissioned projects.	$1,782,353.00
UMA Broadcasting	Paakiwaha - bilingual radio programme broadcast on Radio Waatea, about Māori perspective on news and current events, 6.5 FTE staff (editors, senior & trainee journalists) for Radio Waatea.	$1,664,000.00

 

Sixth Round recipients
Roles
95bfm	1 x Digital News Sub-Editor creating content for website and social media channels	$36,956
Te reo o Ngati Kahungunu	1 x Digital Content Creator & 1 x Producer	$204,176
Indian Newslink	1 x Audience Engagement Expert & 1 x Hamilton Reporter	$199,650
Stuff	1 x Te Reo Māori Translator & 2 x Marlborough Reporters	$249,260
Pacific Media Network	1 x Political Reporter, 1 x Digital Producer, 1 x Digital Editor/Camera Operator, 1 x Sub-Editor	$430,849
Te Reo Irirangi o Maniapoto	1 x Video News Journalist	$85,000
AgriHQ	1 x Farmer's Weekly Digital Editor	$89,981
NZME	1 x Kaupapa Māori Editor	$123,600
Allied Press	1 x Family Court Reporter, 1 x Youth Court Reporter, 1 x Employment Relations Authority Reporter	$266,591
E-Tangata	1 x Senior Writer/Editor - Pacific News, 1 x Senior Writer/Editor - Māori News, 1 x Editor/Mentor, 1 x Digital Marketing Manager	$350,496
Metro	1 x Te Ao Māori Editor & 1 x Sub-Editor	$51,066
Ashburton Guardian	1 x Rural Content Editor, focused on agricultural concerns around Ashburton	$85,000
Gisborne Herald	1 x Kaupapa Māori Reporter to suit large Māori populace	$77,464
Local Matters	1 x Auckland Council reporter, for analysis of council activities for nine local outlets	$84,579
Newshub	1 x Māori Affair Reporter, to bring Kaupapa Māori to the newsroom	$145,810
Newsroom	1 x Sub-Editor to draft/edit reporter submissions	$94,395
The Spinoff	1 x Māori Political Reporter (part time) & 1 x Sub-Editor	$166,500
Valley Profile	2 x News Reporters (one full-time, one part-time) for Hauraki/Coromandel area	$89,300
BayBuzz	2 x Local Accountability Reporters (part time) for Hawkes Bay area	$88,800
Crux	1 x Senior Editorial Role, news coverage for Wānaka/Queenstown area	$126,250
Industry Development Funding
Attitude Pictures	Additional multimedia training for disabled journalism cadet	$7,600
Go Global	Extension of two more cadetships for Chinese-background cadets in digital journalism	$141,280
NZ Geographic	Four day wānanga to train 18 journalists in data journalism w/ Science Media Centre	$98,824
Emergency Resilience Relief
Gisborne Herald		$12,324
Hawkes Bay App		$21,429
Te Reo Irirangi o Kahungunu		$29,663
Te Reo Irirangi o Ngāti Porou		$30,000
BayBuzz		$19,500

 

Fifth Round recipients
Te Reo Irirangi O Te Hiku O Te Ika	1 x 12-month season for video news series	$460,000
Aotearoa Media Collective	A new Māori current affairs project	$452,198
The Big Idea	A 26 video series covering topical art news and investigations	$181,800
Great Southern Television Ltd	Production of 6 current affairs stories for series 2 of The Hui: Summer Edition	$187,114
Business Desk	A project to investigate agencies' involvement in healthcare spending across NZ, through a series of 50-70 articles.	$85,255
Metro Media Group Limited	A series of feature articles that look at commercial properties development in Tamaki Makaurau	$30,460
Indo Kiwi United Trust	Weekly series of 48 videos for Punjabi and Sikh audiences	$169,440
Kiwi Kids News	A 12-month project producing 2 weekly news articles written in te reo Māori, with English translation	$46,706
Mediaworks	Tova O'Brien Special, which includes an interview with Volodymyr Zelensky	$50,000
Te Korimako o Taranaki	A 9-month training programme for 5 Māori journalists	$395,000
Attitude Pictures	Continued training and coaching for disabled interns	$142,520
Global HQ	2 x 12-month mentorships for tertiary students	$25,000
Go Global Ltd	2 x 12-month training programmes for Chinese cadets	$137,280
Inland App Company	A 12 month journalism programme in Central Otago for high school students	$7,800
The Spinoff	A 10-month initiative to train journalism editors	$201,036
Hawke's Bay App	1 x Editor/Presenter and 1 x Video Journalist for 2 years	$388,700
Consumer NZ Incorporated	1 x Reporter for one year, to focus on economically marginalised groups	$85,600
Migrant News	1 x Reporter for one year, to focus on migrant audiences	$55,854
Radio Ngāti Porou Charitable Trust	1 x Digital Content Designer and 1 x Digital Producer for one year	$128,784
Inland App Company	1 x Local Democracy Journalist for 2 years	$101,400
Warner Bros Discovery NZ	1 x Pasifika Affairs Correspondent for 2 years	$248,240
Indian Newslink	1 x Digital Graphic Designer and 1 x Audience Engagement Expert for one year	$186,992
The National Pacific Radio Trust	1 x Chief of Staff and 1 x a Newsreader for one year	$207,461
Metro Media Group Ltd	1 x Part-time Sub-Editor for one year	$20,316

 

Fourth Round recipients
Allied Press	Training for five new journalists	$516,000
Indo Kiwi United Trust	Professional development for existing journalists at NZ Punjabi News	$35,300
North & South Media Limited	1 x trainee/cadet journalist for up to one year	$68,200
Allied Press	To deliver local video news content to local communities	$695,000
Apna Networks Ltd	A podcast series to empower migrant ethnic communities to appropriately respond to mental health issues	$101,897
Cinco Cine Film Productions Ltd	A pilot development and content creation programme introducing tamariki and rangatahi to journalism as a viable career	$800,000
Metro Media Group Limited	4 x long-form articles about how the arts get funded	$39,380
The Spinoff	A team of writers and contributors to cover the 2022 local body elections	$160,187
Very Nice Productions Ltd	Regional video news for Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa and Whanganui with accompanying articles	$604,520
Te Reo o Ngāti Kahungunu Inc	2 x roles to utilise current radio content and make it available for online distribution	$214,245
BayBuzz	2 x roles to deepen coverage of agribiz-environment, healthcare delivery and public body accountability	$88,800
Indian Newslink	2 x roles to report on issues related to youth South Asian communities	$362,520
Newsroom NZ Ltd	1 x video content creator	$159,340
Crux	1 x junior/intermediate role to support public interest journalism in the Southern Lakes and Central Otago districts	$139,520
Te Reo Irirangi o Maniapoto	2 x roles to support Te Reo Kahika news service to share tribal news using bilingual local narratives	$160,000

 

Third Round recipients
Allied Press	1 x Partnership Editor role	$145,650
Campus Radio 95bFM	1 x Sub-Editor	$32,916
Discovery NZ	1 x Newshub Cultural Partnership Navigator	$130,500
GlobalHQ	1 x Digital Editor	$105,000
Kowhai Media Ltd	1 x Kaiwhakatiki Hourua	$55,020
Mana Trust	1 x Editor/Mentor and 1 x Digital Marketing Manager	$165,000
Newsroom NZ	1 x Sub Editor	$91,679
NZME	1 x Kaupapa Editor and 1 x Audio Innovation role	$200,280
Radio One 91FM	1 x Digital Content Edit	$20,000
RNZ	1 x Kurawhakaue Partnership Editor Role	$108,000
Stuff	1 x te reo Māori Translator	$103,000
Te Po	1 x Kawea Te Rongo Kaiwhakahaere	$68,250
The Spinoff	1 x Sub Editor role	$105,450
The Pantograph Punch	1 x Business Development role and 1 x Social Media Specialist (3 months)	$95,040
Tikilounge Productions	1 x Pasifika Youth Digital News Editor	$75,000
Allied Press	6 x long-form articles and staff training programmes	$61,725
BusinessDesk	Charity Sector Investigation minimum 30 stories	$154,020
Discovery NZ	Newshub Nation 2022, 41 x 50 mins and a podcast series	$978,175
Great Southern Television	The Hui, 40 x 28 mins shows and 40 x 28 mins podcasts Māori current affairs	$737,036
Kakalu Media	Online project for Kakalu o Tonga	$9,817
Kowhai Media, A Voice for Tangaroa	4 x 3000-word written features, 6 x 400-1,500 word stories about the ocean	$146,745
Luke Nola & Friends	80 x 4 mins videos for digital platforms and 80 x 2 mins videos for social media	$653,773
Mahi Tahi Media	50 x 4 mins videos	$264,386
Māori Television	Journalism training wānanga	$189,200
Muster Vibrant Rural Communities	Women’s perspectives on social and cultural issues, 9 x 3000 words, 72 x 600-1,500-word stories, 6 x 3 mins videos	$292,692
Newsroom NZ	Newsroom Investigates 2022, 60 mins video investigative affairs	$336,358
Newsroom NZ	Climate Change Interview Series, 10 x 12 mins video interviews	$40,000
North & South Media	Exploring Aotearoa’s Chinese Communities, 4-6 features totaling 20,000 words	$25,000
NZME, Whenua: Is it yours?	Interactive database and map, 4 x 1,500-3,000-word features	$80,500
Stuff	Stuff Circuit 2022 a minimum of 90 mins of video, investigative current affairs	$324,000
SunPix Tagata Pasifika	51 x 23 mins and 2 x 90 mins Pasifika news	$1,919,913
Te Parerē National Māori Students Magazine	32 digital issues focused on Māori youth current affairs	$28,240
The Spinoff, The Quarter Million	2 x 4,000 – 5,000-word feature and Instagram titles	$152,304
TVNZ, Kids Kōrero	30 x 5 mins linear videos, 30 x 2 mins explainer videos, and 30 x 5 mins podcasts	$517,364
TVNZ, Q + A with Jack Tame 2022	40 x 59 mins episodes, plus a two-hour special of current affairs,	$842,200
NZME	for two years to support newsgathering	$940,188
Stuff	for two years of its Marlborough newsgathering.	$731,300

 

Second round recipients
Stuff	20 x roles	$2,789,240
RNZ	20 x Local reporting roles	$3,554,000
NZME	15 x roles	$2,995,702
Maori Television	7 x roles	$1,593,000
School Road Publishing	1 x role for Woman magazine	$189,660
SunPix	2 x roles for TP+	$273,600
Local Matters	1 x role for Local Matters	$150,148
Crux Publishing	1 x role for Crux	$151,200
The Spinoff	2 x roles for The Spinoff	$427,800
Ashburton Guardian	1 x role for the Ashburton Guardian	$150,000
Central App	1 x role for Central App	$31,200
North & South	1 x role for North & South Media	$230,000
Newsroom	4 x roles for Newsroom and shared role	$528,316
Allied Press	4 x roles for Otago Daily Times and other Allied Press	$711,797
Valley Media	1 x role for The Valley Profile	$127,096
The Gisborne Herald	1 x role for The Gisborne Herald	$183,240
Metro Media Group	1 x part-time role for Metro Magazine	$47,600
Mana Trust	4 x roles for E-Tangata	$650,000
Kiwi Media Publishing	4 x roles for The Indian Weekender	$705,000
National Pacific Radio Trust	4 x roles for Pacific Media Network	$275,000
Television New Zealand	2 x roles for TVNZ News, for one year	$206,000
Te Reo Irirangi O Te Hiku O Te Ika	1 x role	$176,200
Very Nice Productions	1 x role for Local Focus	$105,000
UMA Broadcasting	6.5 x roles for Radio Waatea	$774,000
Discovery New Zealand	3 x roles for Newshub	$695,560

 

First round recipients
Newsroom for RNZ	The Detail, 322 x 22 mins podcasts	$806,135
Stuff	The Whole Truth, an animated fact-checking project	$591,465
UMA Broadcasting for Waateanews.com	Paakiwaha A bilingual news and current affairs show	$433,000
Hex Work for The Spinoff	IRL doing investigative features and personal stories	$335,746
Aotearoa Media Collective Aotearoa Media Collective for RNZ, Tūranga FM, Radio Waatea	Party People, an audio and video series	$236,930
Hex Work for The Spinoff	Nē? a podcast and written series	$217,325
Red Sky Film & Television for Three	Inside Child Poverty 10 Years On, a review by Bryan Bruce	$204,970
SunPix for TP+, E-Tangata, Māori Television, Pacific Media Network (NPRT)	Ifoga, video series about Pasifika who have suffered abuse in state care	$181,118
Great Southern Television for Newshub.co.nz	The Hui: Summer Edition a Māori current affairs programme	$178,729
BusinessDesk for BusinessDesk	How Good Is Our Public Service? multimedia series	$174,092
SunPix for TP+, Pacific Media Network (NPRT), E-Tangata, Māori Television	Maisuka, a documentary about Type 2 diabetes for Moana adolescents	$131,139
Kowhai Media for New Zealand Geographic	Being Teen, A text and photography-based longitudinal series	$98,533
Tech-day for SecurityBrief,  CFO tech N, IT Brief, bizEDGE, ChannelLife, FutureFive	Cybersecurity In Aotearoa text-based stories and interviews on security	$73,152
North & South Media for North & South	System Overhaul  long-form text story about fixing state care	$42,500
Lifestyle Publishing for Wilderness Magazine	The Living Forest A text-based series about three iwi in NZ	$4,250
Very Nice Productions for NZ Herald and NZME	Local Focus a regional video news service	$840,000
Allied Press for ODT.co.nz	The South Today expanded service of video news for the South Island	$675,000
Awa FM for Awa FM	Te Awa - News made from the perspective of Whanganui Māori	$498,370
Te Reo Irirangi O Te Hiku O Te Ika for Tehiku.nz	Haukāinga - initiative providing news to Māori audiences in Northland	$460,000
Te Wāhanga Reo Rua, NZME for Rotorua Weekender	Rotorua Weekender, weekly bilingual Te Reo Māori and English section in the Rotorua Weekender	$440,000
Stuff for PlayStuff and Māori Television	Forever A Foreigner multimedia series about NZ's first Asian immigrants	$214,360
Crux for Crux.org.nz	Deep South video series examining social and economic issues in the South Island	$189,522
Vanishing Point Studio for North & South and multiple local newspapers	Fault Lines, cross-platform piece looking into the Alphine Fault	$166,600
Whakatupuria Te Moana A Toi	Whakatupuria, multimedia project that looks into the Provincial Growth Fund in the Eastern Bay of Plenty	$97,000
Salient Magazine	Te Ao Mārama A special edition of Salient produced by Māori students	$7,291
NZME, Māori Television, Newshub and Pacific Media Network with 11 support partners	Te Rito Journalism Project, a programme to train and hire 25 cadet Māori, Pasifika and diverse journalists.	$2,419,253
Aotearoa Media Collective	Pīpī Paopao initiative providing regional workshops to 100 iwi radio staff	$361,815
Stuff	Training: Multi-lens Journalism	$300,800
The Spinoff	Current Affairs and Culture Magazine Mentorship Programme training initiative pairing journalism cadets with a mentor	$287,310
BusinessDesk	Cadet Training Programme, training two speicalist business journalists	$191,000
Attitude Pictures	Disability Roadshow, workshops for journalists to learn about disability rights and reporting	$121,420
Kowhai Media	Photo Aotearoa a workshop and a three-month mentoring programme training photojournalists	$98,256
Newsroom	Training to upskill Newsroom’s graduate journalists	$50,610
Tikilounge Productions	Coconet Reporter Training - Training three reporter trainees	$49,324

 

Round six recipients

Made public on Monday 5th December 2022

 

 

 

 

 

Three Waters 2.0: Our ad in the Herald exposing David Parker's central planning "reforms"

With the support of hundreds of supporters like you, we managed to secure a four-page lift-out in the NZ Herald this week to coincide with the final day on our 'Hands Off Our Homes: Stop Central Planning Committees' roadshow.

View a high-res image of the ad here

David Parker's reforms would strip democratic control over resource allocation and planning decisions from local councils and place them in the hands of unelected, co-governed central planning committees.

The Government has learnt its lesson from Three Waters and isn't spending millions of taxpayer dollars on TV adverts (or otherwise talking about what they are doing) this time. Our main objective with the nationwide roadshow tour was to raise awareness about these reforms and explain to New Zealanders what these radical changes will mean for them.

Over the coming weeks we will continue to expose Minister Parker's Soviet-style central planning committees for what they are and make it a major political thorn in the Government's side as we head towards October's election.

We can only force this matter onto the political agenda with people power. If you haven't already, please take a moment to add your name to the petition opposing these undemocratic reforms.

🔍 Future of Local Government 👩🏻‍💼👨🏻‍💼🔺

Not content with ripping away democratic control of water infrastructure and planning powers from local councils, a Government-appointed panel this week released their final report into the future of local government. 

As we predicted, the report advocates for even more centralisation and removal of local voice and democratic accountability from decision making. The report recommends reorganizing local government with "the resource management reform boundaries as a starting point for discussions". 😳

This would amount to a mass amalgamation of New Zealand's councils further reducing the ratepayers' ability to engage in the democratic process. 

New Zealand is one of the most highly centralized countries in the world. Just a tenth of government expenditure is delivered through our councils. And those councils are extremely large by international comparisons. Auckland's Super City is a prime example of bigger not being better – rather than save money it's led to more managers, more layers of bureaucracy, and much higher rates.

This Review presented a great opportunity to fix the issues in local councils and put power closer to the people, Instead it has focussed on identity politics and public sector gimmicks like citizens’ assemblies and "participatory budgeting". And the only structural reforms it proposes would likely see more centralizations and a further undermining of democratic accountability.

New Zealanders aren’t interested in nebulous concepts like embedding a wellbeing focus in local government – they want to see high quality services delivered at a local level for the lowest rates possible. That means small, democratically accountable, powerful local councils where local people have the opportunity every three years to kick out politicians who aren’t performing.

At the end of this month, in the middle of a cost of living crisis, taxpayers up and down New Zealand will be slapped with four new tax increases, so get ready as Grant Robertson is coming for your wallet.

On 1 July, the following taxes are increasing:

🛑 Petrol excise by 29 cents/litre (including GST)

🛑 Road user charges by 56%

🛑 Ute tax by up to $1,725

🛑 Alcohol tax by 6.6%

Worse still, all four tax increases will have a disproportionately large impact on rural and poorer households. 

Cost of living crisis? What cost of living crisis?

The fuel excise and diesel road user charge increases will punish those who often don't have any other choice but to drive either due to where they live or the nature of their work.

Similarly, the ute tax will slam hard-working farmers and tradies who simply don't have any other option but to drive a ute – for them, they are tools of the trade. This increase is particularly cruel for those who lost vehicles in the recent flooding and will now have to pay up to $6,900 in tax just to replace a damaged work vehicle. 

And where does this money go? To subsidize those in the cities (where public transport is an option) so they can buy themselves a new Tesla. 

Tens of thousands of New Zealanders have already signed our petition calling for the ute tax to be scrapped. You can sign the petition here.

After all those tax hikes, you may need a beer or two to relax but, after a 6.9% alcohol excise hike last year, it's going up a further 6.6% this year too! Cheers.

Tax Preferences Principles Bill – David Parker trying to screw the scrum

David Parker’s Tax Principles Bill faced scrutiny at Select Committee last week, and of course your humble Taxpayers’ Union was there to give them a piece of taxpayers’ minds.

Scores of interested parties turned up to rip holes in this bill, which if nothing else shows one thing: Despite David Parker’s protestations that his 7 ‘principles’ were universally agreed upon fact, clearly they are little more than the preferences of one man and his lackeys.

For instance, take the Government’s attempt to enshrine in law the idea that tax systems must be progressive. Our economist, Ray Deacon, made the point that “there is no reason why a flat tax applied across all income levels, with an appropriately structured system of transfer payments, cannot achieve the goals that a progressive tax system is aiming for.” As it happens, even the Inland Revenue Department agrees with us!

Many of these "principles" would screw the scrum by shutting down democratic debate on our tax system by claiming Labour's opinions are objective fact and handing the power to dictate tax policy to an unelected Commissioner. If these principles are universal, Minister Parker must live in a different universe to us. 

In our written submission, we suggested that the bill be withdrawn or, at the very least, should be reworked to be based on the Tax Foundation's Principles of Sound Tax Policy. 

Ray also suggested that it would be more appropriate to rename the proposal as the Tax Preferences Bill. At least then the Government would be honest in their intentions. You can watch our submission here.

Taxpayer Victory: Michael Wood Resigns

In our last update, we called for Michael Wood's resignation over his failure to appropriately manage his conflict of interest as Minister of Transport while owning shares in Auckland Airport. Our petition has since gathered thousands of signatures.

It subsequently emerged that Wood had undeclared financial interest in a number of other areas that conflicted with his Ministerial responsibilities. It was also revealed that Minister Wood was contacted 16 times by the Cabinet Office to sell his shares, not just the 12 times that had previously been stated. For multiple breaches of disclosure requirements as bad as this, Prime Minister Hipkins shouldn't have given Wood the opportunity to resign and should have sacked him instead!

This is a significant victory for taxpayers and one we care deeply about – accountability is one of the three key pillars of our mission. All taxpayers are entitled to expect that Ministers appropriately manage conflicts of interest and are, well, honest. Democracies can only function properly when the public has confidence that Ministers' personal financial interests aren't influencing decisions. 

When Ministers fail to uphold high standards of transparency and accountability, public trust in Government is eroded and it lowers the bar for what is considered acceptable conduct by future Ministers. Hipkins has yet to rule out Wood's return to the Cabinet table in a future Government. We say this should be the end of Mr Wood's political career. 

We welcome the announcement that work is underway to improve Cabinet's systems for managing conflicts of interest, we can only hope that this yields more accountability rather than just another box-ticking exercise. 

Thank you for your support.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

The Spinoff New poll points to National-Act government despite bump for Greens

NZ Herald Political poll: National, Act could form Government

Stuff National and ACT could form government, according to latest poll

RNZ New poll shows National, ACT keeping edge ahead of Labour

Politik Collins paves the way

The Working Group with David Farrar, Raf Manji and Damien Grant

Newstalk ZB Afternoon Edition: 14 June 2023 (02:08)

NZ Herald Te Pāti Māori coalition a drag on Labour - poll

Otago Daily Times Council won't pay for statue: mayor

Newstalk ZB THE RE-WRAP: Gang Gaslighting Continues (07:09)

NZ Herald Will a recession lose Labour the election? PM Chris Hipkins, Grant Robertson respond

Otago Daily Times Poll: mayor should stay, not chief exec

The Press Govt told capital gains tax is not a ‘universally accepted’ taxation principle

NZ Local Government Magazine Reactions to Local Government Review report

The Platform David Farrar on the DIA making unauthorised changes to the Three Waters bill

interest.co.nz A super-majority of voters want to fix tax bracket creep but only two political parties agree

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reacting to the announcement that Michael Wood has resigned as a Minister, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager Callum Purves said:

“Michael Wood put himself in a position where it became simply untenable for him to remain as a Minister. Today’s developments of further undisclosed conflicts emerging simply reaffirmed the need for his resignation but also raised concerns that the Cabinet Office simply has to rely on the word of the Minister that there are no conflicts. This is not good enough.

“This whole episode is incredibly damaging of public confidence and perceptions of Cabinet’s conflict of interest processes. Just over a week since we launched our petition calling for Mr Wood’s resignation, thousands of concerned New Zealanders have signed it. The public are demanding higher standards from those in power which the Taxpayers’ Union has long called for.

“We welcome the announcement that more robust and timely processes will be put in place and await further details on any proposed restrictions regime for Minsters’ shareholdings.”

Commenting on He piki tūranga, he piki kōtuku –The future for local government final report, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“New Zealand is one of the most highly centralized countries in the world. Just around a tenth of government expenditure is delivered through our councils. And those councils are extremely large by international comparisons. The Auckland Super City is a prime example of bigger not being better where a merger has simply led to more managers, more layers of bureaucracy, and higher rates.

“This Review presented a great opportunity to fix this and put power closer to the people, but instead it has focussed on identity politics and public sector gimmicks like citizens’ assemblies and participatory budgeting. And the only structural reforms it proposes would likely see more centralizations and a further undermining of democratic accountability.

“New Zealanders aren’t interested in nebulous concepts like embedding a wellbeing focus in local government – they want to see high quality services delivered at a local level for the lowest rates possible. That means small, democratically accountable, powerful local councils where local people have the opportunity every three years to kick out politicians who aren’t performing.”

Reacting to the news that the Government is set to become a part owner of the Ruapehu ski fields, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager Callum Purves said:

“The Government should not be getting involved with propping up businesses that cannot stay afloat on their own. If the current operators go under, the mountains, ski-lifts and other infrastructure will still be there for another company to take over.

“Many international companies would be interested in buying the rights to operate the ski-fields for the reported price of $1, without the need for taxpayer loans, bailouts or buy-ins. Investing in New Zealand would be an attractive option for international companies seeking to diversify risk geographically and smooth income during the off-season in their respective countries.

“If the government wants to do something, a good start would be speaking with the many international ski-companies to see what regulatory barriers there are which are preventing them from taking over operations and seek to reduce them in time for the winter ski-season.

“People often forget that these things have an opportunity cost. The ski industry is one dominated by wealthy families who can afford to get away over the winter for some time on the slopes. Spending taxpayer money on bailing out the Ruapehu ski-fields means that we are effectively subsidising the hobbies of the wealthy at the cost of say funding frontline education or health services that have the greatest impact on low-income New Zealanders.”

 

Responding to the publication of the Ministry for the Environment’s consultation document, New Zealand's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“The beauty of the Emissions Trading Scheme is that it ensures that we reduce net emissions and work towards our international climate commitments in the most efficient way possible and at the least cost to the taxpayer. But in order to do this effectively, the ETS must be neutral in the way that emissions are reduced or taken out of the atmosphere.

“The Government’s shift towards focussing on gross rather net emissions will ultimately not make any difference to tackling climate change and seems to prioritize virtue signalling over effective action. Instead it should focus on small tweaks such as removing the price floor to allow the market to clear and granting NZUs for sequestration from new carbon capture technologies.

“Concerns around the proliferation of forestry and land use more generally should be dealt with through separate environmental rules outside the ETS."

 

Commenting on reports in today’s New Zealand Herald that Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand has introduced a new Equity Adjustor Score that requires patients to be prioritised on the basis of geographic location, deprivation and ethnicity alongside standard factors such as clinical priority, Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said:

“Decisions over deciding the priority of patients for surgery – and how taxpayer dollars are spent – should be made solely on the basis of clinical need and not on demographic factors such as ethnicity. We should trust the judgement of experienced surgeons to make decisions about which patients are in most urgent need.

“Enforced ranking of patients on the basis of ethnicity has no place in New Zealand’s health system. We should be backing clinical professionals over Wellington-based Te Whatu Ora bureaucrats to make these critical healthcare decisions.”

Commenting on this morning’s GDP figures, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“While the impacts of the severe weather events earlier in this year will have damaged primary production, the Government needs to shoulder much of the blame for this economic contraction. Its spending addiction has driven inflation to record levels and forced the Reserve Bank to hike the Official Cash Rate repeatedly, which has undoubtedly hampered economic activity.

“New Zealand might have only just entered a technical recession, but without drastic and urgent action from the Government to rein in its spending, this situation may well persist for some time to come.

“While Grant Robertson might not want to listen to us, he should take heed of the IMF’s damning indictment of his economic policies. They rightly argue that other than investment in cyclone recovery and social housing, the Government should tighten its belt by cutting spending and ensuring that cost of living support is targeted to those who need it most.”

Commenting on news that the former Te Pūkenga chief executive, Stephen Town, was paid out close to $200,000, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said: 

“The Government’s polytechnic merger was always a bad idea and one driven by their obsession with centralization. Far from delivering efficiencies, Te Pūkenga has simply created additional layers of bureaucracy while worsening financial problems and failing to address the issue of student numbers.

“The fact that the chief executive presiding over this mess was given a nearly $200,000 payout after having already been paid $65,000 for a period of ‘special leave’ is simply outrageous and completely unjustifiable. The golden goodbye culture in the public sector of rewarding failure must end immediately.”

Commenting on former Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt’s request for a ratepayer-funded statue of himself, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“It beggars belief that Tim Shadbolt thinks this is an appropriate use of Invercargill residents' money, especially considering that the public have already had to pay for his enormous ratepayer-funded mayoral portrait.

“We commend Mayor Nobby Clarke for standing firm on this issue and looking out for ratepayers’ interests. If Mr Shadbolt would like a statue of himself, he is more than welcome to fundraise for one privately.”

NEW POLL: Centre Right could form government while Greens see bump in support 📊🟢

Exclusively for our supporters like you, here are the results of June's Taxpayers’ Union – Curia Poll:

Here is how these results would translate to seats in the 120-seat Parliament, assuming all electorate seats are held:

National is unchanged on last month on 46 seats while Labour is down 2 seats to 42. ACT remains constant on 16 seats while the Greens pick up 3 seats to a total of 12. The Māori Party is down 1 seat on last month to 4.

David Parker U-Turns Under Pressure From Taxpayers’ Union ↩️⚖️

Our Hands Off Our Homes: Stop Central Planning Committees roadshow is well under way. We’re traversing the length and breadth of the country from Invercargill to Whangārei to raise awareness about the Government's latest power grab. By increasing the profile of this issue, we are putting pressure on the Government to scrap these undemocratic reforms.

And we have already made some progress. 

We invited all Members of Parliament, mayors and councillors to come along and listen to voters' concerns about these reforms and give their own view about the proposals. On the very first day of our roadshow, I received an email from Minister Parker where he refused to attend one of our events as they were, apparently, "political grandstanding".

While he clearly wasn't interested in hearing what New Zealanders think, he did confirm a Government back down. 

Under his original plans, these reforms would have given the new National Māori Entity the ability to monitor and issue directions to the Minister and all bodies acting under these new laws, including the Environment Court. This prompted an unprecedented intervention from the Chief Justice, Dame Helen Winkelmann, who said such an approach was "inconsistent with New Zealand's constitutional arrangements".

In his email, Minister Parker announced that the Government would remove National Māori Entity oversight of the Environment Court. This simply goes to show that our efforts are already making a difference. Everyone who signs and shares our petition, or comes along to one of our roadshow events, or buys a banner or yard sign, is applying pressure on the Government.

It is a small step in the right direction, but we will continue to ramp up our campaign. These planning reforms are so bad that they must be withdrawn and the Government must go back to the drawing board. 

ACT announces plans to slash red tape ✂️🟡

Here at the Taxpayers' Union, we believe that excessive regulation is holding New Zealand back. Red tape hampers productivity and growth by putting costly and unnecessary barriers in the way of working, operating a business, or making improvements to your property.

But unlike tax and spend policies, the introduction of new regulations often receives little scrutiny. The current lack of careful analysis often leads to the implementation of unworkable rules, which in turn produce unintended consequences. In many cases, the costs associated with such regulations far outweigh any potential benefits they may bring.

Last weekend, ACT announced a policy to create a new Ministry for Regulation run by a minister responsible for subjecting proposals for new regulations to the same level of scrutiny we give to public spending. The Minister would also have the responsibility of reviewing existing regulations to see whether those that are unnecessarily burdensome can be scrapped.

We are generally cautious of proposals to create a new Ministry – there are far too many already – but we believe that this may be one of the few exceptions. Too often cost/benefit analyses can be a tick-box exercise, but having a Minister specifically charged with casting a critical eye over new and existing regulations will ensure that preventing and reducing unnecessary red tape will be given the priority it requires. 

Michael Wood must resign over shares scandal 🔍❌

At the time of writing, Michael Wood remains a Minister and has only been temporarily relieved of his transport portfolio. In the unlikely event that you missed it, Michael Woodhouse failed to declare his financial conflict of interest in Auckland Airport despite being the minister responsible for rules around aviation and the wasteful Auckland Light Rail to the airport. 

While the story is news to the public, it apparently isn't to Michael Wood. Two-and-a-half years ago, he was instructed by the Cabinet Office to sell his shares to ensure that his financial interest would not influence his decision making. Despite assurances that he would do so, Minister Wood only just sold his shares this week after the story appeared on the front page of the NZ Herald.

And this wasn't just a case of the Minister being careless and forgetting to sell the shares after a single reminder. The Cabinet Office told him to sell the shares not once, not twice, but a staggering twelve times. On at least one occasion, the Minister actually told the Jacinda Ardern's office that the shares had been sold despite this being demonstrably false. In addition, we now know that Minister Wood mislead the media, in response to a question from Newsroom about the accuracy of his interests register decorations.

Call us old fashioned, but we remember when Labour Ministers were sacked (or forced to quit) for lying to the media, let alone, the Prime Minister. Just ask Lianne Dalziel...

We say it is simply untenable for Michael Wood to remain a Minister. Chris Hipkins should have taken swift action to remove Wood from office immediately to send a clear signal that this type of conduct is unacceptable. This demonstrates a lack of respect to New Zealanders who expect our MPs – and Ministers especially – to be transparent (and honest).

As the Prime Minister isn't taking decisive action, we have set up a petition calling on Michael Wood to do the honourable thing and resign. You can add your name here.

>> Sign the petition <<<

Thank you for your support.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

NZ Herald On the Tiles: Episode 54 – The challenges facing National pre-election (01:51)

Stuff Where is the Green Party at for the upcoming election campaign?

TVNZ Donations, voting age: Panel recommends sweeping election changes

Wairarapa Times-Age Groups link up to oppose RMA plan

whatsoninvers.nz Huge Response In Southland To Hands Off Homes Roadshow

Otago Daily Times Mayor's comments on media funding labelled ignorant 

The News Addressing the people

Southland Times Gore District Council chief executive breaks his silence on bullying claims

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commenting on ACT’s ‘Policing Red Tape and Regulation’ policy announcement, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“Red tape and regulation are some of the biggest hand brakes on New Zealand’s prosperity. They make it more difficult for people to run businesses, hamper growth and investment, and ultimately drive up the costs of goods and services for us all.

“Unlike tax and spend policies, new regulations get little scrutiny. This leads to rules that are often unworkable and have many unintended consequences where any benefits of regulation can be significantly outweighed by the costs.

“ACT’s proposal to apply the same discipline to analysing regulations that we already do to public spending is a sound one that would prevent ill-thought-through rules being implemented and would reduce the overall burden of red tape on New Zealand.”

Taxpayers' Union on Tour: Stop Central Planning Committees 🛑🏘️

On Monday, we kicked off our nationwide tour to Stop Central Planning Committees in Christchurch and the team are currently working their way down the South Island – tonight we are jointly hosting an event with Federated Farmers at 6pm at the Invercargill Workingmen's Club (details of all the events are on our website here). 

Make no mistake, David Parker's replacement to the Resource Management Act will make resource consenting even harder. While Three Waters was about taking control of community assets — to put into centralized, co-governed entities — these bills are about taking control of planning laws and what you can do with your home, your property, or your farm — taking the control away from democratically elected councils to put them in 15 centralized, co-governed, so-called 'Regional Planning Committees'.

The effects will be dramatic. As a voter, you will no longer be able to hold to account the decision makers who will determine what you can produce on your farm, build on your property, or how your community is planned.  The Federated Farmers and the Taxpayers' Union are no fans of the current Resource Management Act, but David Parker's new regime will make getting a resource consent much, much harder.

Unlike Three Waters, the Government isn't talking about these bills or making the public aware of what it is doing. That's why we've taken to the road.

David Parker's replacement to the RMA is Three Waters 2.0. It will mean:

🔴 Higher building costs

🔴 More red tape

🔴 No local control

🔴 More co-governance

Sound familiar?

Thanks to everyone who has come along to our events so far. Check out this video from Star News to see what we have been up to.

You can learn more about the proposed reforms at www.HandsOffOurHomes.nz

We'll be in your town soon 🚗🚩

You can find our full itinerary at www.taxpayers.org.nz/roadshow

We look forward to meeting you on the road.

The tyranny of unelected council bureaucrats ⚖️🗳️

Here at the Taxpayers' Union, we believe that decisions are best made as close to the people they affect as possible. More often than not that means getting the Government to stop interfering with our lives full stop, but sometimes it means taking decisions in our communities rather than letting them be taken by politicians in Wellington. 

The problem is that too often the real power in our councils doesn't rest with mayors and councillors but instead is in the hands of unelected officials. We have seen these problems come into sharp focus in Gore where a longstanding council chief executive seems to be unwilling to work with their new democratically elected mayor.

I faced similar challenge serving as a councillor in Scotland where unelected officials would use all manner of ways to obstruct the wishes of democratically elected representatives and, ultimately, of the voters. Writing in the Otago Daily Times, I explain why this issue is such a problem for our local democracy. 

Thank you for your support.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

Rural News Expensive pet food!

NZ City Latest polling has National's support once again overtaking Labour's

NZ Herald Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll: National and Act could govern alone; Labour down but Hipkins more popular than Luxon

Stuff National and Act could form government, new Taxpayers’ Union Curia poll suggests

The Spinoff National moves ahead of Labour in new poll

RNZ Taxpayers Union-Curia poll points towards National-ACT government

RNZ The Panel with Ali Jones and Jeremy Elwood (Part One) (11:44)

Te Ao Māori News Poll: National + Act coalition could fly

The Daily Blog BREAKING: New Taxpayers Union Poll – ACT soar to victory while Greens stall!

Newstalk ZB Barry Soper: ZB senior political correspondent on Chris Luxon ruling out working with Te Pāti Māori after the general election

The Working Group with David Seymour, Matthew Hooton & Damien Grant

Newstalk ZB David Seymour: Act leader says a vote for Act prevents a National govt that campaigns from the right and governs from the left

Newstalk ZB Aaron Dahmen: Te Pāti Māori's glee has been palpable over the last few days

NZ Herald Herald’s poll of polls shows Christopher Luxon’s big gamble

NBR Political jockeying, budget pressures, election race

Kiwiblog Bet you none of them have paid additional tax?

Gisborne Herald Sentiment might be shifting again

Gone by Lunchtime Coalitions, coronations and chaos

Newstalk ZB Friday Faceoff: Josie Pagani and Peter Dunne (24:16)

RNZ Week in Politics: Te Pāti Māori in spotlight as Luxon paints a picture of 'chaos'

Indian Newslink Labour and National stay in close fight, not their leaders

The Press It's time to drop the 5% MMP threshold and let more smaller parties into Parliament

Rotorua Now New political poll: Main parties in a tight race

Newstalk ZB Kerre Woodham: I don't think it's unreasonable to have a co-analysis of any government programme

InfraNews Campaign launched against ‘undemocratic’ RMA reform

The Post Callum Purves: If the Government really wants to tackle cost of living, it needs to kick its spending habit

The Spinoff Free prescriptions an ‘important step forward’ – Greens

Indian Newslink Labour’s populist budget of relief brings a few surprises

Stuff Trustee tax increase 'is response to spike in trust use to avoid tax'

RNZ Political opponents take aim at Budget 2023: 'Blowout', 'broke', 'Budget for the rich'

Stuff The no frills, higher bills Budget

Feds News Federated Farmers launches nine-stop RMA rural roadshow

The Spinoff Five very similar polls, three very different results

NZ Herald On the Tiles: Episode 54 – Post-Budget, post-polls, and post-housing u-turns (02:51)

Stuff Janet Wilson: National should be doing better in the polls, but it's not happening

Otago Daily Times Callum Purves: Spotlight on power imbalance

Star News Taxpayers Union trying to halt RMA reforms

whatsoninvers.nz Taxpayers' Union Launches Nationwide Hands Off Our Homes! Roadshow

The Working Group with Ruth Richardson, Bernard Hickey and Damien Grant

The Common Room NZ "Co-governance for your deck!"

 

 

 

 

On the same day the Taxpayers’ Union kicked off the Hands Off Our Homes: Stop Central Planning Committees roadshow, David Parker has shown his first backdown in relation to one of the most controversial aspects of his RMA reforms.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, says:

“After contacting Minister Parker, informing him of our nationwide roadshow and inviting him to come and justify his proposals before any one of our 30 public meetings, he has committed to fixing the constitutional issues in the bill that would have seen the Environment Court subject to review by the National Māori entity.

“The Chief Justice, Dame Helen Winkelmann shared our concerns in a rare submission to the select committee, stating that such an arrangement would be “inconsistent with New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements” and “would be constitutionally unprecedented and problematic”.

“This significant flaw in the law should have never made it past the drafting stage. It demonstrates that this government is set on ramming these proposals through before the election despite widespread agreement that the proposal is worse than the dog of a bill they are seeking to replace.

“This government has a history of playing fast and loose with our constitutional framework - whether it be with the latest RMA proposals or the attempted entrenchment of Three Waters, there is either a lack of competence or a lack of care from the Ministers involved. We call on Minister Parker to front up and justify himself at one of our public meetings.

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union extends its congratulations to its Co-founder and Executive Director, Jordan Williams, who was elected Chair and President of World Taxpayers Associations (WTA) at this week's WTA General Meeting in Prague, Czech Republic, by the attending 22 taxpayer-protection organisations from 20 countries. The WTA is an international coalition of 47 taxpayer advocacy groups from across the globe and is incorporated in Sweden. Mr Williams has served on its Board since 2019.

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, an independent grassroots organisation dedicated to protecting the rights and interests of New Zealand taxpayers, commends Williams on his new global leadership role.

Laurence Kubiak, Chair of the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, said:

“This is a significant recognition of Jordan's work in advocating for taxpayer rights and making the Taxpayers’ Union a respected organisation in the international movement. New Zealanders can be proud that one of our own is now leading this global charge for fiscal responsibility, fairness, and accountability."

“As Jordan takes up this new role, we are confident that he will bring the same passion and rigour that he has shown in his service to New Zealand’s taxpayers.”

The Chair and President role is part-time, and is assisted by a General Secretary (based within the Spanish Taxpayers’ Union) and Treasurer (Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation). Jordan will continue as Executive Director of the Taxpayers’ Union.

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union extends its warmest congratulations to Jordan, and anticipates that his leadership of the WTA will contribute positively to the global conversation around taxpayer rights, accountability, and fiscal prudence.

 

About World Taxpayers Associations

The WTA was founded in 1988 with the following Statute purpose:

“The taxpayers movement has grown out of the desire of citizens to protect themselves from the increasing tax claims of the state. It works toward a society with lower taxes and more individual freedom. It wishes to stimulate efficiency and economy in the public sector. It supports legislation to limit tax burdens, prevent unjust harassment by tax collectors, and provide clear information about government taxation and expenditure.”
~ World Taxpayers Associations Statutes, adopted 1988

The WTA is incorporated in Sweden and comprises taxpayer protection groups from over 60 countries representing millions of who have a shared believe in “Flatter and simpler taxes, tax competition, government transparency, protection of fundamental taxpayer rights and reasonable limits on government spending, taxes and debt that will increase freedom, economic opportunity, government efficiency, and impede corruption.”

Commenting on the Reserve Bank’s decision to increase the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by a further 25 basis points, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“Continuing high levels of inflation have clearly forced the Reserve Bank to hike up interest rates even more. This means that families will not only have to bear the brunt of that high inflation, but higher interest rates will hit those renewing their mortgages soon too.

“The Government continually talks about tackling the cost of living crisis, but fails to recognize that it is partly responsible. Grant Robertson’s decision to increase spending over the next four years in his budget last week while forecast tax revenues have declined will simply add fuel to the inflation fire. If Chris Hipkins means what he says, he needs to rein in his Government’s spending.”

After the success of the Stop Three Waters roadshow last year, the Taxpayers’ Union is hitting the road once again for a four-week, nationwide roadshow to hear and highlight the concerns of ratepayers and councils threatened by the Government’s proposed replacement to the Resource Management Act.

The itinerary will see Taxpayers’ Union team members visiting 30 local centres in a ‘Hands Off Our Homes: Stop Central Planning Committees’-branded van, from Invercargill to Whāngarei. The team will meet mayors, councillors, and MPs and ask them to sign a pledge to do everything within their power to resist the Government’s reforms.

Ratepayers at every stop are invited to meet the Taxpayers’ Union team and hear the commitments of local politicians to oppose these proposals. Local mayors, councillors, MPs will also be invited to address the public meetings.

Nine of the events will be jointly hosted with our friends at Federated Farmers who have been at the forefront of the opposition to the proposed planning reforms.

The full itinerary can be viewed here.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“New Zealanders are rightly frustrated with the cumbersome Resource Management Act, which restricts how we use our land and has fuelled a serious infrastructure and housing shortage, but this proposed replacement will make the situation much worse.

“Not content with seizing water assets from local communities, the Government is now proposing to grab planning powers from local councils and transfer them to fifteen unaccountable, undemocratic, so-called Regional Planning Committees. At this rate there won’t be much left for your council to do.

“These changes will significantly reduce local control over decisions affecting communities while introducing many new and undefined concepts that will likely lead to legal challenges through the courts. And this increased red tape and bureaucracy will simply lead to higher building costs for everyone.”

North Island

Wellington @ 7 June, 6PM
Academy Galleries
1 Queens Wharf, Wellington CBD, Wellington, 6011

Lower Hutt @ 8 June, 10AM
26 Laings Rd, outside the Council offices

Masterton @ 8 June, 6PM
Co-hosted by our friends, Federated Farmers
Lansdowne House
15 Keir Crescent, Lansdowne, Masterton, 5810

Palmerston North @ 9 June, 6PM
Co-hosted by our friends, Federated Farmers
Palmerston North Community Leisure Centre - The Neville Butler Exhibition Hall
569 Ferguson Street, Terrace End, Palmerston North, 4410

Whanganui @ 10 June, 6PM
Co-hosted by our friends, Federated Farmers
War Memorial Centre - The Concert Chamber
Watt Street, Whanganui, 4500

Hastings @ 11 June, 11:30AM
207 Lyndon Road East, outside the Council offices

Napier @ 11 June, 3PM
159 Dalton Street, outside the Council offices

Taupō @ 12 June, 12:30PM
Corner of Ferry Road & Redoubt Street

New Plymouth @ 13 June, 10:30AM
Co-hosted by our friends, Federated Farmers
Pukekura Function Centre - La Mer Lounge
New Plymouth Raceway, Rogan Street, Pukekura, New Plymouth, 4310

Te Awamutu @ 13 June, 6PM
Co-hosted by our friends, Federated Farmers
Te Awamutu Golf Clubs
2293 Kihikihi Road, Te Awamutu 3800

Hamilton/Mystery Creek Fieldays @ 14-17 June, 8:30AM - 5:00PM Wednesday-Friday 8AM - 4PM on Saturday
Rural Living Marquee, 125 Mystery Creek Road

Rotorua @ 18 June, 1PM
Outside Rotorua Museum/Bathhouse
Government Gardens, Oruawhata Drive, Rotorua 3046

Tauranga @ 19 June, 6PM
Classic Flyers Museum Hangar
9 Jean Batten Drive, Mount Maunganui 3116

Auckland @ 20 June, 6:30PM
Ellerslie Event Centre - The Guineas Room 1
100 Ascot Avenue, Ellerslie, Auckland 1050

Pukekohe @ 21 June, 12:15PM
Pukekohe Indian Community Centre, 
59 Ward Street, Pukekohe, 2120

Mangawhai @ 22 June, 10AM
The Hub shops, 6 Molesworth Dr, outside the Council offices

Whangārei @ 22 June, 1.30PM
Town Basin, outside Claphams Clock Museum
32 Dent Street, Quayside, Town Basin, Whangārei 0111

South Island (Completed)

Christchurch @ 29 May, 6PM
Waimairi Road Community Centre
166 Waimairi Road, Ilam, Christchurch, 8041

Rolleston @ 30 May, 10:30AM
56 Tennyson Street, outside the Te Ara Ātea Library

Ashburton @ 30 May, 6PM
Co-hosted by our friends, Federated Farmers
Ashburton Club & MSA
266 Havelock Street, Ashburton 7700

Wānaka @ 31 May, 12PM
47 Ardmore Street, outside the Council offices

Alexandra @ 31 May, 6PM
Co-hosted by our friends, Federated Farmers
Alexandra Community Centre, Memorial Theatre
15 Skird Street, Alexandra, 9320

Balclutha @ 1 June, 11AM
South Otago Town & Country Club
1 Yarmouth Avenue, Balclutha, 9200

Gore @ 1 June, 6PM
Co-hosted by our friends, Federated Farmers
Croydon Lodge - The Trust Room and Lager Bar
100 Waimea Street, Croydon, Gore, 9776

Invercargill @ 2 June, 6PM
Co-hosted by our friends, Federated Farmers
Invercargill Workingmen's Club - Corinthian Conventions Centre
154 Esk Street, Invercargill, 9810

Dunedin @ 3 June, 11:30AM
The Octagon

Oamaru @ 3 June, 3:30PM
20 Thames Street, outside the Council offices

Timaru @ 4 June, 10:30AM
2 King George Place, outside the Council offices

Nelson @ 6 June, 10AM
At the bottom of the Cathedral steps
1 Upper Trafalgar Street, Nelson, 7010

Blenheim @ 6 June, 3:30PM
Seymour Square, 16 High Street, outside the Council offices

 

Callum and I are just out of the Beehive bunker where we’ve spent the morning poring over Grant Robertson’s sixth budget with media and analysts before it is delivered in Parliament.

Summary: nothing big bang spending wise other than free ECE for 2-year-olds. Tax hikes for those with trusts, and at the fuel pump. The economic news is better than had been previously forecast, but the government debt figures are getting much worse.

There’s nothing game changing or visionary in this year’s budget. Grant Robertson and Chris Hipkins have taken a scatter gun approach to this year’s new spending. Dobs of cash here, there and everywhere, but no major initiatives that are likely to shift the electoral dial. 

The first half of this email lists initiatives the Government wants you (and the media) to focus on.  The second part is what we’ve found, and they don’t want you to know.

The headline initiatives (what Chris Hipkins wants you to focus on) 😉

Here are the things the spin doctors in the Beehive are highlighting:

• Extending 20 hours ECE to 2-year-olds (eventually costing c.$380m/year)

This is the closest thing this year’s budget has to an electoral sugar hit.  For those with young families and working, it’s a boost to get back to work. A less expensive way of bringing down childcare costs would be to bring staff to child ratios in line with other OECD countries.

• Scrapping the $5 prescription co-payments for everyone (c.$175m/year)

The Government argues that this will relieve pressure on the health and care system by ensuring more people collect their prescriptions and fewer have to go into hospital.

• Free public transport for kids – half price for teenagers (c.$80m/year)

Children under 13 will get buses, ferries, and trains for free with under 25s getting half-price.

• Cyclone recovery, infrastructure, and “National Resilience Plan” (allocating $6b capital over the four-year forecast period).

As expected, there is large capital expenditure allocated to Auckland flooding and Cyclone Gabrielle recovery. The Government has also announced a “National Resilience Plan”.

• 3,000 additional public housing places ($3.1b, $465m operating over the four-year forecast period)

This is a mix of community, Māori, and temporary (cyclone related) housing.

• Investment in education to build more schools and classrooms, reduce class sizes, increase teacher pay and tackle truancy ($1.3b capital, $3.6b operating over the forecast period)

Populist policies such as reducing class sizes haven’t been shown to have much of an impact on attainment and paying teachers more is all well and good is they are high performing, but it means the bad teachers get paid more too.

The Gimmicks 🤡

It is usual in budgets to be crammed full of headline-grabbing gimmicks to oil the political squeaky wheels.  This year’s budget is sadly no different:

• “Cheaper energy bills” i.e. subsidies for heat pumps, insulation installations, and LED light bulbs

The Government is expanding the “Warmer Kiwi Homes Programme” to provide 100,000 new heating and insulation installations, 7,500 hot-water heat pumps and 5 million LCD light bulbs. That’s nearly one each!

• Supporting the growth (corporate welfare) of gaming sector

The Government is picking winners by announcing it’s doing to video games what it does already for international movie studios: Competing against Australia for economically dubious ‘rebate’ subsidies.

• More electric vehicle charging infrastructure
  
  
• “Investments” in Green Hydrogen and subsidies for trucking companies to buy electric trucks

Yet again, the Government repeats the claim that increasing the use of electric vehicles “reduces emissions”. Of course, that’s not true. Any decrease in transport emissions are simply made available under our fixed cap emissions trading scheme for other areas to use.  These subsides simply make climate change mitigation more expensive that it need be.

• Improving data on impacts on climate change, including data on how climate change impacts Māori.

What Chris Hipkins doesn’t want the media to focus on 🤫

As part of Ruth Richardson’s Fiscal Responsibility Act, since 1993 Treasury has been required to prepare independent fiscal and economic forecasts twice a year (and just prior to an election). 

So the first thing we do when we get into the Budget lockup is to check the headline forecasts against the half-year update back in December.

The numbers don’t lie

Despite better GDP and employment forecasts, gross debt forecasts are skyrocketing.

The debt figures are starting to look ugly.  Grant Robertson’s speech would have you believe that the Government books are rosy.  Yes, Treasury are no longer forecasting a recession, and unemployment is now forecast to peak less at 5.3 percent next year (compared to December’s forecast of 5.5 percent), but that makes the debt situation even more questionable.

Back in December, Treasury forecast gross debt to be $193 billion ($98,229 per household) or 39.9% of GDP by 2027.  Just six months later, the same officials are now forecasting gross debt to be $214.5 billion ($109,171 per household) or 44.3% of GDP.  That is an alarming change for just six months given the economy is not expected to be as bad between now and then.

The elephants in the room: the tax hikes that Grant Robertson insists aren’t a tax hike 🐘🐘🐘

Do you have a family trust? So much for Chris Hipkins’ ‘no tax hikes’ promise. Tax hikes for 1 April 2024 ⬆️

Yesterday, Mr Hipkins was saying that today’s Budget would not be putting up taxes.  Maybe Grant didn’t tell him, but today’s Budget puts up the trust rate from 33 cents in the dollar to 39 cents. 

In his comments to media, David Parker tried to frame it in context of his recent ‘Nosey Parker’ report into the country’s uber wealthy.  In reality, it will hit SME-business owners who own their family business via a family trust.  For the uber wealthy, this change will incentivise keeping capital within companies (which will soon be paying a considerably lower company rate of 28%). 

Do you own a car? Tax hikes for you in six weeks’ time 🚗⛽️💸 

The Budget locks in tax hikes for motorists.  From 1 July, fuel tax will be increasing 29 cents per litre.  That will return to a situation where for many (in particular, Aucklanders) pay more than half of the amount paid at the pump will be tax!

And for all the talk of helping those most in need, fuel taxes disproportionately hit the poor (who can’t afford electric vehicles), or live in rural areas.

So much for savings and reprioritisation! 🤷‍♀️

For all of Grant Robertson’s recent show of promoting himself as some sort of fiscal hawk, the “Savings and Reprioritisation” section of his 154-page Budget Document amounts to half a page – and all of it has already been announced.

And of the $4billion, a big chunk of it (c.$850m) is thanks to efforts of your humble Taxpayers’ Union: the dropping of TVNZ/RNZ merger, and the “re-focusing” (i.e. delaying) of Three Waters.  You’re welcome, Mr Robertson!

Is a return to surplus credible?

The Government is making a lot out of the projection that it will return New Zealand to surplus in 2024/25.  But the economists we spoke to in the lock up agree that this is very optimistic. It’s forecast to be just a surplus and assumes no more shocks (such as weather events).  It also assumed that, like every year’s budget, future governments will spend less on new initiatives going forward.  If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.

Join us tonight to discuss today’s budget with the NZ Initiative Think Tank.

In a few hours, our Chairman (former CEO of the NZ Institute of Economic Research) Laurence Kubiak, and I will be joining Eric Crampton and Oliver Hartwich from the NZ Initiative Think Thank to discuss the Budget and economic data released.  To listen in, head over to our Facebook or YouTube page at 7pm. 

Until then, we will have our head down continuing to work through the material.  Our comments to media on the budget and individual initiatives are linked below. 

Thank you for your support. For those interested, you can read the full documentation on the Treasury website here.

Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

BUDGET 2023 — MEDIA RELEASES:

Two tax hikes and an LED light bulb. Nothing for middle New Zealand in this budget

So much for no new taxes 

Cost of living be damned! Fuel tax hike from July will hit lower income and rural New Zealanders hardest

Grant's Gaming Gamble

Government is greenwashing

The Taxpayers’ Union has condemned the Government’s decision to allocate $160 million in rebates to the gaming sector over the next four years – calling it ‘corporate welfare’.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“It was quite incredible to watch the gaming sector lobbyists in the budget lock up celebrate the ‘win’ for their wealthy clients. Gaming, now joins the film industry as an exalted industry that somehow justifies special treatment with politicians taxing ordinary Kiwis more to fund corporate welfare schemes.

“Corporate welfare to help ‘grow’ an industry is a false economy. Just like film, these companies get addicted to the rebates and subsides. Even if the industry grows, so too does the subsidy. 

“Rather than pick winners, a far better economic strategy would be to slash the subsides for gaming and film and deliver every business and entrepreneur tax relief. Maybe then our company tax rate wouldn’t be among the highest in the world.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling out Government Greenwashing in its justification of spending at least $182.5 million of taxpayer dollars over the next four years on environmental subsidies that will fail to reduce net emissions. 

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said:

“The Government loves to crow about the action it is taking to tackle climate change, but today’s announcement that the Government plans to throw at least another $182.5 million of taxpayer dollars on environmental subsidies will not reduce net carbon emissions by a single gram. 

“Under New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), any reduction in carbon emissions in these areas will simply free up carbon credits for other less efficient industries to emit more. The Government should allow the ETS to do its job and ensure that reduce net carbon emissions in the most efficient way possible and at the minimum cost to Kiwis.”

“Every electric car that reduces transport emissions, simply frees up ETS credits for emissions in other areas of the economy. It’s literally undermining the whole purpose of the ETS – to find the most cost efficient ways to meet client targets – for the sake of political expediency.”

“Justifying spending with claims that it ‘reduces emissions’ is dishonest greenwashing. If it was done by a private company, the Commerce Commission would be investigating for deceptive conduct.”

The Taxpayers’ Union has condemned the Government’s announcement that it will increase the trustee tax rate to 39 cents in the dollar to align it with the highest personal income tax rate.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“Chris Hipkins’s ‘no new taxes’ pledge lasted about a week with today’s trustee tax rate hike. It’s a broken promise.

”The Government is trying to justify this tax hike by pointing to the most wealthy. But those people can keep money within company structures and pay the 28% company tax rate. In reality this tax grab will hit small business owners who often hold business in trusts for legitimate reasons.” 

Commenting on today’s budget announcement, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“With the exception of rolling out free ECE to two years and dropping prescription co-payments, there is almost nothing that the average taxpayer receives from today, except higher fuel taxes and a promise to increase trustee taxes next year.

“The effects of record high levels of inflation mean that families are paying higher levels of taxation each and every year. Instead of any tax relief in this budget, they get a LED light bulb, and a bus ride for their kids.

“Compared to the half-year fiscal and economic update, the revised Treasury forecasts are alarming. Gross debt is projected to be $21 billion higher by 2027 than estimated just 6 months ago – despite Grant Robertson’s attempts to paint a rosier picture.

“Government is driving inflation even higher. Government is forecast never to return to the size as a proportion of the economy as pre-COVID. It needs to tackle its spending problem, and this budget just doesn’t deliver.”

The Taxpayers’ Union has slammed the Government’s decision to hike fuel taxes from July. The 25 cent reduction in petrol excise (29 cents with GST) and the equivalent reduction in diesel road user charges will be scrapped at the end of June.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“Despite all the promises of focussing the cost of living, July’s fuel tax hikes contained in today’s budget will hit Kiwis already struggling with rising inflation. Outside the main cities, most people still rely on their cars to get about on a daily basis. This increase will particularly hit lower income families and New Zealanders living in rural areas – the very people struggling the most with the costs of living.

“If the Government stopped allowing the National Land Transport Fund to subsidize loss-making railway lines, walking and cycle ways, and even the expensive ‘Road to Zero’ advertising campaign, it could maintain fuel taxes at lower levels while still maintaining and investing in our roading network.” 

Reacting to today’s policy announcements from National and the alternative budget from ACT, the Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Labour Party to copy the best parts of these proposals and show some fiscal restraint.

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, says:

“We congratulate the opposition parties for putting forward taxpayer-friendly policies and urge Labour to treat these changes as a shopping list of good ideas for fiscal discipline. Just because the opposition announced these policies doesn’t mean they own them.

“Proposals such as linking the pay of public sector chief executives to performance, targeting policies such as the winter energy payment to those most in need and providing ‘taxpayer receipts’ are likely to be politically popular among the electorate and at the same time would deliver better value for money for the taxpayer.

“At a time when the number of managers in the public service is growing at twice the rate of front-line staff, it is more important than ever that we work on improving our public sector productivity rather than throwing more money at the bureaucratic black hole. No party has a monopoly on good ideas so, when one comes up, other parties should adopt them as their own."

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on Phillip Mills – of Les Mills – to pay back the $4.5 million his company took in wage subsidies before spouting off about how much he wants to, he says, pay more to the Government.

The Taxpayers’ Union has been tipped off by Auckland University Professor Robert MacCulloch that Les Mills New Zealand Ltd claimed a total of $4,510,078.80 in wage subsidies and has not repaid the amount despite many companies and even not-for-profits doing so.

Taxpayers' Union Executive Director Jordan Williams said: “It is a special kind of hypocrisy to tell national media about how you ‘want to pay more' to the Government, but not have your business join all of those who have paid back the wage subsidy."

"Mr Mills is right to point out that money is better spend on quality health and education than lining his own company pockets. That's why those who can afford it have done the right thing and paid back wage subsidies.”

“Actions speak louder than virtue signalling. Talk is cheap. Mr Mills should put his money where his mouth is, or get off his high exercise horse.”

Background: 

On Thursday, Philip Mills was reported in Stuff as one of the people who added their name to the a public letter that begins “We write as people who are frustrated with how much tax we pay. We want to pay more."

Mr Mills is quoted as saying that the current tax system is “broken” and “We’ve been focused too much for too long on paying lower and lower taxes. We need to focus more on having a world-class education system and not having people living in poverty and children coming to school not having enough to eat.” and “Those who can afford it should be paying significantly more taxes.” 

Screenshot from MBIE's wage subsidy online employer database:

 

The Taxpayers’ Union is today launching a major new campaign to protect NewZealanders from higher building costs, more red tape, no local control and more co-governance that would result from the Government’s proposed replacement to the Resource Management Act.

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said:

“We never thought we’d be defending the Resource Management Act but David Parker’s proposed replacement is much worse than the problems it is trying to fix. It replaces NewZealand’s biggest regulatory tax with an even higher one based on co-governance and central planning.

“Undoubtedly, reform of our bureaucratic resource management system is needed but tying productive New Zealanders up in even more red tape will only slow development, increase the costs of housing and doing business, and will make our country less attractive as a place to invest — ultimately this will make our country poorer.

“These proposals along with their ill defined, and often conflicting, ‘system outcomes’ would lead to expensive, drawn out court battles while people try to figure out what any of this even means. Lawyers and consultants are already rubbing their hands.

“Not only will these proposals mean more costs, but with decision-making powers being ripped away from democratically accountable councils and placed in the hands of unelected so-called ‘Regional Planning Committees’, environmental and community outcomes will be worse off too. Local communities, with the right incentives and financing vehicles, are best placed to make the decisions that directly impact them.

“This will be our most important campaign yet, our country’s local democracy and prosperity depend on it."

The Taxpayers’ Union has launched a new website and petition opposing these reforms at: www.handsoffourhomes.nz

Hands off our homes: Stop Central Planning Committees merchandise and roadside banners can be purchased at www.taxpayers.org.nz/shop

NEW POLL: ACT boost means Centre Right can form Government in latest poll 📊🟡

Exclusively for our supporters like you, here are the results of May's Taxpayers’ Union – Curia Poll:

Here is how these results would translate to seats in the 120 seat Parliament, assuming all electorate seats are held:

Labour is down four seats on last month to 44 while National is down one seat to 46. ACT is up four seats to 16 while the Greens are unchanged on 9 seats. The Māori Party is up one seat to 5.

Chris Hipkins's net favourability score of +22% is six points lower than last month and down 11 points on his March peak of +33%.

Christopher Luxon’s score of -7% (-1 point) is at its lowest level since he became National Party leader in November 2021 while David Seymour is on -11% (-5 points).

Chris Hipkins has a slight positive net favourability rating with National voters +7% while Christopher Luxon has a score of -56% with Labour voters.

In another worrying sign for Christopher Luxon, among undecided voters, Chris Hipkins has a positive net favourability of +30% while Christopher Luxon is on -26%. David Seymour is on -32%.

Visit our website for more information and details of how to get access to the full polling report (which includes favourability figures for the two MPs in the centre of the Green Party's 'cry baby' text scandal: Chlöe Swarbrick and Elizabeth Kerekere).

‘Take a Moment’ (to get angry) at the Human Rights Commission’s shiny new website 💻💸

They say ‘less is more’, but the Human Rights Commission (HRC) took it a bit too literally when its website redesign amounted to little more than a change of colour scheme and a new tool to 'help' New Zealanders appreciate the HRC and its work. Our Investigations Co-ordinator, Ollie Bryan, revealed earlier this week that HRC has spent $417,962 on the new site.

One of the few changes is a new tab on their home page called ‘Take a Moment’. We pointed out that all this button did was take you to a plain blue screen and a pulsing HRC logo... and nothing else.

Soon after our story was covered in the media, the HRC quickly updated this page. The page now includes relaxing music, soothing bird song and calming animations. I'm not sure they quite understood the point we were making...

Given that taxpayers like you, dear reader, paid $417,962 for the privilege, your humble Taxpayers' Union encourages you to 'take a moment' and appreciate what your money is being spent on... 

With so many pressing needs in our society – the cost of living, healthcare and education in crisis, and infrastructure falling apart – these sort of vanity projects really make us wonder whether the Human Rights Commission itself needs to 'take a moment'...

Axe the Inflation Tax: Time for Income Tax Bracket Indexation 📈💵

With high inflation, bracket creep means that workers' taxes are being hiked without a single vote having been cast in Parliament. If politicians want more of our money, they should have to make the case to Parliament – and the public.

There is a simply solution: Linking the thresholds at which different rates of income tax kick in to inflation.

The Common Room NZ is an excellent resource for those interested in debate, politics, and public policy. This week they feature Jordan who explains the inflation tax, and how to fix it.

A Taxpayers' Union – Curia Poll last month showed that 65% of New Zealanders favoured automatically increasing income tax thresholds in line with inflation as is already the case for welfare benefits. 19% of those polled were against while 17% were unsure.

Many countries already adjust tax brackets for inflation and it is not a difficult policy to implement. Here in New Zealand, there are already inflation adjustments for welfare benefits and superannuation payments. Why should working New Zealanders be punished with stealthy tax hikes when they are not actually earning more?

You can watch Jordan's video here.

Taxpayer Victory! Film Commission avoids this year's Oscars ❌🏆

Last year, the New Zealand Film Commission sent two employees to Hollywood to attend the Academy Awards in Hollywood. Despite the ceremony only lasting a few hours, the two employees managed to bag themselves a ten-day extended trip. Their extravagant jaunt cost taxpayers like you a staggering $58,000 including more than $5,000 on wine at one event and $1,223 on spirits, beer, wine, and bar snacks at another.

Well, not this year!

It seems our pointing out this waste of taxpayer dollars put the Film Commission off from sending a representative again. A recent Official Information Act response confirmed that your hard-earned money was not squandered on a lavish Hollywood trip this year.

The Taxpayers' Union will continue to hold government departments and agencies like the Film Commission to account on their spending. We’ll be keeping a close eye on whether any New Zealand public servants rock up to the Cannes Film Festival later in the year...

Thank you for your support.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union slams spurious claims by the Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw, that a $300 Million increase in New Zealand Green Investment Finance’s (NZGIF) funding will reduce emissions.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, says:

“Once again, the Government doesn't seem to understand its own Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Any emissions reductions that this funding brings about will simply free up carbon credits to be used by other businesses under the ETS. This is a government vanity project that will not reduce net emissions by even a single gram.

“On top of that, this investment is gambling with taxpayers’ money. Private investors will carefully assess the viability of a project before stumping up the cash, which begs the question what NZGIF can bring to the table except risking other people’s money on projects which are likely to be unprofitable?

“We shouldn’t need to keep highlighting the same point every time the Government throws taxpayers’ money at one of its ineffective climate vanity projects. The bank should instead be privatised and the money raised used to pay down debt. A privately-owned green bank would likely do a better job of financing viable green investments."

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union questions the Government’s decision to double down on exposing taxpayers to risky development schemes following the announcement that they plan to invest a further $159 million in projects at risk of failure.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, says:

“We all recognize that the housing shortage is the single biggest factor in Kiwis’ increasing difficulty in getting a foot on the property ladder, and we welcome genuine attempts to try and alleviate this crisis.

“However, making taxpayers liable for propping up the developments that banks deem too risky to fund themselves is a recipe for disaster. The reason that banks won’t fund these projects is because they lack confidence that they can recoup any of their investment, so how can the Government justify being so reckless with hard working New Zealanders' taxes during a cost-of-living crisis?

“If the Government is serious about tackling the housing crisis, it needs to focus on removing barriers to supply, rather than doubling down by putting even more red tape of development with their proposed Resource Management Act replacement.”

 

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is slamming the Government’s plans to implement a cap on emissions from new buildings - a policy which will drive up house prices and put more pressure on Kiwi families during a cost of living crisis.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves says:

“A cap on construction emissions would unnecessarily drive up construction costs and in turn would result in increased house prices, higher rents and a reduced growth in supply.

“25.9% of renters spend more than 40% of their income on housing, if the Government truly cared about reducing the cost of living, they would focus on removing barriers to supply rather than making it more expensive to build houses.

“Not only will this proposal make people’s lives even tougher, but it won’t even make a shred of difference to the environment. Construction emissions are already governed under New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme so any reduction would simply free up carbon credits to be used to increase emissions in other sectors.

Nosey Parker's Pet Project: The envy tax report 🤑💰

Last week, the IRD published its much anticipated report on high net wealth individuals. Their research project looked at the level of tax paid by just over 300 of the wealthiest New Zealanders. They carried out this project thanks to new investigatory powers handed to them by the Government that were snuck through under urgency a couple of years ago.

The report purports to show that these high wealth individuals pay half the level of tax on their income when compared to the average Kiwi. But the way the IRD defines 'income' in this report is very different to how you or I would define it. Most of us would think that this covers our salary and perhaps capital gains from selling an asset.

But the IRD have used the widest possible definition of 'economic income'. It suggests that all capital gains should be included even if they are unrealized. For example, if your house increases in value but you don't sell it, by their logic, you should pay tax on that increase. But you can bet you wouldn't get a rebate if the house price fell. Even more strangely, this measure of income includes things like 'imputed rents'. In other words, if you own a house and live in it, your taxable income should include the rent that you would pay yourself to live in your own home. Keeping up? 👀

Stretching the definition of income this far is what has allowed the report to magic up the figure that high net wealth individuals pay only 9 percent of their income economic income in tax. And in doing so, it has served David Parker's real purpose: To fuel the politics of envy and provide a justification – however misleading – to introduce some kind of capital gains tax or wealth tax.

The Prime Minister is being just as slippery. While he has ruled out such measures for this month's budget and the rest of this 'parliamentary term', his careful choice of words signals that something is on the horizon. 

In short, the Government has essentially wasted over $5 million to produce a report that tells us something we already knew: We don't tax capital gains here in New Zealand. 

Careful what you wish for: Killing the goose that lays the golden egg 👋🇳🇴🛫

In completely unrelated news, Norway recently increased its wealth tax (applicable to net wealth above NOK 1.7 million – approximately $250,000 NZD) from 1.0 percent to 1.1 percent and has seen an exodus of, well, the wealthy.  According to that well known right wing newspaper, The Guardian:

A record number of super-rich Norwegians are abandoning Norway for low-tax countries after the centre-left government increased wealth taxes to 1.1%.

More than 30 Norwegian billionaires and multimillionaires left Norway in 2022, according to research by the newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv. This was more than the total number of super-rich people who left the country during the previous 13 years, it added. Even more super-rich individuals are expected to leave this year because of the increase in wealth tax in November, costing the government tens of millions in lost tax receipts.

That's right: The tax increase has actually resulted in less tax being available for public services. Given that the top 10 percent of New Zealanders already pay half of the total income tax take (not to mention the investment, jobs, and entrepreneurship we all benefit from), a wealth tax right would simply serve to wave goodbye to even more Kiwis across the ditch to Australia.

Is Labour credible on tax? Government tax hikes hit low and middle income New Zealanders hardest 💵🔺

It seems that some Cabinet Ministers didn't get the memo about 'no new taxes'. Within 12 hours of Chris Hipkins leaving the country for the King's Coronation, Transport Minister Micheal Wood hiked the Ute Tax!

To make matters worse, either Transport Minister, Michael Wood, isn't on speaking terms with the Finance Minister, or Mr. Robertson lied when he said just 12 hours before the Government hiked the Ute Tax that they would not be hiking the Ute Tax... Have a listen:

Scrap the Ute Tax: Government's reverse Robin Hood tax won't even cut emissions 🏹🛻 

This tax will now set you back up to $6,900 to buy a new ute or up to $3,500 to buy one second hand. This will hit tradies and farmers hard, particularly those in flood-affected areas like Hawke’s Bay, East Coast, Northland, and the Coromandel. At the very least those needing to replace a ute due to flood damage should be exempted.

This reverse Robin Hood tax sees the money raised on hard-working low- and middle-income Kiwis used to fund subsidies for the wealthy who want to buy the latest Tesla.

And the worst thing is that – for all the virtue signalling – the policy does not actually achieve its own objective of reducing emissions. New Zealand's "cap and trade" Emissions Trading Scheme means that any reduction in transport emissions will simply free up New Zealand Units to be emitted by other sectors. So no net gain for the environment.

We are calling on the Government to scrap this unfair and ineffective tax. We are asking our supporters to register their opposition by signing the petition here.

Ruth Richardson: New Zealand set for a 'no solutions' budget 📰🎙️

Taxpayers' Union Board Member and former Minister of Finance, Ruth Richardson, has been doing the media rounds following the publication of the Nosey Parker report and suggesting that Chris Hipkins's 'no frills budget' in two weeks' time might better be described as a 'no solutions budget'.

Ruth spoke with Ryan Bridge on TV Three's AM Show about the hostile economic environment that this Government has created and the excessive levels of state spending. In the On the Tiles podcast with Thomas Coughlan of the NZ Herald she tears into the methodology used by the IRD's research project on high wealth individuals and warns that the report will be used to justify future tax hikes. And she spoke with Heather du Plessis-Allan on Newstalk ZB Drive about the problems that New Zealand has with a lack of earnings and capital, which will just be made even worse by a wealth or capital gains tax. 

Thank you for your support.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

Bay of Plenty Times Tauranga, Western Bay, Bay of Plenty regional councils’ spending on consultants revealed

Interest.co.nz Revenue Minister David Parker says IRD survey showing wealthy kiwis pay significantly lower tax rate than middle-income families will enable future discussions on tax policy to be based on solid evidence

NZ Local Government Magazine Views on revamped three waters reform

Newstalk ZB  Barry Soper on the new IRD data revealing how much tax the wealthiest Kiwis pay

SunLive Super-wealthy: Reports show large tax gap in NZ

RNZ Revenue Minister on report that found richest paying half as much tax as average New Zealander

NZ Herald Election 2023: How National, Labour placed to fight cost-of-living election, the Chris Luxon and Chris Hipkins battle and the voters they think will decide it

Newshub Ruth Richardson, Finance Minister behind infamous 'Mother of all Budgets', not convinced Govt can rein in spending

Kiwiblog Revealed: Who funds the Taxpayers’ Union

Southland Times CEO cops flack for 'airing his dirty laundry' in conflict with Gore mayor Ben Bell 

NZ Herald On the Tiles: Ruth Richardson on fiscal, monetary and tax policies

Stuff Who should pay for local body politicians' parliamentary aspirations?

Newstalk ZB Former Finance Minister predicts Labour's no-frills budget will present no solutions

The Working Group with Matt McCarten, Jordan Williams and Mike Treen

Outrageous that ‘super rich’ getting winter energy payments to warm pools

The Taxpayers’ Union is accusing Government Ministers of crocodile tears about the so-called ‘super rich’ inequality given their defence of the winter energy payment going to those who clearly don’t need it.

Taxpayers' Union spokesperson, Jordan Williams, says:

“Taxing those struggling with the cost of living in order to subsidise the super wealthy to heat their pools is disgraceful.  Government support should be laser focused on those who need it most.”

“The ‘universality’ Chris Hipkins is defending means that less is available for those who most need support.”

Tax hike to fund Teslas a kick in the guts to the provinces recovering from flooding

In the middle of a cost of living crisis, today’s move to hike the taxes on utes and other, so-called, gas guzzler vehicles is a kick in the guts to provincial and rural communities who already have it tough post-cyclone Gabrielle, says the Taxpayers’ Union. It’s calling for Hawke’s Bay, East Coast, Northland, and the Coromandel to be spared from the Ute Tax to allow those needing to replace work vehicles to do so affordably.

“There still not a practical electric ute,” points out Jordan Williams, a spokesperson for the Taxpayers’ Union.  “That means those importing a second hand ute to replace one of the hundreds lost due to the flooding, are now forced to pay even more for it. This is a kick in the guts to those who can least afford it, for the sake of politicians and the urban elite who are eyeing up a Tesla.”

“Carmel Sepuloni demonstrated the fundamental flaw in the policy this morning when she told Mike Hosking that the policy is about reducing emissions and climate change.  This is demonstrably false.  While the clean car discount does encourage low emissions vehicles,  therefore reducing transport emissions, because of our ‘cap and trade’ emissions trading scheme, those emissions simply become available for cheaper emitters elsewhere.  This ‘waterbed effect’ means that the Ute Tax and Clean Car Discount Scheme does nothing to reduce overall emissions, or climate change. The emperor has no clothes.”

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has today released its annual review, covering the last 12 months of operations.

The report is available online here. Hard copies are also available on request.

Taxpayers’ Union Chairman, Laurence Kubiak, says:

“Between the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union and our sister group, the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance, our campaigns in the last 12 months have attracted more than 200,000 subscribed members and supporters. While we are proud of the work standing up for taxpayers, there is still a lot more to be done.”

The Union’s Executive Director, Jordan Williams, says:

“There are hundreds of organisations that campaign for more government spending and a higher tax burden. The Taxpayers’ Union helps balance that debate by exposing government waste, fighting for more effective government spending, promoting the benefits of lower taxes, and championing more transparent government.”

“This Annual Review reflects our change in mission late last year – from Lower Taxes, Less Waste, More Transparency to Lower Taxes, Less Waste, More Accountability.  Without democratic accountably efforts of pressure groups to change the hearts and minds of New Zealanders – not just for the Taxpayers’ Union but our equivalents on the Left of politics – are useless.  For the Taxpayers’ Union, like many who rely on persuasion and leading public debate, proposals to decouple public policy and public services from democratic accountability represent an existential threat.  We are proud of the work we have done in Three Waters, for example, to defend democracy.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming the National Party’s commitment to continuing government contributions to the NZ Super Fund, despite growing public debt and economic headwinds.

Taxpayers' Union Executive Director Jordan Williams says:

“Let’s be very clear what this policy involves: the National Party are saying they will continue to borrow in order to stuff money into a risky sharemarket scheme.”

“Government debt is forecast to be nearly 42% of GDP by next year. The National Party should be solely focused on getting the books back into the black, not signing up for a policy that only made sense when Michael Cullen was running record surpluses.”

“Borrowing money to put money on the stock market makes no sense. John Key and Bill English acknowledged this when they paused payments following the 2008 global financial crisis. The National Party was right then, and its change in stance risks people questioning their reputation as prudent fiscal managers.”

Taxpayers’ Union welcomes ‘no new taxes’ budget pledge but devil will be in the detail

Commenting on the Prime Minister’s pre-budget speech, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“While the cyclone recovery will be costly, hiking taxes on hardworking New Zealanders during a cost of living crisis would have been the wrong approach. We also welcome the ruling out of a capital gains tax or wealth tax for this year's budget, which would have stifled investment and driven high-net worth individuals abroad who make a large contribution to the funding of our public services.

“But the Prime Minister’s ‘no new taxes’ pledge must not ring hollow. After all the talk yesterday of the wealthy not paying their ‘fair share’ in tax, it is disappointing that the Government has not yet dropped its plans for a regressive fuel tax hike in June that will disproportionately hit poor and rural communities.

“Moreover, with inflation continuing to run high, the problem of bracket creep means that many Kiwis are paying an ever higher share of their income to the Government. This particularly hurts those on middle incomes.

“No new taxes might be a good election slogan, but for it to be true, the Government must refrain from hiking fuel taxes and address the inflation tax.”

What a waste of time and money to tell Kiwis what we already know

The Government has wasted $5 million dollars, abused the information gathering powers of the IRD, and politicised officials, for the sake of a report that tells us nothing we don’t already know, says the Taxpayers’ Union.

Responding to the High Wealth Individuals Research Project report just released by IRD, Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Jordan Williams said:

“There’s nothing new in here. The report confirms that we have a highly progressive income tax system, compliance is good, and those who can afford to pay a lot more do so.  Thanks for the newsflash, Captain Obvious”

“It also confirms that the wealthy obtain most of their economic income from capital gains that are not taxed. A fifth-form economics student could have told David Parker that.”

“Fundamentally, the report concludes that high net wealth families are only paying 9% of their economic income in tax.  But the report shows that most of that economic income is unrealised capital gains.  No one in the world taxes that, and it is disinformation to encourage comparisons to those primarily earning PAYE income.”

“The report totally ignores the risky nature of capital gains.  The short point is that investing in a business is more risky than turning up to a job and demands appropriate returns to encourage much needed investment.  Tax rates need to reflect that, as well as the fact that New Zealand, like all countries, compete for capital.”

“Everyone supports evidence-based public policy. This report is policy looking for evidence and its timing is clearly designed to stoke resentment and justify an envy tax that will make New Zealand poorer.”

Hopping mad: COVID-19 funding to ‘destroy’ wallabies for $153,000 a pop 🦘🔫 

After almost six months’ worth of excuses, transfers and extensions on an Official Information Act request sent back in November, your humble Taxpayers' Union has revealed that taxpayers and Otago ratepayers have forked out more than $2.76 million and employed over 26,000 hours of work to 'destroy' (that’s the term the bureaucrats use) just… 18 wallabies! That's a kill cost of $153,000 per wallaby. 

This was just one of the ‘Jobs for Nature’ projects funded by the COVID slush fund. Jobs for Nature was allocated $1.2 billion – that's $614 for every kiwi household –  as a ‘make work’ scheme when the Government feared we would see mass job losses as a result of the pandemic.

Despite record-low unemployment and an economy overcooked by Government spending, the fund has continued to dish out taxpayer money to ineffective ‘conservation’ projects at an average cost of around $200,000 per 'nature job'. 

There is still $167 million yet to be spent: We say this should stop. 

Jordan spoke about this wasteful spending with Newstalk ZB’s Heather Du Plessis-Allan.

The story was also covered in the Otago Daily Times and Stuff’s Dominion Post. 

Hopping to it: officials defend spending with misleading spin 😵‍💫

John Walsh of Biosecurity New Zealand (the government agency responsible for this project) defended the spending arguing “it’s not wasted money”. Walsh was quoted in Stuff newspapers as saying the kill count no way represented “all the wallabies killed by the programme” and due to wallabies’ nocturnal nature and the remote landscapes, aerial drops were often the best method of killing. 

We called out these misleading comments pointing to the official information response provided by his agency that showed that no aerial drops were actually used in Otago...

It is clear that this project, alongside many others supported through the Jobs for Nature fund, have no ambition in delivering meaningful outcomes for New Zealand's environment on a restrained budget.

A lot more to come... 🤫

This is just our second investigation into this enormous fund. This is just the tip of the iceberg for a much greater raft of unnecessary waste...

Writing in the New Zealand Herald, I looked at the system of "co-government" in Northern Ireland and considered the parallels with some of the recent proposals here in New Zealand. Three Waters, the proposed Resource Management Act replacement, and the Government's so-called 'Review into the Future for Local Government' all reserve places on governance bodies for unelected mana whenua representatives.

There are two major problems with co-government models. First, is the creation of veto power. Where one community can block a proposal – even if it has majority support – simply because it disagrees with it. This veto power means that Northern Ireland is currently without a government and it is almost impossible to get anything done. 

Secondly, there is the problem of disconnecting decision making from democratic accountability. By reserving spaces on governing bodies for certain groups, it means that, however they might vote in elections, people are not always able to effect meaningful change as the people making the decisions remain the same no matter how much voters disagree with their policies.

The lesson from Northern Ireland is, however well-intentioned, co-government rarely works in practice. It can bring government to a standstill, undermines democratic accountability, and often exacerbates the divisions it is designed to heal. If New Zealand wants to avoid similar paralysis, it should think twice before embarking on this path.

You can read my full piece over on the NZ Herald's website here.

Councils funnelling millions into failing regional flight services 🛫💰

A Taxpayers’ Union investigation revealed that several councils are forking out millions of ratepayer dollars to subsidise a private airline and the wealthy individuals using it.

Across Kapiti Coast, Whakatane and Whanganui, ratepayers have been forced to foot the bill for more than $2 million in corporate welfare – benefiting only a tiny number of ratepayers who use the services. Since 2018, Air Chathams has been given almost $1 million dollars by Kāpiti Coast District Council along with a $500,000 interest-free loan. Whanganui and Whakatane district councils also coughed up hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans bringing the total value of welfare to more than $2 million.

Kāpiti Coast airport would need to see a 1,500 per cent increase in passengers in order for it to be financially viable, something even its own Chief Executive recognised.

In a blog post this week, one of our young interns, Alex Murphy, criticised the Council's decision to fund these unsustainable routes. You can read the full post here.

One more thing 🙏

We’re proud to be a truly people-powered organisation, and it will only be through the generosity of thousands of supporters like you chipping in what you can that we’ll be able to keep up our work promoting our mission of Lower Taxes, Less Waste, and More Accountability.

If you can, please click the button below to make a donation today so we can keep growing our movement, and fighting for a better deal from Wellington (and town halls!).

Thank you for your support.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

Newstalk ZB Midday Edition: 04 April 2023 – Lobbying Review (02:05)

NZ Herald Bryce Ewards: Victory for transparency in lobbying reforms

The Northern Advocate Future of Kerikeri’s Turner Centre up in air as council mulls ownership

Stuff Air Chathams received more than $1 million from Kāpiti Coast council

NZ Herald Māori holds balance of power in new poll

The Time Online NEW POLL: Māori Party holds the balance of power

NZ City Another poll points to Te Pati Maori holding the keys to Parliament at this year's election

Te Ao Māori News Te Pāti Māori 'kingmakers' in latest political poll

Newstalk ZB Morning Edition: 09 April 2023 – New Poll (00:38)

Newstalk ZB "We're very clear on our priorities": Deputy PM on Labour's plan for re-election

Newstalk ZB "We've got a fantastic future ahead of us": National's Chris Luxon shares six-month plan for election

Newstalk ZB Politics Central: Will staff misconduct derail Chris Hipkins' chances for re-election? (15:40)

Waatea News Te Pāti Māori Kingmakers must have immediate bottom lines for every New Zealander

Newstalk ZB Auckland Transport's new CEO plans to increase public transport use by 20 percent

The Spinoff The edge of a knife, six months to voting day

The Working Group with Shane Te Pou, Matthew Hooton & Damien Grant

NZ Herald A lesson in co-governance from Northern Ireland – Callum Purves

Kapiti Observer Revamped Three Waters to create 10 water management entities in an effort to give local governments more influence over massive infrastructure upgrades

NZ Herald Frontline police told to ‘consider necessity’ of bail arrests as NZ’s largest prison nears capacity

Q+A “Nobody died because of lack of empathy”: Auckland mayor Wayne Brown (18:44)

Newstalk ZB Taxpayers' Union Executive Director 'astounded' by $2.7 million cost to eradicate 18 wallabies

Stuff Govt officials stand by $2.76m wallaby spend in Otago for 18 kills - 'It's not wasted money'

Otago Daily Times MPI defends $2.76m cost of Otago wallaby control

Stuff Ruth Richardson: The taxation problem I should have fixed 33 years ago

Wairarapa Times-Age Carterton’s rates are on the rise

Newsroom Gore council war could outlast inquiry

Newsroom Kawerau leads small councils’ fight against new amalgamations

This month marks the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland. It ended a decades-long conflict between Irish Republicans and British Unionists.

As a relative newcomer to New Zealand and someone who spent time working in Northern Irish politics, I have noticed political parallels between the two. Both are dealing with issues such as addressing the wrongs of the past, the politicisation of language, upholding minority rights and the best form of governance to do this.

Like the Treaty of Waitangi, Northern Ireland’s peace agreement took steps to acknowledge the different aspirations of its communities – in their case, British Unionists and Irish Nationalists – under a common framework.

The agreement is, however, much more prescriptive than the Treaty. One of its key components was the re-establishment of a devolved assembly and executive. The Northern Ireland Executive requires mandatory power-sharing with the First and deputy First Ministers appointed by the two largest blocs and all major parties are entitled to seats around the table.

The problem is that Northern Ireland does not have a government.

Since the agreement was signed, it has been without one for more than nine of 25 years. This is because, to form an Executive, both First and deputy First Minister roles must be filled and either bloc can collapse the government by withdrawing their nominee.

Unionists and Nationalists have done so multiple times, most recently Unionists over post-Brexit trading arrangements. Each time this happens, unelected civil servants take charge but without the ability to progress essential reforms. In some cases, the UK Parliament must step in.

Either community can also invoke a “petition of concern” to block policies even when they command majority support in the Assembly. While this was designed to protect the interests of each group, it is open to abuse and often enacted simply to stop legislation with which they disagree.

The ability to collapse the government and the petition of concern are examples of veto power – an inherent flaw in systems of co-government.

This veto power has fostered resentment and led to a growing rejection of the traditional dividing lines between Unionist and Nationalist. Assembly seats held by those designated as neither have grown from 7 per cent in 1998 to 20 per cent today. Co-government is, however, binary and struggles to accommodate this shift.

Mandatory coalition also leads to an undesirable situation where – when it was last functioning – 85 of 90 Assembly members were in government. There is effectively no opposition, and this lack of scrutiny has been a big factor behind local political scandals.

More concerning, however, are the implications for democratic accountability. Even if there are big shifts in how people vote in an election, the result is the same: a perpetual coalition. There is little prospect of a major party not being in government.

Given these many problems, four of the five main parties – including Nationalists, Unionists and Others – now want the system reformed although they struggle to agree on what that might look like.

While the agreement and the Treaty are different documents, recent proposals for co-governance of New Zealand public services bear striking similarities with the system in Northern Ireland.

Take the example of Three Waters. While we await the announcement of the promised refocus, the model as proposed would face similar problems to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Regional Representative Groups would have 50 per cent representation from each of mana whenua and local councils with the requirement for 75 per cent majorities where consensus cannot be reached. This would give veto power to both groups and all the problems that come with that.

Similar proposals to require the introduction of unelected mana whenua representatives on Regional Planning Committees and local councils undermine democratic accountability. It would mean that New Zealanders would not be able to effect meaningful change through elections. Like in Northern Ireland, however people vote would make little difference as the result would always be the same: a perpetual coalition with seats reserved but no ability to hold the representatives filling them to account. Over time, this would simply serve to foster resentment and rejection of the system.

The Northern Irish Agreement and its protection of the rights of all communities in law were undoubtedly necessary to bring an end to the bloodshed, but the system of government it delivered is neither democratic nor effective and is losing public and political support.

The lesson from Northern Ireland is, however well-intentioned, co-government rarely works in practice. It can bring government to a standstill, undermines democratic accountability, and often exacerbates the divisions it is designed to heal.

If New Zealand wants to avoid similar paralysis, it should think twice before embarking on this path.

Callum Purves is the Taxpayers’ Union national campaign manager who has run campaigns for the Conservative Party in Scotland and Northern Ireland and served as a unitary authority councillor in Scotland.

This column first appeared in the New Zealand Herald on Thursday, 13 April 2023.

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Taxpayers' Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, sits down with ACT Party MP, Simon Court, to discuss the recent Three Waters rebrand, the proposed resource management reforms and what ACT is proposing to solve New Zealand's significant infrastructure and planning problems.

Simon Court is ACT's spokesperson for infrastructure, the environment and local government and has been leading their response to the contentious Three Waters and RMA reforms. Prior to becoming an MP, Simon was a civil and environmental engineer working both in the private sector and for local government. Simon believes that local control, strong private property rights and the right incentives for councils to make good decisions will be what leads to solving some of our biggest problems going forward. 

Later in the podcast, for our War on Waste segment, Taxpayers’ Union Deputy Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, reveals a 19-month long investigation into the Government’s decision to give millions of taxpayer dollars to a gang-affiliated meth rehabilitation program and the bureaucratic process of simply getting straight answers from officials.

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

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

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

The Taxpayers’ Union has revealed that several councils have forked out millions of ratepayer dollars to subsidise a private airline and the wealthy individuals using it.

Across Kāpiti Coast, Whakatāne, and Whanganui, ratepayers have footed the bill for over $2 million in corporate (and middle-class) welfare to maintain regular flight services to Auckland. From 2018 to date, KCDC have gifted almost $1.5 million dollars in grants and interest-free loans to Air Chathams. Accompanied with hundreds of thousands in loans splurged by Whanganui and Whakatāne district councils on their routes, the total value of welfare is brought to more than $2 million.

If these routes were financially viable, and demand was plentiful, airlines would pick them up without the need for council subsidies. Unfortunately, there clearly is not enough demand to justify continuing with these services. Documents obtained by the Taxpayers’ Union under the LGOIMA indicate that Kāpiti Coast District Council believed the service would become profitable after a few years, but would run at a loss initially. If this really was the case, established airlines should be able to access their loans privately, rather than exposing ratepayers to the risk of default.

Prior to the Air Chathams takeover, Air New Zealand operated all three of these services. Due to financial unviability, however, one by one the routes were cancelled. That same despair was shared by Air Chathams themselves, who recognised the numbers didn’t stack up. However, when presented with the option of a million dollars in free money by seemingly economically illiterate councillors, the decision to continue the service was an offer too attractive to refuse.

With alternative airports nearby, flyers were ‘voting with their feet’ and opting to travel to other airports instead. Whanganui residents, for example, were pivoting towards Palmerston North as the more attractive alternative. There’s good reason for the change in preference too. Rotorua, Tauranga, Palmerston North and Wellington airports are all under an hour away from at least one of the three airports in question. In general, they have a greater range of flight times available and, for the most part, far cheaper prices. Wellington’s fares to Auckland are, at times, only a third of Kāpiti's.

*Air Chathams takes over Kāpiti Coast's Auckland Service*

The Kāpiti Coast Council has claimed there is strong public support for the subsidies. This, however, is based on a series of out of date analyses with flawed methodology. In 2018, they commissioned a survey to gauge public support for the airport, but nowhere did the survey mention ratepayer funding. Despite respondents agreeing with the statement, “Kāpiti Coast Airport should work to ensure frequent passenger services to popular destinations around New Zealand are provided to and from the airport”, the question neglected to ask respondents' positions on ratepayer funding of such a service and therefore does not provide a true refection of what the community actually feels. What’s more, the methodology states that any individual who had not flown out of any of the airports in the area did not qualify for the survey. That is like claiming the whole community wants a new racecourse when you only surveyed the jockeys.

Even the airport’s CEO recognised that the airport was simply not viable. He points out that the airport needs 400,000 people flying a year to be worthwhile — currently there are 25000.

What is more is that, regardless of how cost-ineffective the provision of these services is, there remains a striking contradiction at play with the Councils’ climate change initiatives. Kāpiti Coast for example, crows about their climate change approach, acknowledging the importance of reducing their carbon footprint wherever possible. Whakātane and Whanganui are also strong advocates. Yet, they are all more than happy to subsidise gas guzzling aircrafts which, consistently, have been running on reduced passenger numbers.

Of course, due to the waterbed effect, emissions in any one sector (agriculture excluded) have no impact on New Zealand's net emissions, given total net carbon emissions are capped by the Emissions Trading Scheme. However, the fact that the Councils' endorsement of a carbon-emitting travel option contradicts their own (albiet ill-informed) values suggests they are incapable of holding a coherent position on their environmental impacts.

This is, simply, a regressive allocation of ratepayer funds. One where the exorbitant cost on lower-income ratepayers is used to benefit a small selection of wealthy businesspeople. These subsidies fail the litmus test of good spending decisions. They are regressive, inefficient and ultimately will just prolong the inevitable closure of this failing airport.

 

Misleading statements used to justify another $16 million in corporate welfare for big business

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling out Minister of Energy and Resources, Megan Woods, for her claim that the Government Investment in Industry Decarbonisation Fund (GIDI) will reduce New Zealand’s emissions.

Announcing the Round Four recipients of the GIDI fund, including the likes of Fonterra, AFFCO and Ovation, Minister Woods claimed that the $16 million taxpayer subsidy “will reduce carbon emissions by 38,354 tonnes each year.”

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, says:

“This is a blatantly misleading statement and will not reduce New Zealand’s net emissions by a single gram.

“As we have previously noted, New Zealand’s emissions are already governed by the capped Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) meaning that any emissions reduction from these businesses will simply free up carbon credits for other businesses to emit instead.

“Taking into account the co-funding from these businesses, the cost per tonne of gross emissions reduction is $52. That is less than the current carbon price so these businesses should already have the financial incentives to invest.

“The taxpayer is not a piggy bank. These are large, profitable businesses, if they need money, they can go to a real bank like any other business.

“The Minister needs to front up to the taxpayers who, during a cost of living crisis, are being forced to fork out millions to subsidise some of our largest businesses. With another $570 million in corporate welfare yet to come, this fund should be immediately scrapped rather than further fueling inflation.

Waka Kotahi’s fee changes a blatant tax grab and additional barrier to upskilling

Changes to motor vehicle licensing and registration fees will whack productive New Zealanders with higher costs while Waka Kotahi (New Zealand Transport Agency) continues to grow its backroom bureaucracy warns the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union.

When the proposed changes were announced for consultation last year, the Taxpayers Union warned against the changes. Waka Kotahi is expected to collect an additional $66 million in annual revenue as a result of the changes plus any additional money taken from the National Land Transport Fund — $35 million was the figure proposed last year.

Winners from the changes:

• Convicted drink drivers: (84% decrease alcohol interlock license cost)
• Collectors of exotic vehicles (87% reduction in fees for Category A special interest left hand drive light vehicles)
• Drivers who fail their license tests (removal of resit fees)
• Waka Kotahi ($66 million increase in annual revenue).

Losers from the changes:

• Uber and taxi drivers (193% increase in the cost for a 1-year P endorsement)
• Tow truck drivers (172% increase in 1-Year Vehicle Recovery endorsement)
• Forklift drivers (41% increase in endorsement fees)
• All motorists (Increase of between 71% and 374% for everyone renewing their vehicle rego)
• Older siblings (268% increase in the exemption fee for restricted drivers carrying passengers)
• Night-shift workers (268% increase in the exemption fee for restricted drivers driving to work between 10pm and 5am)

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves says:

“We warned against these changes last year when the consultation was announced. Jacking up fees for hard-working New Zealanders while reducing costs on convicted drink drivers and collectors of exotic vehicles is neither fair nor necessary.

“The real winner from these changes is Waka Kotahi’s bureaucracy which, based on the consultation document, plans to employ an additional 265 full-time equivalent staff – a 55.6% increase on 2018 numbers.

“Particularly concerning is the increased license endorsement costs for Uber, taxi, forklift and tow-truck drivers. These endorsement fees act as a barrier to low-income New Zealanders considering upskilling and will simply exacerbate the cost of living crisis for these individuals."

Commenting on today’s inflation figures announcement, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“The overall rate of inflation remains stubbornly high despite an aggressive tightening of monetary policy by the Reserve Bank. The fact that non-tradable inflation is at its highest level since the series began demonstrates that the problem is primarily being driven domestically.

“The double whammy of rising interest rates and high inflation is compounding the hardship already facing Kiwis. The Government says that the cost of living is its top priority but it needs to take its share of the blame for getting New Zealand into this mess with its profligate spending.

“Grant Robertson has an opportunity for a proper reset in next month’s budget. He should give Kiwis a reprieve by compensating them for the effects of income tax bracket creep at least since Labour came to power while dramatically slashing wasteful spending, including the ballooning budget for consultants, Three Waters and Auckland Light Rail.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling out Biosecurity NZ for what appear to be misleading statements suggesting that the Otago wallaby cull cost ($2.76 million for 18 animals or $153,000 per wallaby destroyed) is justified on the basis that the number “in no way represented the number killed”.

John Walsh of Biosecurity NZ is reported in today’s Stuff newspapers as saying the kill count no way represented “all the wallabies killed by the programme” and due to wallabies’ nocturnal nature and the remote landscapes, aerial drops were often the best method of killing.

Responding to the comments, Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union said:

“This is a bait and switch argument from Biosecurity New Zealand. Their own OIA response shows that aerial drops were not used in Otago. While the argument may apply to other regions, this straw man argument is completely misleading when it comes to Otago's $153,000 price tag per wallaby killed.

“John Walsh should correct his statement and apologise. If he feels he was misreported, he should be asking for a correction.

“Instead of trying to justify the unjustifiable, Biosecurity New Zealand should stop wasting taxpayer money with the ‘make work’ scheme that is Jobs for Nature. There are far higher priorities in conservation and biosecurity – let alone health and education – than creating jobs for jobs sake at a time of low unemployment.

"The Jobs for Nature scheme was announced during the early days of COVID-19 when mass unemployment was expected. To date $1.052b has been contracted, leaving a further $167m left to allocate for a false economy ‘creating jobs’ by taxing Kiwis who can then spend less to support other jobs."

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that taxpayers and Otago Regional Council ratepayers have forked out $2.76 million and more than 26,000 hours of work for a wallaby control programme that killed just 18 wallabies.

The Otago component of the National Wallaby Eradication Programme administered by Biosecurity New Zealand cost an average of $153,422.72 per wallaby “destroyed” (terminology used by officials) and averaged 1,459 hours of human labour per kill. $341,894 was spent on aerial shooting, $34,089 on ground shooting, $71,028 on ground toxin and a staggering $2.3 million on surveillance.

By comparison, in Canterbury the cost per wallaby destroyed was $763.57 and just under 5 hours of human labour.

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, says:

“This is a shocking waste of taxpayer money. It would have been cheaper to charter a private jet for each of these wallabies to send them back to Australia.

“We warned that the $1.2 billion Jobs for Nature fund would be another slush fund with unmonitored, high cost, low-value spending. Unfortunately we have been vindicated.

“The Jobs for Nature scheme should have been scrapped as soon as it became clear that country was not going to head into a period of widespread unemployment.

“Taxpayers are not getting bang for buck with the programme and we once again are calling for the Jobs for Nature programme to be scrapped before a further $200 million is wasted."

The full Official Information Act response is available here.

The Taxpayer’s Union is still waiting for Local Government Minister, Kieran McAnulty, to respond to the invitation to meet and discuss improvements to the Government’s controversial Three Waters programme.

The Minister agreed to meet with concerned mayors last month but has not responded to the Union’s request for ratepayers to be a part of the conversation.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, says: 

“We reached out to the Minister last month in the hope that he would be more willing than his predecessor to engage with those most concerned about the reforms, yet all we have heard is radio silence.

“If the Minister is serious about building broad support for water reform, he needs to meet with New Zealand’s largest taxpayer and ratepayer organisation to discuss how we can achieve affordable, high-quality, locally-controlled, and democratically-accountable infrastructure.

“The Minister needs to look at the incentives facing local councils and the financing mechanisms available to them rather than impose overly-bureaucratic governance solutions from the top down that are more about being seen to be doing something than actually addressing the underlying issues." 

To read our letter to Minister McAnulty, click here.

NEW POLL: Māori Party holds the balance of power 📊

Available exclusively to supporters like you, we can reveal the results of our April Taxpayers' Union – Curia poll. 

Here is how these results would translate to seats in Parliament, assuming all electorate seats are held:

The combined projected seats for the Centre-Right of 59 seats is down two on last month but remains marginally ahead of the combined total for the Centre-Left of 57 seats (no change).

For the first time since August 2022, the Centre-Right cannot form government on its own and neither bloc has a majority. This means that the Māori Party holds the balance of power. 

Chris Hipkins has a net favourability of +28% (-5 points). Both Christopher Luxon (-4 points) and David Seymour are on -6% (-7 points).

Finance Minister, Grant Robertson, has a net favourability of -8% while Environment Minister, David Parker, has a net favourability of -21%.

Chris Hipkins also now has a negative net favourability rating with National voters of -5% down 18 points from +13% last month.

Visit our website for more information and details of how to get access to the full polling report.

You may not have heard about the Government’s latest power-grab: It has hardly been covered in the media, but it poses a significant threat to the rule of law and democracy. The Government has seized the opportunity of the recent cyclone devastation to grant its Ministers extensive powers, many of which are unrelated to cyclone response or recovery and could remain in place until 2028.

The Severe Weather Emergency Recovery Act allows Ministers to sweep aside and rewrite a whole laundry list of laws if they can point to even tentative links to the recent weather events, economic development, or disaster recovery. The 'emergency legislation' allows individual ministers to ignore or change the Local Government Act, Resource Management Act, Immigration Act, Land Transport Act (and others) without having to even ask Parliament. What's worse is this 'emergency' regime applies until 2028!

This kind of law is often referred to as Henry VIII powers because it is similar to the autocratic lawmaking style of Henry VIII who preferred to make laws by Royal Proclamation rather than through Parliament.

"Shambles of a process" – just 20 hours for public submissions

Submitters on this new legislation were given less than a day to write their submissions. Not even the most experienced constitutional law experts were able to apply proper scrutiny in this short timeframe and many important aspects will be overlooked.

Our friends at the New Zealand Initiative think tank have rightly criticised MPs for a "shamblolic" process despite the extraordinary scope of the bill. You can listen to the NZ Initiative's Executive Director Oliver Hartwich talking to Mike Hosking here.

As Oliver puts it, “This is the kind of Bill that requires great scrutiny because the power it confers to the Government are enormous.”  To give submitters a matter of hours to consider the Bill is, frankly, a disgrace. It is not an exaggeration to say that both this law and the process used to pass it are totally inconsistent with liberal democracy.

Despite following Parliament closely, the first we heard about the Bill was just two hours before written submissions closed! We hastily put together a submission – which you can read here – but it was difficult to make substantive recommendations on this far reaching bill in such a short space of time.

Jordan made our views clear to the Select Committee in an oral submission, but less than a week later Labour has rushed this legislation through all its stages in Parliament with the extremely disappointing support of the National Party. To their credit, ACT, the Greens and the Māori Party all opposed this blatant power grab.

While we all want to see the areas affected given by the floods given the support they need – and quickly – it is not acceptable to use this crisis to undermine parliamentary democracy and give ministers unprecedented levels of executive power. We only need to look at the COVID-19 slush fund where ministers spent taxpayer dollars on projects totally unrelated to the pandemic to see how such powers can be abused.

The Taxpayers' Union will be monitoring decisions taken under this legislation very closely and urge the Government – and the National Party – to allow an immediate post-legislative review of this new law with proper public consultation. 

Following the sacking of Stuart Nash from his remaining ministerial portfolios after it was revealed he had given confidential cabinet information to Labour Party donors, the Prime Minister announced a review into the lobbying sector.

In a democracy, it is important that different groups can make representations to politicians to help shape policy, but these activities also need to be carried out in an open and transparent manner. The Taxpayers' Union will engage with any consultation on how best to strike this balance.

One of the biggest problems is the revolving door between the Beehive and the lobbying sector. Kris Faafoi, for example, was able to lobby his former ministerial colleagues just months after leaving Cabinet. We urgently need to see a cooling-off period introduced to put an end to these murky practices. 

But Chris Hipkins's announcement of money for a voluntary code of conduct is not the answer. In fact, it's a complete waste of taxpayer money (he is offering up officials to "help" the lobbying sector) and simply a way for the government to look like it is doing something. Taxpayers should not be footing the bill for an unenforceable attempt to get commercial lobbyists to play by rules they set themselves. 

Time to open the books for MPs' expenses 📒💸

The Stuart Nash saga has also renewed calls for a review into the Official Information Act (OIA). As New Zealand's largest user of the OIA, the Taxpayers' Union agrees. A review is long overdue, but the focus should not just be on the Beehive: The Parliamentary Service is explicitly excluded from the from the OIA.

This means that the public has no way of knowing what its elected representatives are claiming taxpayer funds to cover. We know that some are MPs are already spending taxpayer money in ways that are potentially inappropriate but have no real way to get more information because of this exclusion.

For a country that considers itself to have one of the most open governments in the world, MPs’ taxpayer-funded expenses are surprisingly opaque compared to countries we traditionally compare ourselves to.

The Taxpayers’ Union wants to see an end to this transparency carve out. We would also support the introduction of a searchable database of every MP expense claim similar to that published by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority in the United Kingdom.

Thank you for your support.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

RNZ The Pre-Panel with Julie Woods and David Farrar

Newstalk ZB The Huddle: Is the Chris Hipkins honeymoon already over?

NZ Herald Political Roundup: Victory for transparency in lobbying reforms

Newstalk ZB Midday Edition: 04 April 2023 – Lobbying Review (02:05)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Taxpayers' Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, sits down with Wellington City Councillor, Ray Chung, to discuss Wellington’s shocking 12.3% rates rise and why this is being driven by inefficient, wasteful spending at the Council.

Councillor Chung was elected just last year as the representative for Wharangi / Onslow-Western Ward. He's one of the few fiscal conservatives on the Council and is able to provide some interesting insight into its inner workings and explains why it is so hard – and expensive – to get anything done. We also get to hear why Councillor Chung is a vocal opponent of Three Waters and co-governance along with discussing potential solutions for the Council's severe infrastructure deficit.

Later in the podcast, for our War on Waste segment, Taxpayers’ Union Deputy Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, analyses the growth of managers in the public service and investigates whether the growth in the public service is driven by the core frontline workforce or simply a ballooning of the backroom bureaucracy of managers and consultants.

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 New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Government to reform the Official Information Act (OIA) to include the Parliamentary Service as an organisation covered by the Act.

While the focus in recent days has rightly been on the disclosure of Government business under the OIA and lobbying rules, there is a similarly glaring problem with the current OIA: The explicit exclusion of the Parliamentary Service. This means that there is no accountability for how individual MPs are spending taxpayer money.

In 2020, the then Justice Minister, Andrew Little, announced that the OIA would be rewritten in association with Chris Hipkins who was Minister for State Services (Open Government) at the time. But almost three years later, New Zealanders are no closer to having fit-for-purpose information laws and the process continues to be abused.

The Taxpayers’ Union believes the scope of OIA should be expanded to include all MP expenses alongside the introduction of a searchable database similar to that published by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority in the United Kingdom.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, says:

“For a country that claims to have one of the most open governments in the world, MPs’ taxpayer-funded expenses through the Parliamentary Service are surprisingly opaque and completely unaccountable.

“We often hear and see examples of MPs spending taxpayer money in ways that are potentially inappropriate but have no real way to follow it up because the Parliamentary Service is protected by the Act. There is no valid justification for this.

“In the UK, for example, there is a fully accessible and searchable online database that publishes every expense claimed for every MP. Why can’t we do the same?

“Comprehensive reform of the OIA is long overdue and this change would help restore some of the public’s trust that has been eroded in recent times. In the meantime, we are calling on individual MPs to lead the way and voluntarily publish their own expenses before a more comprehensive system is in place.”

 

The UK Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority MP expenses register can be found at https://www.theipsa.org.uk/mp-staffing-business-costs/your-mp

Commenting on the Prime Minister’s lobbying announcements, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“We welcome the commitment to explore policy options for the regulation of the lobbying sector. While the ability for different groups to make their case to our elected representatives is important in any democracy, it is also essential that such activities are carried out in an open and transparent manner. We look forward to engaging with any consultation on how best to strike this balance.

“New Zealand lags behind other Westminster-style political systems with its lax approach to lobbying. There are many issues to consider, but the lack of a cooling-off period for former ministers before being able to lobby their former cabinet colleagues is of particular concern.

“The announcement of funding for a voluntary code of conduct does, however, seem to us to be a waste of taxpayer money and simply a way for the government to look like it is doing something quickly. Taxpayers should not be footing the bill for an unenforceable attempt to get lobbyists behave. Any rules for lobbying should be determined following consultation and should apply equally across the sector.”

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on Te Whatu Ora to immediately prioritise republishing key health reporting data after it was revealed that it was taken down nearly three weeks ago.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves Says:

“Easy access to key data and performance metrics are fundamental for ensuring accountability and value for money from our public service.

“It is disappointing that the data had to be taken down in the first place due to accuracy concerns but reinstating it should be a top-priority for the agency.

“Without knowing the data, it is impossible for politicians, experts, organisations such as the Taxpayers’ Union, and members of the public to hold key decision makers to account and ensure that our money is being spent wisely.

“For too long, politicians have been able to get away with simply throwing more money at problems and hoping it will work.

“It’s time to start looking at the other side of the equation to see what results this money is actually delivering. If we aren’t seeing improvements, we need to look at how this money could be better spent to ensure better, more efficient delivery of core public services."

🔍 Taxpayer Investigation: Public sector managers growing at double rate of frontline workers 👩🏻‍💼👨🏻‍💼🔺

While the Government has denied for years that Wellington's 'head offices' are getting bloated, your humble Taxpayers' Union has exposed that public sector managers have been growing at nearly twice the rate of frontline workers since the current Government came to power. 

Since 2017, the frontline workforce for social services, health, and education has increased by 24.6% with nurse numbers up only 18.3% while doctors are up only 19.2%. In the same period, however, the number of managers rocketed up by a staggering 43.4%. Who exactly are these people managing?

In case you missed it, Mike Hosking highlighted this huge discrepancy and also grilled Minister Michael Wood about what is going on. 

The Government crows about its significant 'investment' in social services, health, and education. In reality, the Government is taxing households more and more to spend on bureaucratic jobs for Wellington’s managerial class that provide little value for the taxpayer.

They can't blame the growth in the public sector during COVID for this one: The trend has been clear since 2017. While the focus on the exorbitant consultant bill in the past few weeks is welcome, politicians also need to take a closer look at our bloated public sector and significantly cut back on unnecessary managerial positions.

This week the Ministry for the Environment announced a review into New Zealand's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The review will consider how the ETS should be changed to reflect the Government's priority of reducing gross carbon emissions over net emissions.

You will recall that the ETS works by setting a cap on the total amount of net carbon emissions across New Zealand each year. Emitters, such as fuel companies, or electricity suppliers, buy 'units' in an auction that allows them to emit a unit of carbon (or equivalent) and the amount they pay is reflected in the price you pay for goods and services. The cap then reduces over time, the market price changes, and overall emissions are brought down.

We prefer this system over politicians trying to 'pick winners' and inject subsidies into 'emissions reduction', as the market tends to find the most efficient and cost effective way for New Zealand to achieve its international obligations. Those sectors that can reduce emissions more quickly and cheaply can sell units to those sectors who might find it more difficult. The system also allows companies to offset their emissions through activities that take carbon out of the atmosphere.

Sadly though, politicians cannot help tinkering with the system because it does not fit with the Government's ideology of how climate change should be addressed. For example, it wants to see a rapid shift away from cars to public transport, walking, cycling and electric cars.  

But this approach is illogical and ill-informed. While it might make the Government look like it's doing something, it doesn't actually tackle climate change as it doesn't reduce net emissions – less transport emissions simply means more units are available under the ETS to make it cheaper for other sectors to emit. This is called the 'waterbed effect'.

If the Government is really serious about protecting the planet, it should let the ETS get on and do its job.

NEW REPORT: City Rail Link project throws good money after bad 🚆🤑

Last week, we published a new report by our Research Fellow and Wellington economist, Jim Rose, on Auckland’s City Rail Link. The City Rail Link: A Great Big Sucking Sound for Taxpayer and Auckland Ratepayer Dollars is the first in-depth analysis of the bad decision-making that led to a 61% cost blowout.

The report argues that key decisions made by the Government and Auckland Council were based on a flawed business case. A combination of factors such as the increase in costs, the failure to include $6.7 billion in required upgrades to the existing rail network, and the 30-40% drop off in rail passengers post-COVID means that the costs of this project now significantly outweigh its benefits.

Just a few weeks ago, it was revealed that the project's cost had gone up by a further $1 billion. We sent a short briefing paper of the report's key findings to the Auckland mayor and councillors ahead of their meeting to discuss the increase in costs. Despite the public interest, and alarming numbers, the Council decided to hold the meeting behind closed doors so ratepayers are none the wiser as to what was discussed or decided.

With the announcement this week of plans to "bring forward" a second Auckland Harbour crossing, the Government and Auckland Council need to learn serious lessons from this project's failings – we cannot afford the same mistakes to be made. The planners at Auckland Transport who dreamt up the City Rail Link shouldn’t be let anywhere near the public purse again. 

Thank you for your support.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

NZ Herald Cost-of-living moves poorly targeted, says report

Newstalk ZB Jordan Williams: Taxpayer's Union Executive Director says Auckland Transport is focusing on the wrong things

InfraNews Call for independent review into Auckland supercity amalgamation

Newstalk ZB THE RE-WRAP: Just the Facts, Ma'am (09:04)

Newstalk ZB Pollies: MPs Mark Mitchell and Michael Wood on National polling, crime and Police (08:26)

Newstalk ZB RMA war heading towards final battle

Democracy Project Bryce Edwards: The Beehive’s revolving door and corporate mateship

Interest.co.nz Government review of the Emissions Trading Scheme will look for ways to incentivise more reductions and less carbon offsets

Newstalk ZB Heather du Plessis-Allan: Auckland Council booting Local Government NZ is a warning to Kieran McAnulty

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on Te Whatu Ora to immediately prioritise republishing key health reporting data after it was revealed that it was taken down nearly three weeks ago.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves Says:

“Easy access to key data and performance metrics are fundamental for ensuring accountability and value for money from our public service.

“It is disappointing that the data had to be taken down in the first place due to accuracy concerns but reinstating it should be a top-priority for the agency.

“Without knowing the data, it is impossible for politicians, experts, organisations such as the Taxpayers’ Union, and members of the public to hold key decision makers to account and ensure that our money is being spent wisely.

“For too long, politicians have been able to get away with simply throwing more money at problems and hoping it will work.

“It’s time to start looking at the other side of the equation to see what results this money is actually delivering. If we aren’t seeing improvements, we need to look at how this money could be better spent to ensure better, more efficient delivery of core public services."

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union condemns the Government’s decision to allow only one day for written submissions on the Severe Weather Emergency Recovery Legislation Bill.

The proposed legislation would allow a minister to exempt, modify, or extend provisions of almost any piece of legislation without any form of democratic scrutiny.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves says:

“This bill would give ministers extensive powers, some lasting until 2028, that would allow them to take action in a range of areas with no democratic parliamentary scrutiny.

“Not only is this ministerial power grab an extremely disproportionate response to the situation, but the government is trying to rush the legislation through with submitters only having a single day to make their views known.

“This truncated process, and the attitude towards democracy shown by some of our lawmakers, is dangerous. Lawmaking at this pace inevitably means mistakes will be made with potentially serious consequences. 

“We have already seen emergency powers being abused by ministers wasting billions of taxpayer dollars with the COVID-19 slush fund, this time they are reaching for even more power.

“This legislation would set a dangerous precedent for future governments to seize the opportunity of an emergency to make a ministerial power grab.

“This bill and its token consultation make a mockery of the parliamentary process.”

Responding to the Ministry for the Environment’s announcement of a review into New Zealand's Emissions Trading Scheme, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, says:

“While a review of New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme is long overdue, the Government’s prioritisation of reducing gross carbon emissions over net emissions is illogical and ill-informed. Such an approach will not help tackle climate change, will disincentivise investment in carbon sequestration technologies, and will come at an exorbitant and unnecessary cost to the taxpayer.

“The Emissions Trading Scheme is the most effective way to reduce net carbon emissions. It ensures that net emissions reduce over time while doing so in the most efficient way possible and at least cost to taxpayers. But it must be allowed to do its job.

“If the Government is serious about meeting our international climate commitments, it should work towards expanding the Emissions Trading Scheme to cover all sectors of New Zealand’s economy – including agriculture – with appropriate mitigations.

"If the Minister is worried about afforestation in New Zealand, he should open the ETS market up to the world and allow emitters to purchase credits from approved overseas sequestration programmes."

A new report published by the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union exposes the bad decision-making that led to a 61% cost blowout in Auckland’s City Rail Link and shows that the costs of the project now significantly outweigh any benefits.

‘The City Rail Link: A Great Big Sucking Sound for Taxpayer and Auckland Ratepayer Dollars’ provides the first in-depth analysis of cost overruns and benefit shortfalls in the Auckland City Rail Link (CRL). The report’s author, economist Jim Rose, argues that key decisions made first by the Government and Auckland Council were premised on a flawed business case.

As of December 2022, total costs for the CRL project were estimated to be $5.5 billion, 61% higher than the original cost estimate. While project managers blame COVID-19 for this big cost over-run, the evidence suggests that the project should never have gone ahead.

Key findings of the report are:

1. Auckland Transport originally estimated a cost-benefit ratio of between 0.4 and 0.9 in 2011
2. The business case presented to Cabinet in 2019 assumed $1 billion in wider network improvements not included in the project cost
3. In 2022, a review by the Auditor-General found that KiwiRail and Auckland Transport would have to spend a further $6.7 billion between 2022 and 2036 before the full benefits of the CRL could be realised
4. With rail patronage down 30-40% on pre-COVID levels, it is unlikely that the supposed travel time savings will ever be realised
5. As of December 2022, the cost of the project exceeded the $5.1 billion of benefits estimated by PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2019
6. It is therefore more likely than not that the cost-benefit ratio has dropped below 1, meaning the costs of the projects now outweigh the benefits
7. A briefing summarising the key points of the report and the full report have been sent to the Auckland mayor and councillors ahead of a meeting tomorrow (Thursday 23 March) to discuss the $1 billion increase in projected costs.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“The City Rail Link will go down in history as a monument to the sunken costs fallacy as we continue to throw good money after bad. It is clear that the benefits of this project are now more likely than not to be outweighed by the costs of the project that have been allowed to spiral out of control. 

“The planners at Auckland Transport who dreamt up this project shouldn’t be let anywhere near the public purse again. If there is a silver-lining from this, it’s that Cabinet ministers and Auckland councillors might think twice before trusting the advice they get from Auckland Transport in the future.”

Public sector managers growing at twice the rate of frontline workers

Figures unearthed by the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union reveal that the growth in public sector managers is almost twice that of frontline social, health and education workers.

Since 2017, the frontline workforce for social services, health and education has increased by 24.6% compared with a staggering 43.4% increase in managers. The number of nurses has only increased by 18.3% in the same period while the number of doctors went up 19.2%.

Over the past year, the situation has been even worse with managers increasing by 7.1% while frontline workers fell 3.5%

Taxpayers Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“With the number of managers growing at almost twice the rate of frontline workers, we have to question whom exactly these people are managing.

“The Government crows about its significant investment in social services, health and education, but it is instead taxing billions of dollars from hardworking New Zealanders to spend on bureaucratic jobs for Wellington’s managerial class that provide little value for the taxpayer.

“While the focus on the exorbitant consultant bill by the major parties in recent weeks has been welcome, politicians also need to take a closer look at the bloated public sector and pledge to significantly cut back on managerial positions.”

The Taxpayers’ Union has slammed the revelation that government agencies and State Owned Enterprises are spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars on lobbying firms as revealed by Radio NZ this morning.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“Taxpayers’ money should not be used to pay for sock puppets to lobby the government on behalf of government agencies.

“SOEs, and Government agencies already have special access to decision makers. Paying the well connected, insiders and lobby firms doesn’t offer value for the public – nearly always they are serving the interests of the agencies and their bosses.

“While media commentary is often on the apparent need for a register of lobbyists, that doesn’t fully address the problem. It is very clear that former MPs, Ministers, and Parliamentary staffers are profiting from their connections. New Zealand is unusual in that there are no controls on regulators, government staffers or MPs from leaving their jobs and going straight into lobbying. That is where New Zealand’s law needs to catch up.”

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is pleased to hear that the Minister of Local Government, Kieran McAnulty, has invited concerned mayors to the Beehive to discuss the Three Waters reforms but believe he should meet with the country’s largest taxpayer and ratepayer organization too.

The Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, has written to the Minister requesting a meeting to share the views of taxpayers and ratepayers on the problems with the Government’s Three Waters reforms and to set out alternatives that maintain local control and democratic accountability while keeping costs to ratepayers down.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“We met with more than 10,000 people on our Stop Three Waters roadshow last year including elected local representatives and those directly involved with the delivery of water services.

“Our concerns that these reforms will lead to higher water costs, unnecessary bureaucracy, no local control and an undermining of democratic accountability were echoed those we met.

“The entire process for these reforms has been flawed and lacked proper engagement with those directly impacted, including when more than 60,000 of our supporters made a submission against the reforms but the Select Committee refused to hear them.

“We strongly urge the new Minister to engage with concerned mayors in good faith and meet with us so that we can put forward the concerns of all those who were not given the opportunity to present to the Select Committee.”

Time to stop Parker's planning power grab 🏠🛑

Last week, we blew the whistle on the Government's planning reforms, which seek to replace the awful Resource Management Act with something even worse. It takes all the worst elements of Three Waters – like seizing powers from councils and introducing unelected decision makers – and applies them to your house, your business or your farm, but on a much bigger scale. 

Like many, when the 891 pages of legislation were published, we were scratching our heads thinking 'this can't possibly be right'. What David Parker has proposed is so complicated and so convoluted, it could only have been designed by bureaucrats in Wellington. 

Below, we sketch out what the new Regional Planning Committee might look like using Canterbury as an example.

But because the bill leaves so much to negotiation between councils, iwi and the minister, it is difficult to know exactly where things will end up. The likely answer is in the courts.

But the courts aren't too happy either. In a very unusual move, the Chief Justice made a submission on the Natural and Built Environment Bill. She warned that many of the provisions contained within the proposed legislation were things that were likely to be challenged in the courts. This means that the true implications of David Parker's bills are very uncertain and these court battles will be expensive.

In an even more staggering intervention, however, the Chief Justice raised concerns about the role of the proposed new National Māori Entity. She said that the bill as currently drafted includes the Environment Court as an entity whose decisions would be independently monitored by the National Māori Entity and would be required to respond to their reports. 

The Chief Justice said that such a set up "would be inconsistent with New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements" and that "Court decisions are appropriately challenged by way of appeal, not by way of review by a statutory entity". She was so surprised by this that she said that the Supreme Court "assume[d] this is an error in drafting or an oversight."

This is bigger than Three Waters but so many people still don't know about it. In the coming weeks, we will be launching our campaign to put a stop to these radical reforms. 

Kiwis want Wellington to stop hoarding taxes 💰⚠️

Councils often struggle to pay for essential infrastructure in our local communities such as roads and water pipes. While many don't help by funding vanity projects and white elephants, one of the biggest drivers of this problem is that when new developments are built, almost all of the tax revenue generated goes straight to central government in Wellington.

This means local councils are often reluctant to support development, such as new housing or suburbs. But the solution is simple: Let some of the taxes collected from new houses and businesses stay in the communities where they are generated. This would ensure that the money would be directed exactly to where new infrastructure is needed and would empower councils to make sensible decisions about local development.  

This is not a new idea and has been promoted by our friends at the New Zealand Initiative (a Wellington-based think tank) for many years. Now it seems the idea has widespread public support. In this month's Taxpayers' Union – Curia Poll, our pollsters asked a representative sample of Kiwi voters if they supported such a proposal and an overwhelming 70% were in favour while just 15% were opposed and 15% were unsure. 

ACT deputy lead and housing spokesperson, Brooke van Velden has been championing this idea in Parliament for some time and has tabled the Housing Infrastructure (GST-sharing) Bill that would give councils half of the GST raised on new houses in their area. National and the Greens have already pledged to support it at first reading, but it will need Labour votes to progress any further.

We say it's time for Wellington to stop their development money grab and urge the Government to support this bill that is desperately needed to improve local infrastructure. 

Avatar producers rake in massive profits as Kiwis pick up the tab 🎥💸

Hon. John Boscawen joins Taxpayers' Union Board

Last week saw a new addition to the Taxpayers' Union Board in the form of businessman and former ACT MP, the Hon. John Boscawen. John served as Minister of Consumer Affairs and Associate Minister of Commerce in the John Key Government.

John has been a long-time supporter of the Taxpayers’ Union. With his experience in business and politics, John brings with him great knowledge and insights to the organisation. We are delighted to be able to work with him to champion lower taxes, less waste and more accountability.

All of our board members are not just volunteers, but financially support the work of the Taxpayers' Union. As we get stuck into the important work this election year, we are grateful to all of them for their commitment to making New Zealand a more prosperous society with an efficient, transparent and democratically accountable government.

Thank you for your support.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

Stuff Damien Grant: Things get done because of agitators and advocates

RNZ Ashley Bloomfield, the public service and political neutrality

NZ Herald Labour overtakes National in new political poll - Greens hover just above threshold

Interest.co.nz Chris Hipkins helps Labour take the lead in Taxpayer Union political poll for the first time in 12 months

Stuff Labour and National neck-and-neck, with just one seat in it, in latest poll

RNZ The Panel with Nicky Pellegrino and Allan Blackman (Part One)

NewstalkZB Afternoon Edition: 09 March 2023 – New Poll

NewstalkZB  Barry Soper: ZB senior political correspondent on Labour taking the lead in new Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll

The Daily Blog BOOM: New Taxpayers’ Union Poll puts Labour on Top but Greens in danger of falling below 5%

RNZ Labour rises in new Curia poll, Greens dangerously close to threshold

Te Ao Māori News Hipkins hoists Labour’s election chances but not quite enough to rule

NewstalkZB The Huddle: Te Whatu Ora apologises for reporting inaccurate information and Labour leads in new poll

TodayFM Full Show: 10 March 2023 – New Poll (02:12:22)

RNZ First Up - The Podcast, Friday 10 March (00:36:19)

NewstalkZB Morning Edition: 10 March 2023 – New Poll

RNZ Political editors panel: Public service posturing

Otago Daily Times Hipkins doesn't see kids 'anywhere near enough'

NZ Herald Prime Minister Chris Hipkins tells Newstalk ZB he doesn’t see kids ‘anywhere near enough’ in top job

NewstalkZB Jordan Williams and Fleur Fitzsimons face-off over Government consultant spending

NZ Herald Chris v Chris: Poll, battle, mistakes - did Luxon or Hipkins deliver the goods to win the week?

The Gisborne Herald National has to change tack

Stuff National snaps politics right back to December

NewstalkZB Jason Walls: Newstalk ZB political editor on multiple public servants breaking impartiality requirements

RNZ Political commentators Lamia Imam & Brigitte Morten

NewstalkZB Callum Purves speaks to Kerry Woodham on the RMA reforms

The Platform Is the Government sneaking through legislation with their latest RMA reforms?

NZ Herald Voters want councils to have a share of GST, poll shows

Politik Speed limits hit potholes

Newsroom Auckland’s light rail stage fright

NZ Initiative Localism: The initiative that has won the nation over

 

 

 

Reacting to the Q4 2022 GDP figures released by Stats NZ  Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, says:

“Today’s figures demonstrate why the Government needs to double its efforts to deliver better value for money and stop piling cash onto the inflation bonfire.”

“In general, higher government spending results in more inflation than allowing taxpayers to keep more of their own money.  With the economy now running backwards, now is the time for tax relief - funded by pruning wasteful government spending in Wellington. It’s affordable, not inflationary, and would improve the economy more than a ‘top down’ government-led approach.”

Bigger doesn’t mean better – Canterbury and Waikato Supercities are a bad idea

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union says that proposals from Hamilton and Christchurch City Councils to create new supercities are a bad idea that would increase costs for ratepayers, undermine local control and reduce democratic accountability.

The Union is also calling on the Government to commission an independent review of the Auckland supercity that amalgamated the former Auckland Regional Council and seven district and city councils.

The proponents of amalgamation claim that that it will reduce overheads and lead to efficiency gains, but this is not borne out in the evidence. A report by the Infrastructure Commission last year, for example, found no evidence that larger councils are more efficient.

Taxpayers’ Union Local Government spokesman, Josh Van Veen, says:

“Aucklanders know from bitter experience that the roads are worse, rates are higher, and our public transport system is even less co-ordinated than it was under the old regional and district council model.

“At the same time, decision-making is further and further removed from local communities. Large Council-Controlled Organisations spend billions of dollars in ratepayer money but are kept at arms-length from democratic accountability.

“Recent centralisations of polytechnics and health have also been a complete mess. Rather than generate economies of scale, they have simple created additional layers of bureaucracy on top of what was there before. Creating more supercities is completely the wrong approach.

“It is time for the Department of Internal Affairs to do what it promised 12 years ago and give the public an honest appraisal of Auckland Council.”

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union congratulates Wētā FX on their success at the Oscars with Avatar: The Way of Water but is disappointed that it is tainted by the millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies that franchise has received.

Taxpayers have forked out over $140 million in subsidies for the Avatar sequels, the first of which grossed almost $3.7 billion. In the five years to 2026, taxpayers will have paid more than $1 billion to wealthy film production companies, including one owned by Jeff Bezos – the world’s third richest man.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“The Government needs to explain why the film industry is special enough to receive favourable treatment over other industries. Every dollar taxed to fund these subsidies is a dollar that could have been spent improving public services or reducing the tax burden on Kiwis.

“James Cameron has publicly stated that the film is generating a profit so it is time for taxpayers to see a return on their investment.

“We urge the producers of Avatar to express their gratitude to New Zealanders by paying back the generous subsidies that have been provided by taxpayers over the years."

Today’s announcement that the Government is adjusting superannuation and main benefits for inflation highlights the need for a principled approach to income taxes.

“While those receiving taxpayer support get an adjustment, hard-working New Zealanders are going backwards each and every day,” says Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves.

“Indexing tax brackets for inflation is a principled policy that would ensure that people only pay more tax if they are actually earning more in real terms.

“Those lucky enough to receive a pay rise in line with inflation still end up worse off as they pay a higher proportion of their income in tax or are rocketed into higher tax brackets.

"After taxes, wages are not keeping up with inflation but the Government continues to ignore the obvious solution of income tax bracket indexation.

“Indexation would mean that, at whatever level income taxes are set, they remain at the same rate in real terms and are not increased by stealth.

"The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Government to index tax brackets to make our tax system more honest and shield New Zealanders from the ever-increasing cost of living."

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has welcomed the Prime Minister's announcement of $1 billion of savings from dropping unpopular policies, including that ‘cash for clunkers’ scheme, but has said that this does not go far enough.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

"This $568 million 'cash for clunkers' scheme was simply classic middle class welfare dressed up as climate action. The policy would have benefited those wealthier New Zealanders in the market for electric vehicles but wouldn’t have reduced net emissions by a single gram because transport emissions are already covered by the 'cap and trade' Emissions Trading Scheme.

“The Government has wasted billions of dollars on ineffective climate policy putting pressure on inflation and the cost of living. It is time for the remaining pointless climate policies to join this one on the scrap heap so that the Emissions Trading Scheme can do its job.

“Scrapping $1 billion of wasteful spending is, of course, welcome, but if the government is really serious about getting the focus back onto bread and butter issues, scrapping Auckland Light Rail, Three Waters and trimming the bloated public service would be good places to start. 

“Our research team can identify far more instances of wasteful spending. We will be writing to the Prime Minister offering to meet and help him trim it back. Ensuring Kiwi taxpayers get better value for money from Wellington should the priority for all politicians.”

Wellington City Council must slash waste to prepare for climate change

On Monday, The Dominion Post reported that Wellington City Council’s Environment and Infrastructure Committee has been advised to spend an additional $15.4 million on retaining walls to prevent floods and land slippage caused by extreme weather.

Taxpayers’ Union Local Government spokesperson, Josh Van Veen, says:

“Wellingtonian households are about to be hit by a massive 12.8% rates increase. We agree that climate adaptation must be prioritised. However, the money for retaining walls should come from the reallocation of existing budgets.

“The Council is spending millions on climate change mitigation in areas already covered by the ETS such as the $20 million Environmental and Accessibility Performance Fund and the Climate and Sustainability Fund, which saw thousands of ratepayer dollars paid to a church.

“This spending should be slashed and reallocated toward future proofing the city’s infrastructure.

“With the new Tākina Convention Centre opening in June, there is also an opportunity to rationalise Council property assets to free up capital necessary for investment while also reducing ratepayers’ exposure to risk from climate or seismic events.”

Over the weekend, David Farrar sent an email to our supporter lists about what the Government is currently sneaking through Parliament to replace the Resource Management Act.  Here at the Taxpayers’ Union, we are no fans of the RMA.  But what is proposes is far, far worse.  As a result of enquiries today, we are copying the email for all to see.

Right now the team are working on planning for the campaign to defeat the Central Planning explained below.  The catch 22 is that it is difficult to plan when we don’t know what financial resources are available, and we don’t know that because so few Kiwis are even aware of these Bills.  Watch this space through – a campaign will be launching very soon.

I apologise that this is so long – but it is important. While Three Waters was about community/council assets, this post is about a new series of bills going through Parliament right now that will dictate what you can can do with your house, your farm, and your business. And unlike Three Waters, it is getting nearly no media attention.

David Parker's new planning bills are even worse than Three Waters – and apply to your land/house/business

Right now, the Government is sneaking through legislation that is almost identical to Nanaia Mahuta's original plans with Three Waters, but relates to our homes, town planning, consenting, and natural environment.

The short point is, if you thought Three Waters was bad, the Government's proposed replacement to the Resource Management Act is much, much worse. 

While most New Zealanders looked at the Three Waters shambles with horror, Environment Minister, David Parker, was taking notes. He’s decided to replicate the worst elements of the water reforms in his proposed replacement to the Resource Management Act. 

But you won't have read much about this issue in the media. Unlike Three Waters, there's no taxpayer-funded Government ad campaign or even much of a public discussion.

Make no mistake: The Government is trying to sneak this one through. The bills – 891 pages in total – were dumped just before Christmas and the Government closed submissions on Waitangi weekend. That – plus the fact Ministers have deliberately not promoted the bills – has meant that the media is only just starting to wake up to the possible implications of these reforms.

Under this proposed law, powers over planning and when a resource consent is required will be stripped from local councils and handed to 15 new co-governed ‘Regional Planning Committees’. That means the decisions about the building consent for your deck, new home, factory, your farm's water take, and how your city or town is planned will be made by people you cannot vote out. 'Regional Planning Committees' will be tasked with enforcing a litany of costly new rules from Wellington to restrict the way you use your property. 

I need to be clear: The Resource Management Act is broken. Its planning rules have fuelled a housing and infrastructure crisis. But we need to get RMA reform right, and David Parker’s new Soviet-style planning regime is not the answer. Instead of cutting red tape, he's come up with a cure worse than the disease.

Local control will be lost: Instead of elected decision makers, town, city and environmental planning will handed to co-governed Regional Planning Committees before the end of this year

If you thought dealing with silly rules from your local council was bad, wait until it's a co-governed Regional Planning Committee that voters cannot sack making the rules. David Parker wants to take responsibility for planning rules away from our 67 democratically elected local councils and hand it to 15 new co-governed ‘Regional Planning Committees’.

That’s right: First your council lost its responsibility for water asset management, and now it’s losing responsibility for planning. At this rate your Mayor will be responsible for little more than the library collection and the annual Christmas parade! 

Unless we act right now, the law will be passed before this year's election. And with the election result looking so close, the only way to ensure we defeat this is to blow the whistle now, so these proposals become as unpopular as Three Waters.

Think of all the conversations in your local community about zoning rules, intensification, and planning priorities. I'm no fan of my local council, but at least under the current system, voters can hold the decision makers to account. Under this new system, the decision makers will be out of town, beholden to Wellington, and insulated from accountability by layers of bureaucracy.

Each local council – even large metropolitan ones – will have just one representative on the new regional committees. That also means that local voices in, say, Waitaki will be drowned out by other committee members. Decisions over say a proposed geothermal energy plant in Taupo would be made in Hamilton by a co-governed, unaccountable, committee.

The rules even allow the Minister (currently David Parker) to make his own appointments to the Regional Planning Committees so that Wellington has people to ensure that these committees dance to the Government's tune.

And the new committees will be bound by ‘National Planning Frameworks’ issued by the Minister every nine years, dictating comprehensive environmental targets and limits, and rules governing resource allocation from Kaitaia to the Bluff. That means environmental decisions and regional 'quotas' on things like CO2 emissions will be made by Wellington.

We need your support to stop this unaccountable co-governed centralisation by Wellington.

Even more co-governance will make public input meaningless 

Under the proposed regime, all persons exercising planning power must “give effect” to principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. David Parker wants to strictly enforce this rule with three new layers of co-governance: 

1. Unelected appointees from local iwi/hapū will sit on the new Regional Planning Committees with full voting rights. 
    
   • David Parker is trying to say this isn't co-governance as the proposed legislation only requires a minimum of two iwi/hapū representatives and the exact number is up to local communities. But it's not as simple as that. The committees deciding on appointee numbers for local councils and those from iwi will be bound by the principles of the Treaty. A recent Waitangi Tribunal decision makes it explicit that, "nothing less" than a 50/50 split will do in order to satisfy the so-called "partnership" principle.
     
     
2. A new, unelected ‘National Māori Entity’ will put pressure on the new planning committees to ensure that they abide by Treaty principles, and will have priority over public consultation on the new National Planning Frameworks.
   
   
3. At any time, iwi or hapū can produce a Te Oranga o te Taiao (environmental wellbeing) statement, dictating how the Minister of Environment must uphold the “intrinsic relationship” between iwi/hapū and the environment in National Planning Frameworks for which there is no appeal process outlined in the bill.

David Parker is trying to say that these reforms don't involve co-governance, but, as you can see, that is blatantly untrue.

We need your help to make sure New Zealanders know about these Bills, and step up to protect democratic accountability before it is too late.

Higher costs for ratepayers due to bureaucracy and legal minefields

These reforms mean everything from building a new deck to constructing a new hospital or supermarket will be even harder.

The legislation's first reading was snuck through just before the Christmas break. The Government wants to have it passed before this year’s election and only gave the summer holiday period for formal submissions.

Of course, our team worked over summer to get their heads around the 891 pages of legislation and made a submission. But the real fight is the political one: We need to raise public awareness.

If New Zealanders were fully aware about the true implications of David Parker’s power grab, it could turn into a real political headache for the Government just like Three Waters. 

18 months ago, the Taxpayers' Union decided that we had no option but to take on Nanaia Mahuta's Three Waters. Back then the vast majority of Kiwis were backing the Government, as very few understood the downsides of what the Government was doing. It was only after a mammoth campaign, hundreds of events, and thousands of banners, signs, and an advertising blitz across TV, radio and online did the National Party (and the media) catch on to the costs of Three Waters. Three Waters would not be the thorn in the Government's side, had the Taxpayers' Union not led the fight (and supporters like you making the campaign possible with substantial financial support).

Just like we did not let Nanaia Mahuta get away with Three Waters, we cannot let David Parker get away with these even more radical proposals.

We need to put so much political pressure on the Government that David Parker's plans become a liability for Labour’s re-election prospects and are therefore scrapped by Chris Hipkins.

Thank you for your support.

David Farrar Co-founder New Zealand Taxpayers' Union

 

 

 

NEW POLL Labour takes lead over National while Hipkins's popularity continues to soar 📊💥

Exclusive to supporters like you, we can reveal the results of this month's Taxpayers' Union – Curia Poll and it’s a big one. On these numbers, October’s election is set to be a close one.

For the first time in a year, Labour has taken the lead on 35.5% up 1.1 points on last month while National is on 34.8% up 0.4 points on last month. 

ACT is down 2.4 points to 9.3% while the Greens have dropped 2.1 points to 5.7%. This is perilously close to the 5% threshold for getting seats in Parliament (unless Chlöe Swarbrick can hold onto her Auckland Central electorate).

New Zealand First, on the other hand, sees a boost of 1.3 points to the party to 4.2% – within striking distance of re-entering Parliament. The Māori Party is on 1.4 per cent – down 0.7 points – and will again have to rely on holding at least one electorate to get any list seats.

Other smaller parties were the New Conservatives on 2.5% (+1.7 points), TOP on 1.7% (-0.3 points), Vision NZ on 0.8% (+0.6 points) and Democracy NZ on 0.5% (-0.4 points).

Assuming all current electorates are held, this would mean 49 seats for Labour (up 3 seats on last month), 48 seats for National (up 2), 13 for ACT (down 2), 8 for the Greens (down 2), and 2 for the Māori Party (down 1).

This means that the Centre-Right bloc could just form a government on 61 seats while the Centre-Left pick up 1 seat to be on 57.

Chris Hipkins's net favourability rating continues to soar and now sits at +33% up 6 points from last month's poll. The prime minister also now has a positive net favourability rating with National voters of +13% up 17 points from -4% last month.
 
Christopher Luxon’s net favourability has increased by 3 points from -5% to -2%. ACT leader, David Seymour, sees a 12-point bounce to +1%. 

We've just released the key results on our website here.

TVNZ/RNZ merger board still meeting – weeks after merger was canned 📺💰

This week it was revealed that the board managing the TVNZ/RNZ merger was still operating – despite the merger having been scrapped in the Prime Minister's policy bonfire weeks ago. Reports suggest that this board costs a staggering $8,000 a day and will continue to to meet until the end of March to complete a final report.

Jordan spoke to Newstalk ZB earlier this week about quite how ridiculous this situation is that the taxpayer is continuing to have to stump up thousands of dollars a day for a board whose only responsibility now is to turn the lights out on their way out of their $1.19 million-per-year offices (the lease for which doesn't expire until May). 

While the Government has had the good sense to abandon the merger, after already wasting $19 million before ditching it, we say the Government should stop pouring more money down the drain.

Taxpayers funded Clarke Gayford's trip to Antarctica 🐧🛩️

Taxpayer Talk with Peter Williams: Rob Campbell and Jordan Williams on neutrality in the public sector 🎙️

On this episode of Taxpayer Talk, Peter Williams speaks with former Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand Chair, Rob Campbell, to discuss political neutrality within the public service. 

Mr Campbell was publicly sacked from his high-profile position in the public service after making controversial comments about the National Party's Three Waters policy on his LinkedIn account. Campbell has doubled down on his comments and feels he should be free to give his opinion on controversial issues. Since recording this podcast, he has also been dismissed from his role at the Environmental Protection Authority but remains unremorseful.

Throughout this episode, Peter and Rob dive deep into the responsibilities of public servants, where professional responsibility ends and where personal opinion begins.

Later in the episode we are joined by Taxpayers' Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, to hear his perspective on the state of political neutrality within the public service. 

Also this week, we hear from our War on Waste team who have uncovered a million dollar truancy awareness campaign. But will it get kids to go to school? 

Listen to the episode | Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio

Thank you for your support.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

 

 

 

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on Michael Wood to get a grip on his department, the Ministry of Transport.

After Monday’s transport policy U-turn, the New Zealand Herald today revealed that a new ‘The Future of Transport in Aotearoa New Zealand: Who should pay for what?’ had suggested public support for a raft of new taxes and the promotion of public transport over roads. The survey, however, had just 436 participants and was self-selecting with even the researchers acknowledging that it had a skew towards cyclists.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“It’s not good enough for Michael Wood to pass the buck here and refer questions on this paper that suggests new taxes and charges and deprioritizing roads back to the Ministry of Transport. In case he has forgotten, he happens to be the Minister of Transport. Mr. Wood has either had a change of heart since the Ministry commissioned this report or its authors have gone way outside their remit and he needs to get a grip on what his department is doing.

“The commissioning of this report simply confirms that the Ministry of Transport doesn’t understand New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme. Moreover, self-selecting surveys with emotive and loaded questions like these that are not representative of the New Zealand population are worthless and do not support good policy making. If the Ministry of Transport wants to find out what New Zealanders actually think on these issues, they would be better commissioning a scientific poll, which would probably be a lot cheaper too.”'

Government U-turn highlights confused transport policy

Yesterday’s quick U-turn from the Government on the reported shift to an emissions reduction focus for the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF) highlights a more fundamental problem with transport policy making. 

Forcing road users to subsidise walking, cycling and other activities is not only unfair on them, but will not achieve its desired goal of reducing emissions.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“The Fund was set up with a very simple principle: The amount you pay towards the upkeep of our roads should be linked to the effect your vehicle has on them. The money raised from these taxes and charges goes into a pot that pays for roads maintenance and investment.

“But road users are now subsidizing non-road projects through the Fund, including walking and cycling routes, uneconomical railway lines, and the ‘Road to Zero’ advertising campaign too. All the while, our roads – which will always be necessary for Kiwis – continue to deteriorate

“And while the Government might have the noble motivation of reducing emissions, it misses the crucial point that our Emissions Trading Scheme means any reduction from cuts to road projects or increased public transport investment will be offset by greater emissions in other areas.

No new taxes? Say hello to the Government's 'app tax'📱🧾

For a Government that committed not to introduce new taxes, they seem to be doing a good job of coming up with innovative ideas for how to pinch more of your hard earned dollars.

Remember the furore last year about plans to introduce GST on KiwiSaver fund managers that was dropped within 24 hours? Turns out the parliamentary bill that was set to bring that in had another tax hidden within it.

On Thursday, the Financial and Expenditure Select Committee reported back to Parliament on the Government's latest Taxation Bill. National's minority report (opposing the Bill) highlights the proposal to change the rules for GST on digital services.

At the moment, if a sole trader or business makes less than $60,000 a year, they do not have to register for and charge GST on their services. The bill proposes to remove this threshold and charge GST on any and all services provided on or though a digital platform. It's not a new tax on the foreign-own corporations such as Uber or Airbnb – it's a tax grab from the small business owners who occasionally rent out a spare bedroom through an online app, or those who drive part-time for a ride share service.

So what does this mean for you? Well, your Uber driver, your takeaway delivery person or your Airbnb provider will now have charge 15 percent GST and this will push up the price you pay for all of these services.

This 'app tax' would mean a $20 Uber fare would cost $23 while an Airbnb stay that currently costs $300 will now cost $345. Across the year, these increases will add up.

The Government tax take has continued to increase in recent years while Kiwis have been squeezed as a result of record levels of inflation. This app tax will simply make the situation worse.

Chris Hipkins said that he would keep to the Labour's commitments on tax. If he really means that, he should drop this 'app tax' immediately. 

Public service neutrality: Why Rob Campbell had to go 🪑❌

Here at the Taxpayers' Union we believe public service neutrality is important. We need to be able to trust the civil service machine to act impartially and deliver on the policies of whichever party is in office regardless of their own personal political beliefs. Officials are accountable to democratically elected politicians, and it should never be the other way around.

Countries such as the United States allow incoming presidents and governments to sack incumbent officials and put their own trusted advisors into the senior positions of government agencies. But, in general, New Zealand governments do not have the power to remove senior public servants, thus the need for neutrality.

Unfortunately over the last few decades, the public service has becoming less and less neutral. On cultural issues in particular, many of the positions departments and ministries take are overtly political. Wellington is something of a woke bubble, an echo chamber of employees who all agree with each other but who can become detached from wider public opinion. In the UK, we refer to this ‘the blob’.

As soon as we became aware of the Rob Campbell social media rant, we wrote to the Public Service Commissioner asking him to investigate the remarks as a likely breach of the Public Service Commission's Code of Conduct. We can't think of a more blatant breach of political neutrality in recent history – the leader of the Government's health department abusing the Leader of the Opposition and accusing him of 'dog whistle' politics on a matter that is subject to intense political debate (co-governance and the delivery of public services).

Credit where credit is due, the decisions taken by the Ministers of Heath and the Environment (apparently encouraged by the Prime Minister's office) were the rights ones. 

On Thursday, Rob Campbell defended his outburst in an interview with Peter Williams on Taxpayer Talk. You can listen to that podcast interview here.

Fancies of murdering James Cook: Your taxes funding fringe activism 🎭💵

This week it was revealed that a stage show called ‘The Savage Coloniser’ received $107,280 in Creative NZ and Foundation North funding. The play is based on a book of poems of the same name, which includes a poem for the 250th anniversary of James Cook's arrival in New Zealand.

You can read an extract above and, if you are struggling to grasp the beauty of the piece, The Spinoff – also taxpayer funded – have put together a helpful 'How to read a poem' guide to explain what you should think and feel when reading it. 👀

New Zealanders will have different views on the value of arts funding. You can make a case for it being used to widen access to the arts or support cultural projects that might not otherwise be viable.

What it shouldn’t be used for is to fund fringe activism that arguably promotes racial hatred and violence.

With a shortage of ICU nurses, and communities still cut off due to Cyclone Gabrielle, we say there is better things to fund than a stage show about murdering James Cook and other white people.

Some have criticised those of us who have called out the funding, questioning our commitment to free speech and arguing that the withdrawal of funding would amount to censorship. 

There are two problems with this argument. First, Creative NZ appear to only ever fund Left-wing projects. When was the last time you saw them fund a play about the benefits of capitalism, freedom, or free trade? Given the funding decisions are brazenly political (remember the gushing documentaries about Chlöe Swarbrick?), the blob can't claim this is purely about art. 

Secondly, the Taxpayers' Union is a staunch defender of free speech. We are certainly not suggesting the poem or the show should be banned. The point is that if people want to go and see a show like this, that's up to them, but we shouldn't all be forced to pay for it.

Why the rush? The dangers of passing new laws too quickly ⚖️💨

Taxpayer Talk with Peter Williams: Nick Stewart on the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle 🎙️

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Peter Williams sits down with Nick Stewart to discuss the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle. The recent cyclone devastated many parts of the country, particularly Hawke's Bay and Gisborne on the East Coast of the North Island. Along with claiming lives and livelihoods, the cyclone exposed serious problems with the adequacy of our infrastructure.

Nick is the Chief Executive of Stewart Group, a Hawke's Bay based financial services firm. Being from the area, Nick is understandably interested in the effects this event will have on the region, and country, over many years to come. He shares his perspective and insights as to how we can recover and different ways this rebuild could be paid for. 

Also in this podcast, our War on Waste team target exorbitant spending by government departments on catering.

Listen to the episode | Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio

Thank you for your support.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

Newshub Te Whatu Ora/Health NZ chair Rob Campbell unrepentant after claims comments breached political impartiality

Kiwiblog The consensus for a Three Waters model

Stuff More trust National's leaders on the economy - Taxpayers' Union Curia Poll

Newstalk ZB Afternoon Edition: 28 February 2023 – Economy Poll

Newstalk ZB Barry Soper: ZB senior political correspondent on the Taxpayers Union/Curia poll saying National is more trusted on the economy

The Working Group with Matthew Hooton, Brooke Van Veldon and Damien Grant

Stuff MP labels environment ministry outrageous and hypocritical over flight use

NBR Campbell's sacking, National's policy, cyclone recovery

On this episode of Taxpayer Talk, Peter Williams speaks with former Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand Chair, Rob Campbell, to discuss political neutrality within the public service. 

Campbell was publicly sacked from his high-profile position in the public service after making controversial comments about the National Party's Three Waters policy on his LinkedIn account. Campbell has doubled down on his comments and feels he should be free to give his opinion on controversial issues. Since recording this podcast, he has also been dismissed from his role at the Environmental Protection Authority but remains unremorseful.

Throughout this episode, Peter and Rob dive deep into the responsibilities of public servants, where professional responsibility ends and where personal opinion begins.

Later in the episode we are joined by Taxpayers' Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, to hear his perspective on the state of political neutrality within the public service. 

Also this week, we hear from our War on Waste team who have uncovered a million dollar truancy awareness campaign. But will it get kids to go to school? 

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. 

Urgency motions have increasingly been used over the past few years to enact law which bypasses the usual public consultation procedure. It’s a power that can severely undermine the integrity of our legislative process. Governments of all stripes must commit to being restrained in their practice of this power to ensure public trust in our democracy is maintained.

Last year, the government moved an urgency motion which expedited over 20 bills through various stages of the legislative process. 4 of these bills were completed from start to finish, and shockingly included in the assortment was the Water Services Entities Bill where, extraordinarily, a 60% entrenchment clause (since revoked) was proposed to prevent the privatisation of water assets. There is a long history of urgency abuse within our parliament, but this obvious overreach, in combination with a bundle of other recent abuses, has brought this issue firmly back into focus.

Enacting successfully scrutinized legislation is paramount for maintaining trust in our parliamentary system and ensuring that New Zealand remains a democratic nation which dependably responds to the greater public interest. In ensuring this occurs, proposed bills usually go through a process of extensive assessment where public engagement and in-house deliberation are fundamental customs, valued and respected by all. With urgency motions however, that general process can be unreasonably accelerated which, at times, can vehemently damage the integrity of any law passed under them.

The urgency motion is an extremely powerful mechanism at the hands of Parliament. Bills moved under it may be rushed through up to all stages in just a couple of days. Not only are extra-sitting hours permitted, but critical periods of consultation such as the select committee can be completely side-stepped. This means that chances for public input are often taken away, and time for reflection and review by academics is largely not possible. For that reason, the use of urgency is meant for unprecedented circumstances where the government is left with no choice but to act with haste.

Currently, due to their majority, Labour has the ability to instate urgency motions in spite of objection. That is exactly what happened late last year when then leader of the house Chris Hipkins moved 24 bills under urgency - much to the dismay of all non-Labour parties. For some of these bills, one might concede that their technical nature provided enough justification for their inclusion. Though the same certainly cannot be said for the insertion of the Water Service Entities Bill, which saw the Government attempt to ram through one of the most contentious pieces of legislation this generation has ever seen.

Though unfortunately, misuse of urgency motions is nothing new within New Zealand’s Parliament. We need only take a brief look at the history books to realise just dangerous a tool urgency was and certainly can still be. A study conducted by staff at Victoria University of Wellington back in 2011 revealed that urgency motions were conducted 230 times on more than 1600 bills from 1987 to 2010. Staggeringly, over half the bills introduced to Parliament during that time were accorded urgency at least once in their enactment process. And the lack of justification, which became widespread around the political room, offered another critical element of concern. Reasons given for issuing the motion were consistently dubious and vague in their nature and, although valid motives cropped up sporadically, it was evident that a significant number of urgency motions passed were based on either freeing up the order paper or, occasionally, an element of something more sinister.

In the University review, many politicians and staff were interviewed on how they felt about urgency motions and when they would be appropriate to employ. The majority acknowledged them as being a legitimate tool for engineering extra sitting hours and prioritising legislation. According to the report, very few expressed any discomfort in urgency being used in this manner and some older politicians even openly admitted to using urgency as a means of political stealth, a way to game the opposition and buy time to reset and push back criticism. Clearly the reasons for bringing about urgency motions are still just as questionable, why shouldn’t we think our current politicians will act any more reputably?

A significant increase in the use of urgency motions under John Key’s 2008 term as well as an emergent raft of criticism through the late 2000s saw an amendment to the standing orders in 2011 which brought in extended hours motions. This allowed less urgent bills, which simply required more house time, to be passed under longer hours rather than subjecting them to an unnecessarily truncated process. And initially, it appeared there had been a positive reaction. Urgency was used just 9 times the following term which represented over three times less than the previous parliament. Though, unfortunately, that initial spark has clearly fizzled out because urgency use is back on the rise. Subsequent National (51^st) and Labour-led (52^nd and 53^rd) parliaments have since been responsible for 12, 18, and 21 (so far) uses respectively – Still reasonable figures, but displaying a worrying upsurge over recent years.

This increase is concerning on its own, but it doesn’t help that the content of bills coming under these motions are often highly contentious. In 2020 we saw urgency accorded to the Tax (Income Tax Rate and Consequences) Bill, which saw it pass through all legislative stages. The façade was that it provided an increase to the top tax rate, though underneath it stealthily granted the IRD with new powers, ones that put a substantial dent into Kiwis’ privacy rights. In 2021, the COVID-19 Response (Vaccinations) Legislation bill, which saw the introduction of the traffic light system, was also shuttled through from start to finish, and other recent question marks include the mishap in May 2020, when Parliament enacted the wrong legislation under urgency, as well as the Local (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill, which went to the select committee for just 6 days before it passed shortly after.

The excessive use of urgency motions has been a continual problem in Parliament for decades, but this doesn’t make it any more acceptable now. The opportunity for bills to be scrutinized is vital in providing high quality legislation. We have seen time and again recently that this is not happening, and often times, its impact is undemocratic and against the public interest. We understand that the Government wants to get through a number of bills before their next term, but this should never trump the importance of proper parliamentary and public scrutiny. The common excuse of “clearing up the order paper” or “tying up some loose ends” is never an appropriate reason to bypass important stages of enquiry. Unless a bill must be passed quickly, there is no reason why it should come under an urgency motion. With the election in October a fast-approaching deadline, we sincerely hope that the Government doesn’t succumb to ramming through legislation unduly.

With the Taxpayers’ Union’s mission change reflecting the need for more accountability across our government departments, we now more than ever believe that strong scrutiny of proposed legislation must be at the forefront of debate to ensure that those in power are held to account.

The Taxpayers’ Union had called for the Government to stop allowing taxpayer dollars to be spent on funding fringe activism. The call comes after a stage show called ‘The Savage Coloniser’ received $107,280.

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said:

“People will have different views on the value of arts funding. You can make a case for it being used to widen access to the arts or support cultural projects that might not otherwise be viable.

“But what it certainly shouldn’t be used for is to fund fringe activism of which this ‘The Savage Coloniser’ stage show about murdering James Cook and white people is a particularly extreme example. Many New Zealanders will see this as funding an overtly political project that will likely offend and which should not be supported by taxpayer money.

“The Government needs to withdraw this funding immediately and introduce new guidance for arts funding agencies to prevent such misuse of taxpayer dollars in the future.”

NEW POLL: Kiwis still trust Luxon/Willis marginally over Hipkins/Robertson on economy

A new Taxpayers' Union – Curia poll found that New Zealanders narrowly preferred Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis (43% of respondents) to Chris Hipkins and Grant Robertson (39%) as the most trusted team to manage the economy. 18% of respondents were unsure.

This result comes after the regular Taxpayers' Union – Curia monthly poll released earlier this month found that economic issues continue to be at the forefront of voters’ minds with the cost of living being the most important issue to them when voting on 35% followed by the economy more generally on 13%.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“Which prime minister and finance minister pairing that voters most trust to manage the economy is often a strong indicator of how they will vote in an election. While National’s top team is marginally ahead, this poll confirms that the general election in October is set to be close."

“This result is similar to what it was back in December when Jacinda Ardern was still in post. While the new prime minister and his policy ‘refocus’ seem to have given Labour a bounce in voting intention, it seems the party still has work to do to demonstrate it can be trusted to manage the economy."

“A good place to start would be by ruling out any new taxes to fund the cyclone clean up and restoration works and instead focus on getting wasteful government spending under control.”

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Peter Williams sits down with Nick Stewart to discuss the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle. The recent cyclone devastated many parts of the country, particularly Hawke's Bay and Gisborne on the East Coast of the North Island. Along with claiming lives and livelihoods, the cyclone exposed serious problems with the adequacy of our infrastructure.

Nick is the Chief Executive of Stewart Group, a Hawke's Bay based financial services firm. Being from the area, Nick is understandably interested in the effects this event will have on the region, and country, over many years to come. He shares his perspective and insights as to how we can recover and different ways this rebuild could be paid for. 

Also in this podcast, our War on Waste team target exorbitant spending by government departments on catering.

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. 

Position of Health NZ Chair untenable

Highly political comments by Rob Campbell — who is Chair of both Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand and the Environmental Protection Agency —  make his continued employment as one of the Government’s most senior public servants untenable, says the Taxpayers’ Union. The Union has written to the Public Service Commissioner asking him to investigate Mr Campbell for what appears to be a serious and clear breach of the The Standards of Integrity and Conduct applicable to civil servants.

Over the weekend, Mr Campbell published a news report about Christpher Luxon’s alternative model to the Government’s controversial Three Waters policy and commented:

I was so amused by this that I thought it needed to stand alone. Leaving the solution to the major issues we can all see to the very bodies that have failed to avert the issues can only evince [sic] a John McEnroe “You cannot be serious!” cry.
What on earth would make anyone think this was a sensible idea for debit raising alone, let alone the managment [sic] and delivery of the tasks. Geographic and social inequities deepening while the infrastructure rots.
Ican[sic] only think that this is a thin disguise for the dog whistle on “co-governance”. Christopher Luxon might be able to rescue his party from stupidity on climate change but rescuing this from a well he has dug himself might be harder.

The post can still be viewed at: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7035415822630088704/
(Screenshots are also available on request)

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director Jordan Williams said:

“For one of New Zealand’s most senior bureaucrats to publish a diatribe attaching the Leader of the Opposition and suggest his opposition to co-governance is a ‘dog whistle’ is the most serious departure of public sector neutrality I have ever seen.”
 
“The political attack, and inclusion of inflammatory language, shows a worrying lack of judgement from someone who is supposed to be looking after the reputation of the public sector organisations he leads.”
 
“No matter your view on Three Waters, every New Zealander should be concerned with such a flagrant disregard to the long held rule that our civil service is to be, and seen to be, neutral.”
 
“This is one of those rare instances where it appears untenable for the individual to continue in his role.  To protect the integrity of Health New Zealand and the Environmental Protection Agency, Mr Campbell has no option but to resign.” 

"If Mr Campbell can't see the error in his ways, and if the ethical standards applicable to the civil service mean anything, he should be sacked."

 The Code of Conduct for Crown Entity Board Members issued by the Public Service Commissioner states:

 “We act in a politically impartial manner. Irrespective of our political interests, we conduct ourselves in a way that enables us to act effectively under current and future governments. We do not make political statements or engage in political activity in relation to the functions of the Crown entity.”

 The Code of Conduct for Crown Entity Board Members goes on to say:

“When acting in our private capacity, we avoid any political activity that could jeopardise our ability to perform our role or which could erode the public’s trust in the entity. We discuss with the Chair any proposal to make political comment or to undertake any significant political activity.”

Taxpayers’ Union Welcomes National’s Three Waters Alternative

National’s ‘Local Water Done Well’ alternative to Three Waters is bang on what the Taxpayers’ Union and local councils have been calling for. It meets the Taxpayers’ Union’s red lines of respecting property rights, retaining community control, ensuring local accountability, giving councils the ability to opt into shared models of their choosing, and the efficient delivery of water services.

“This policy is almost identical to the model developed by Communities 4 Local Democracy, which the Taxpayers’ Union has been promoting,” said Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams.

“This is a serious challenge to Chris Hipkins who has said he wants to ‘refocus’ Three Waters. Here is the solution.”

“Three Waters will mean higher waters costs, more bureaucracy, no local control, and less democracy. Poll after poll has shown that the reforms face overwhelming opposition from Kiwis.”

“But everyone accepts that doing nothing is not an option. Now the Government can not claim ‘there is no alternative’.”

“This alternative to Three Waters is now a consensus among the Taxpayers’ Union, 31 provincial councils, the Mayors of our two largest cities, and the opposition National Party. There is just one more person to convince: Mr Hipkins.”

It's been a tough few weeks. Like so many, our team in Wellington have family and friends who have lost their homes and livelihoods following Cyclone Gabrielle and our thoughts continue to be with all of those who have been affected. 

Government must cut wasteful spending – not hike taxes – to fund cyclone clean up ✂️💰

The clean up and restoration works following the devastation of the cyclone will cost a lot of money, but the knee-jerk reaction to hike taxes is not the solution. People are already struggling with the cost of living and a new tax could not come at a worse time. 

Worryingly, this week both Chris Hipkins and Grant Robertson refused to rule out a ‘cyclone levy’ or other new taxes.

Borrowing more – an option the National Party signalled it was open to – is not the solution either. It will simply serve to drive up inflation further and force the Reserve Bank to whack up the Official Cash Rate even higher than the 4.75% it was set at yesterday.

The answer is actually quite simple but it may be a difficult pill for politicians to swallow: The Government needs to get a grip on its spending. 

Unnecessary projects such as Auckland's proposed tramway that Treasury officials estimate could cost up to $29 billion – equivalent to $14,842 for every New Zealand household – should be scrapped. The over $1 billion annual spend on consultants should be slashed, and the explosion in the number of public service mangers could easily be reduced without impacting on frontline public services.

Chris Hipkins keeps talking of a shift towards 'bread and butter politics', but refocussing policies isn't enough, the Government needs to refocus its spending too.

🔍 Taxpayers' Union Investigation: Ministry of Education wasted $1 million on truancy 'awareness' campaign under Chris Hipkins 🏫❌

With much fanfare, the Prime Minister announced funding for new truancy officers to tackle the attendance crisis in our schools. While the funding may be welcome, we were curious as to why it had taken the Government so long to take serious action to tackle the problem.

It turns out Chris Hipkins did take action on truancy when he was Minister of Education. A Taxpayers' Union investigation this week revealed that the Ministry allocated $1 million last year for an 'awareness' campaign about the truancy crisis. 

Unclear about what this actually meant, we asked the Ministry to explain how the campaign addressed the problem of declining attendance and how it improved it. Shockingly, the Ministry said it “was not expected to have a direct, quantifiable, impact on attendance rates itself.”

In short, instead of working to fix the problem (kids not going to school), taxpayers have been made to foot the $1 million bill for an advertising campaign to make them aware about something the media had already done a very good job of covering. You couldn't make it up! 

You can read the full details of our investigation on our website.

High Court confirms Government's Three Waters is an asset grab from local councils and ratepayers ⚖️🚰 

This week the High Court issued its decision on the Three Waters case brought by Timaru, Waimakariri and Whangarei District Councils. They had asked the Court to make declarations on the rights and interests that property ownership entails. You will recall the comments the then Local Government Minister, Nanaia Mahuta, made last year that under her Three Waters scheme councils would still 'own' the assets.

The High Court said

"local councils will lose central incidents of ownership that they presently hold... that local councils’ ability to control the use of their assets will be materially diluted through the WSE governance structure, and... that local democratic accountability for the provision of the Three Waters services in local communities is essentially lost."

This confirms what we have known all along: That the Government's claims that councils retain ownership of water assets are just plain wrong. What will the Government say now?

The judgement also noted that the Government:

"has deliberately decided that [the Three Waters funding package] is not intended to compensate local councils for the value of the infrastructure assets"

But ultimately, our constitutional framework and parliamentary sovereignty means Parliament can make these changes to water service delivery regardless of the impact on local governance and accountability. The way to stop this is through the ballot box, and that is why we continue to work hard to raise public awareness and force the Government to Scrap Three Waters!

Far North District Council spends $2.4 million on pound that can house just 10 dogs 🐶

Our friends in the Far North are having a tough time of it as it is with money desperately needed to fix the roads and flood-damaged infrastructure.

So it's raised some hackles that the Far North District Council has spent $2.4 million on a pound to house just ten mutts. The Northern Advocate reports:

An existing dog kennel bought by Far North District Council to use as a dog pound has ballooned from a $200,000 upgrade project into a “bizarrely expensive” $2.4m facility that will house fewer dogs.

The council bought Melka Kennels near Kaikohe in 2020 with the aim of converting the commercial dog kennels into a dog shelter that would serve the district’s busy southern area.

The original plan was to spend $200,000 to upgrade the site to meet national animal welfare codes to house up to 24 dogs.

Now the new Southern Animal Shelter has morphed into a purpose-built facility that has cost $2.4m and will house just 10 dogs.

That's nearly a quarter of a million dollars per dog that can be housed at any one time and nearly three-and-a-half times the average value of a house in the district. 

The Council is defending the decision, saying that it's value for money, and was partly funded by a Covid "shovel-ready" Provincial Growth Fund grant.  So, taxpayers across the country paid up too...

Taxpayer Talk with Peter Williams: Dr. Oliver Hartwich And Callum Purves On The Future Of Local Government 🎙️

In the latest edition of Taxpayer Talk, the focus is on local government. A review into the future of local government has been commissioned but it fails to address the main issues affecting the sector, in particular the way it’s funded and what its main functions should be.

New Zealand Initiative Executive Director, Oliver Hartwich, explains to host Peter Williams why more localism is such an important concept and why it can be great for a country’s economy. I also speak to Peter about what was wrong with the recent local government review and how the Taxpayers' Union thinks local government could be improved.

Also in the podcast, our War on Waste team focus on some silly spending by the Wellington City Council.

You can still make your voice heard on the Review into the Future of Local Government's consultation report using our easy submission tool at www.protectlocaldemocracy.nz

Listen to the episode | Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio

Thank you for your support.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

NZ Herald National and Labour tied, but Chris Hipkins way ahead of Christopher Luxon - poll

The Spinoff New poll puts Labour and National neck and neck

RNZ Labour closes gap with National in new poll

Newstalk ZB Jordan Williams: Taxpayers' Union says Eleanor Catton should pay back her subsidies

Newstalk ZB The Huddle: Curia poll results and Auckland Grammar staying open despite Cyclone Gabrielle

Newstalk ZB Barry Soper: senior political correspondent on Chris Hipkins announcing $11.5 million in support for cyclone affected regions

Te Ao Māori News Labour closes gap with National in new poll

The Kaka by Bernard Hickey National emergency declared for Gabrielle

The Working Group with John Tamihere, David Seymour and Damien Grant

The Platform Jordan Williams on Eleanor Catton’s swipe at the NZ Tax Payers' Union

Kiwiblog Journalist complains polling question wasn’t leading enough

 

 

 

Government needs to tighten its belt following latest OCR hike

The Taxpayers’ Union has called on the Government to tighten its belt as the Reserve Bank announces a 50 basis points increase in the Official Cash Rate (OCR).

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“Kiwis needing to renew their mortgages will bear the brunt of this rise, but the Bank really had no option given the Government’s irresponsible spending and its own bond-buying bonanza that have both driven inflation."

“Given the need for funds to support reconstruction efforts after the cyclone, the Government needs to tighten its belt and reduce non-essential spending such as Auckland light rail, its bungled reform programme, and the excessive number of managers and consultants.”

New Zealand’s new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins recently announced a $74million package that would bring back “truancy officers” with 82 new roles established in a bid to curtail the dismal school attendance statistics that are now widely acknowledged to be at crisis point. While this pragmatic measure will be welcomed by many, it is fair for Kiwis to question what took so long.

The media has been reporting on the crisis since kids returned to school after Covid-19 lockdowns and opposition parties have been banging the drum too. At the end of last year, Newshub reported that just 40 per cent of Kiwi kids are attending school regularly and that there is a correlation between poor attendance and regions with high rates of ram raids. 

The Prime Minister might well want to enquire with the man who was Minister of Education until very recently. He need only look in the mirror.

[Chris Hipkins is familiar with this meme]

The man in the mirror would advise the Prime Minister that in fact he did dedicate considerable resources to the truancy crisis in 2022; about $1million in fact. It was spent on a campaign called All In For Learning and was created by the agency Stanley St. You may recognise the name as Kris Faafoi’s new PR gig sits under the Stanley St umbrella. As does the agency Tatou run by Minister Peeni Henare’s partner.

According to Stanley St:

The Ministry of Education approached us with a challenge. Over the last few years in Aotearoa, attendance and participation at school had been in steady decline. With COVID further contributing towards this downwards trend, by August 2022 almost half of our tamariki were not regularly attending school.

The value of in person learning had taken a hit with parents across New Zealand who had forgotten that the value of physically being at school extended far beyond the books for their children. Kids were missing out on all the other moments that play such a critical role in shaping their futures.

Of the “around $1 million of baseline funding”, the Parnell ad agency was paid $774,000 (inclusive of media costs of $480,000) by the Ministry of Education. Also included in the more than three-quarters of a million dollar fee was $98,500 for focus groups, $70,000 for impact assessment reports, and $56,600 for baseline research. The campaign was in market for just over a month from 23 Aug – 30 Sept 2022.

Keen to find out how this expensive campaign improved truancy rates in New Zealand, the Taxpayers’ Union sent an Official Information Act request to the ministry asking for the goals, KPIs, briefing documents, and results of the campaign. The response we received had jaws hitting the floor.

The first shock came with the answer: “We did not provide Stanley St with any briefing documents”. No instructions were written down. No parameters set for a campaign worth $774,000 to the agency.

That was nothing compared to what we would learn next. 

In our OIA, we asked for: An explanation or summary as to how this campaign addresses the problem of declining attendance in New Zealand and in what ways this campaign improved attendance.

And we were told that for a million dollars, the campaign had no impact on attendance rates. The ministry informed us it “was not expected to have a direct, quantifiable, impact on attendance rates itself.”

Stanley St developed 167 creative assets to support a “multi-channel, multi-lingual approach, deployed across: 521 Television Spots, across 16 TV channels, 688 National Radio Spots, 43 Bus Backs, 3 In-School Full Video screens, 281 Posters in 7 key locations, and Digital Billboards & Adshels programmatically….”

All of this to “raise awareness and change perceptions about attendance and engagement as a national issue”.

The Ministry of Education says they sought to “make attendance a national priority by:

1. helping parents, whanau, ākonga and communities understand the importance of regular attendance and engagement at school
2. enabling one story to be consistently and repeatedly heard; and
3. enhancing awareness of regular attendance as an issue at a regional and local level.”

Awareness. It was an Awareness Campaign. To make New Zealand aware of an issue that was already being called a crisis. Instead of dropping a million dollars on the truancy officers Prime Minister Hipkins has announced nearly six months later, Education Minister Hipkins oversaw a million dollars being spent to tell Kiwis that kids aren’t going to school as often as they should.

This was an exercise in spending money aimlessly and without regard for the taxpayers who earnt it and the inflationary environment Kiwis are dealing with currently. The Prime Minister needs to answer as to whether he was aware of the cost of the campaign and its wishy-washy objectives. Did it cross his desk in his capacity as Minister of Education? Did he consider it to be a million dollars well spent?

The truancy crisis is serious and Kiwi parents don’t begrudge public education spending that shows value for money, but this campaign is clearly gratuitous and has been developed with more focus on creating something trendy than doing something practical to address a problem.

The response to our information request can be found here.

Government should cut wasteful spending – not hike taxes – to fund cyclone clean up

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Government to rule out raising taxes to fund the cost of the Cyclone Gabrielle clean up after earlier today Chris Hipkins refused to rule out a ‘cyclone levy’ similar to that used after the Queensland floods.

Instead, the Government should use this as an opportunity to cut back on wasteful spending and prioritise clean up costs and investment in necessary infrastructure going forward.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“While rebuilding after the devastation of the past week will undoubtedly come with a cost, the last thing Kiwis need now is a tax hike during a cost of living crisis."

“The Government can’t just refocus its policies, it needs to refocus its spending too. The over $1 billion spent on consultants each year, the significant increase in managers in the public service, and the expected nearly $9 billion central government contribution to Auckland light rail would be good places to start.”

In the latest edition of Taxpayer Talk, the focus is on local government with guests Dr Oliver Hartwich and Callum Purves. A review into the future of local government has been commissioned but it fails to address the main issues affecting the sector, in particular the way it’s funded and what its main functions should be.

New Zealand Initiative Executive Director, Oliver Hartwich, explains to host Peter Williams why more localism is such an important concept and why it can be great for a country’s economy. Taxpayers' Union Campaign Manager, Callum Purves, himself a former councillor in Scotland, explains what was wrong with the recent local government review.

Also in the podcast, our War on Waste team focus on some silly spending by the Wellington City Council.

Submit on the Review on the Future of Local Government at www.protectlocaldemocracy.nz

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. 

First and foremost, our thoughts are with those who are facing yet more severe weather across the North Island with Cyclone Gabrielle.

Last week was a big week for the Taxpayers' Union with multiple policy victories announced by the Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins: The jobs tax was put on ice, the RNZ/TVNZ merger was scrapped, and tax relief for motorists was extended for a third time. None of this would have been possible without supporters like you. Thank you for fuelling our work and forcing Wellington to respond.

The new Prime Minister has said he wants to focus on bread and butter politics, including tackling the cost of living. The results of our first poll since Chris Hipkins took office reveal what effect this is having on how New Zealanders plan to vote in October's election. 

NEW POLL: Labour bounce but Centre-Right remains ahead – just 📊

Exclusive to supporters like you, we can reveal the results of this month's Taxpayers' Union – Curia Poll.

The two largest parties are tied at 34% – Labour is up two points on last month while National is down three points. ACT is up one point to 12% while the Greens are down three points to 8%.

The smaller parties are NZ First on 2.9%, Māori Party on 2.1%, TOP on 2.0%, NZ Outdoors & Freedom on 1.0%, Democracy NZ on 0.9%, New Conservative on 0.8%, and Vision NZ on just 0.2%.

The two biggest parties are on 46 seats each with Labour up five seats on last month and National down three. ACT is up one seat to 15 while the Greens are down four to 10. The Māori Party is up one seat to 3.

As with other recent public polls, Labour has clearly seen a bounce under Chris Hipkins's leadership, but based on this poll, the increase in support has primarily come at the expense of the Greens.

The means only a slight uptick in the combined total for the Centre-Left to 56 seats – up one from last month. While the Centre-Right dips to 61 seats – down two seats – but still has just enough to form a government. 

Net Favourability: Voters like Chippy 

Over on our website is further polling information and details on how to get access to the full report.

Taxpayer Victory! TVNZ/RNZ merger scrapped 📺🔥

Last week was a great week for taxpayers! The Government was forced to drop its expensive plans to merge TVNZ and RNZ on which it planned to spend $3 million on rebranding alone. 

The Taxpayers' Union has been at the forefront of the campaign against the merger. Far from creating a more diverse media landscape, the merger would have served to concentrate power, and erode diversity and trust in media sources. 

Our former Chairman, a former TVNZ board member, Barrie Saunders was among the first to ask the fundamental question about what problem the proposed merger intended to solve, and point out the disgraceful process in which this reform was hatched.

While one of our Board Members and former TVNZ presenter, Peter Williams, called out the merger for being a waste of money, saying: "The question I've had right from the time of the idea of merging TVNZ and Radio NZ was first mooted is 'just what problem are you trying to fix?' Is there not a better use of $370 million?"

Now TVNZ and RNZ can get back to the day job of good public service broadcasting. That means a rejection of polarization and striving to serve a wider audience rather than creating a safe space for the intellectual or metropolitan elite.

Jobs tax put on ice 💰🧊

Another taxpayer victory last week was the decision to scrap plans to introduce an unemployment insurance scheme during this parliamentary term. This proposed jobs tax would have cost the median worker more than $800 a year at a time when people are already struggling with the cost of living.

But it isn’t just the wrong time to bring in the policy. It’s the wrong policy too. Paying 80% of someone’s salary not to work for six months would have created terrible incentives for people to stay unemployed for longer, been open to abuse (by making redundancy more attractive than resigning), and would have failed to address skill shortages for sectors that are struggling to find employees. We say Labour shouldn't just delay this policy, it should be consigned to the scrap heap.

While Chris Hipkins is undoubtedly getting rid of unpopular policies to boost Labour's re-election prospects, the work of the Taxpayers' Union – supported by hardworking Kiwis like you – has been vital to ensure that voters are aware of just how bad Jacinda Ardern's policies were. 

Three Waters: How far is Hipkins prepared to go? 💦❓

While last week's bonfire of policies was a step in the right direction, we still await an announcement about Three Waters. Chris Hipkins has said his Government plans to 'refocus' the reforms – whatever that means.

Any changes must ensure that the property rights of councils are respected and that those making decisions on water infrastructure remain accountable to ratepayers. The biggest risk, however, is that the Government makes some changes that might seem big on the surface but fail to meet these key criteria. 

With the support of thousands, we have made Three Waters an albatross around the Government's neck, but we need to keep up the pressure to make it clear that cosmetic changes – such as renaming 'co-governace' to 'mahi tahi' – will not be enough. Our new 'Scrap Three Waters' banners have been doing just that with supporters across the country putting them up in recent weeks. You can get yours here. 

While we await the Government's amendments, stay tuned for a big announcement about the next step in our Scrap Three Waters campaign in the coming weeks.

Taxpayer Talk with Peter Williams: Fed Farmers' Paul Melville and Mark Hooper on the resource management reforms 🎙️

In the latest edition of Taxpayer Talk, host Peter Williams talks with Federated Farmers’ Paul Melville and Mark Hooper about the proposed new planning and environmental legislation to replace the Resource Management Act.

While there is almost unanimous agreement the much maligned RMA needs to be updated and changed, Federated Farmers have serious doubts the new Natural and Built Environments Bill and its companion Spatial Planning Bill is the way forward.

Also in this edition, a new segment called War on Waste where a member of the Taxpayers' Union staff exposes profligate spending by government or local authorities. This time researcher Alex Murphy has Auckland Council in his sights.

Listen to the episode | Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio

Thank you for your support.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

NZ Herald PM Chris Hipkins’ bonfire of the policies - refocus sees RNZ/TVNZ merger gone, income insurance scheme to change

Newstalk ZB PM's policy bonfire- what you need to know
 
NZ Herald Chris Hipkins’ ‘policy bonfire’: Government cops criticism for refocus with more changes to come

NZ Herald Damien Venuto: The slow, painful death of the TVNZ-RNZ merger leaves media vulnerable

The Front Page Why does housing remain such a problem in New Zealand?

Eleanor Catton should put our money where her mouth is and pay it back

The Taxpayers’ Union is hitting back against Eleanor Catton’s cheap shots aired on Radio NZ over the weekend, where she labeled the Union 'sinister' for publishing the generous subsidies Ms Catton had received following her earlier attacks on the NZ Government being run by 'money hungry politicians' who do not care for culture. Despite its commercial success for Ms Catton, the Taxpayers’ Union exposed that New Zealand taxpayers even generously funded the The Luminaries to be translated into three languages.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesman, Jordan Williams, said:

“We are surprised that all these years later Eleanor still harbours such bitterness for us pointing out her hypocrisy.”

“We said it then, and we’ll say it again, Ms Catton should use some of the substantial royalties to pay the money back. This would mean that more up and coming artists could be funded and she would not attract the ire of taxpayer groups like ours every time she complains about New Zealand not helping the arts.”

In the latest edition of Taxpayer Talk, host Peter Williams talks with Federated Farmers’ Paul Melville and Mark Hooper about the proposed new planning and environmental legislation to replace the Resource Management Act.

While there is almost unanimous agreement the much maligned RMA needs to be updated and changed, Federated Farmers have serious doubts the new Natural and Built Environments Bill and its companion Spatial Planning Bill is the way forward.

Also in this edition, a new segment called War on Waste where a member of the Taxpayers' Union staff exposes profligate spending by government or local authorities. This time researcher Alex Murphy has Auckland Council in his sights.

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. 

Taxpayer Victory! Government scraps jobs tax (for now)

The Taxpayers’ Union has welcomed the Government’s decision to take the proposed social insurance scheme off the table for the rest of this parliament but has warned against bringing back similar proposals in future.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“The Government’s unemployment insurance scheme would have hit Kiwi families and businesses hard. This proposed jobs tax would have cost the median worker over $800 a year at a time when people are already struggling with the cost of living."

“The Taxpayers’ Union welcomes the decision to take this scheme off the table, which will come as a great relief to taxpayers."

"But it isn’t just the wrong time to bring in the policy. It’s the wrong policy too. Paying 80% of someone’s salary not to work for six months would have unsurprisingly created perverse incentives for people to stay unemployed for longer, been open to abuse by making redundancy more attractive, and failed to address skill shortages for sectors who are struggling to find employees."

Policy victory for the Taxpayers’ Union: Hipkins scraps the media merger no one wanted

The Taxpayers’ Union is delighted at the news that the TVNZ/RNZ media merger is to be scrapped.

Taxpayers' Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said:

“Our former Chairman, a former TVNZ board member, Barrie Saunders was among the first to ask the fundamental question about what problem the proposed merger intended to solve, and point out the disgraceful process in which this reform was hatched."

“Far from creating a more diverse media landscape, the merger would have served to concentrate power, and erode diversity and trust in media sources."

“We welcome the policy being scraped, and look forward to an increased focus by both TVNZ and RNZ on serving all Kiwis with good public service broadcasting and current affairs.  That must mean a turning of the page, rejection of polarisation, and striving to serve a wider audience than a safe space for the intellectual or metropolitan elite.”

“The Government budgeted $3 million on contract work for branding the new entity. The Taxpayers’ Union did it for $300. Let’s hope that money isn’t wasted.”

Quite rightly, the focus of the media this week has been the terrible flooding situation in Auckland – for those affected by the flooding, our thoughts are with you.

It's also been a a busy week in politics. We are delighted that more than 11,000 of our supporters have written to Chris Hipkins to tell him which policies they think he should drop using our online tool: BriefThePM.com

While decisions on Mr. Hipkins's full "policy reset" are still being made (especially on Three Waters!) – the signs this week suggest that he is responsive to people power.

Taxpayer Victory: Hipkins extends tax relief at the pump ⛽💸

You will recall last year that your humble Taxpayers' Union exposed Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson for their outrageous price gouging at petrol pumps around the country. While the Government blamed the Ukraine war for high petrol prices, we pointed out that more than half the cost of petrol is tax!

Since Grant Robertson announced in December that the Government planned to hike fuel taxes back up, we have been campaigning hard to change his mind. 

And it worked! Earlier this week, the new Prime Minister announced that the diesel-road user charges reduction and petrol excise tax cut would be extended. This will come as a welcome reprieve to families and businesses who are already struggling with the cost of living given the record high levels of inflation. 

Fact check: Petrol tax is used to pay for roads ⚠️

New Zealand's fuel taxes go into a big pot called the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF), which was set up to fund roads maintenance. Opponents of the fuel tax cut argue that the extension will force non-drivers to subside drivers, but, in fact, the opposite is true.

Drivers are actually subsiding non-drivers. Under this – and the last National-led – Government, more and more of the NLTF has been being spent on public transport, uneconomic rail services, walking and cycling routes, and even the Road to Zero advertising campaign. Drivers of electric vehicles do not currently contribute into the Fund. 

Currently, the Government is siphoning off almost a third of the funding from fuel taxes for pet projects like cycleways and advertising campaigns!

We are calling on the Government to return the NLTF to its original purpose – paying for our roads. This would allow for fuel taxes to be kept lower than they were before, and still increase investment in our roads.

What's next? 🗳️

The fresh extension lasts until 30 June, which just a few months out from the election... Will Wellington really hike taxes then? 

A new Local Government Minister, a new approach? 💼💦

Whether it is seizing water assets or removing planning powers from councils, denying ratepayers in Tauranga the right to choose their local representatives or abolishing district health boards, the current Government's record on localism is poor.

This week's new cabinet saw a new Local Government Minister appointed. As was widely expected, brief was removed from Nanaia Mahuta and handed to Kieran McAnulty. We hope that this new minister signals a new approach from the Government but remain sceptical. 

The first big test will come when the Government announces what it plans to do with Three Waters in the coming weeks. The current proposals must be ditched: They will lead to water services that cost more and that are managed by unelected and unaccountable entities.

But there are viable alternative models of water reform like the one put forward by "Communities4LocalDemocracy" that would keep water assets in community control and ensure that they remain accountable to ratepayers. This proposal already has the backing of 31 councils and the mayors of our two biggest cities.

If the Government thinks it can get away with a few cosmetic changes, it should think again – we will oppose any proposal that does not meet our red lines of ensuring local ownership, control and accountability while driving efficiency and allowing councils to opt out of multi-council models in the long term if they do not deliver for their ratepayers.

Turning taxpayer dollars into stone 💰🪨

Our research interns scour the public service for examples of wasteful and excessive government spending. One of the oddest examples recently has come from Callaghan Innovation. If, like me, you had never head of this obscure Government agency before, its purpose is to provide grants to hi-tech businesses to support innovation opportunities. 

Examples of funding awards included $2,000 for a paint brush and sleeve wash system, $3,000 for the development of a low-calorie, refreshing, non-alcoholic RTD, and $4,375 for a pre-mixed cava beverage company. But the prize for sending taxpayer dollars up in flames has to go to the $5000 grant to a company that will turn the ashes of a deceased pet or family member into a stone.

The amounts here might be small but the lesson is a simple one. If these proposals were viable and enough people wanted to buy these products, they should be able to secure private investment without the need for Government support. Especially given the current cost of living crisis, it is difficult to see why this is deemed to be a good use of taxpayer dollars.

Taxpayer Talk with Peter Williams: Stephen Franks 🎙️

In our first episode of Taxpayer Talk for 2023, Peter Williams is joined by lawyer Stephen Franks. 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 joins Peter to discuss why the Water Users' Group, backed by the Taxpayers' Union, is taking a Government minister to the Court of Appeal and what any alternative Three Waters legislation might look like. The Government has claimed that Crown Law told the former Minister for Local Government Nanaia Mahuta that co-governance of our water services is required under Treaty of Waitangi. The new Water Services Entities Act means the country’s water infrastructure will be co-governed by iwi and local authority representatives, but at what cost to water users?

Listen to the episode | Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio

Thank you for your support.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

NZ Herald Prime Minister Chris Hipkins extends fuel tax cuts, half-price public transport: ‘It’s been a lot’

Stuff PM Chris Hipkins set to reverse petrol tax hike, retain half-price public transport fares
 
TodayFM Tova: 30 January 2023 – Recall Elections (1:47:00)

Stuff Deposit guarantee scheme in place for 2024? Don't bet on it.

NewstalkZB Morning Edition: 26 January 2023 - Fuel Taxes (00:42)

Stuff Could Three Waters be on the chopping block? Here's what Prime Minister Chris Hipkins could do

NZ Herald The Front Page: What to expect from new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins (07:20)

In our first episode of Taxpayer Talk for 2023, Peter Williams is joined by lawyer Stephen Franks. 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 joins Peter to discuss why the Water Users' Group, backed by the Taxpayers' Union, is taking a Government minister to the Court of Appeal and what any alternative Three Waters legislation might look like. The Government has claimed that Crown Law told the former Minister for Local Government Nanaia Mahuta that co-governance of our water services is required under Treaty of Waitangi. The new Water Services Entities Act means the country’s water infrastructure will be co-governed by Iwi and local authority representatives, but at what cost to water users?

If you would like to contribute towards the Three Waters legal challenge click here 

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

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

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

Right call to end blanket Auckland school closure

The Taxpayers’ Union has welcomed the decision to lift the Ministry of Education’s directive on Auckland schools and other learning facilities, which means schools can open from tomorrow at their discretion.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves said:

“It has been a difficult time for Aucklanders but enforcing a blanket school closure for a whole week would have just made things worse with pupils missing out on vital classroom time and parents having to take more time off work.

“Wherever possible, decisions on whether to open should be up to individual schools and other learning facilities who can make an assessment based on local circumstances and the safety of their pupils and staff."