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Taxpayers' Union researcher Max Salmon is joined by Infometrics Senior Economist Brad Olsen for a discussion about the concerning prospect of rent controls under this Labour government.
You can subscribe to Taxpayer Talk via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps.
After claiming that “some of our emergency housing is inhumane”, Associate Housing Minister Marama Davidson “rejected” criticism that as a responsible minister she had been “quiet” on the issue since the election. She said: “I've certainly been nothing but loud."
Taxpayers' Union spokesman Neil Miller says, “She may have been loud in the privacy of her office or amongst the faithful at Green Party meetings, but not at the Cabinet table where decisions are actually made. Figures obtained by the Taxpayers’ Union from the Cabinet Office show that since the election Minister Davidson has presented no Cabinet Papers or Cabinet Committee Papers on the issue of emergency housing.”
“In fact, she has presented no papers at all. In comparison, her colleague James Shaw, also a Minister outside of Cabinet, delivered seven papers on his portfolio of Climate Change. Damien O’Connor was in charge of one paper about Land Information, while Jan Tinetti put forward three for Internal Affairs. The bar has not been set very high.”
“To reject something simply means you do not accept it. To refute something means you have to provide evidence proving it false. All the evidence here says that while Minister Davidson may talk loud in limited circles, actual Ministerial action where it could make a difference is non-existent. When she is paid over $250,000 of taxpayers’ money, that is the epitome of quiet.”
Dear Supporter,
Nanaia Mahuta's wide-ranging review of the local government sector should be laser-focused on increasing value for money for ratepayers.
But having looked closely at the review panel, we're predicting it will do the opposite.
Firstly, the panelists are basically has-been local government insiders and professional bureaucrats. These appointees are the last people you'd expect to rein in the local government gravy train.
The terms of reference and the panel make up are disturbing. Instead of a focus on better infrastructure, more transparency, or accountability, it appears the Minister wants to move to a co-governance model with less democracy.
In fact, the panel is tasked to "reimagine the role and function of local government". That’s code for "growing the beast", when what ratepayers need is a return to core services and abolishing the powers that allow local councils to duplicate central government activities like public health campaigns, climate action, and corporate welfare.
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The just-announced Battery Project Technical Reference Group is meant to provide “technical expertise and sector knowledge relating to the quantitative analysis MBIE is undertaking, including modelling” for its hydro battery project.
But the Ministry has made two very odd appointments to this group:
Amanda Larsson currently works as one of Greenpeace’s key staff. It’s hard to see MBIE appointing a Taxpayers’ Union campaigner for its reference groups – in fact, it would rightly cause controversy – but appointing a Greenpeace campaigner is no different in principle. Her contribution will inevitably be to advance an ideological agenda.
Isla Day is 20 years old and helped to start School Strike 4 Climate. Her expertise is in organising protests, nothing to do with energy or environmental science. She does, however, appear to be carving out a cosy career filling seats in taxpayer-funded working groups – she’s also a member of a Wellington City Council reference group. We can't blame her for jumping at well-paid opportunities, but you have to question the judgement of those who appointed her.
It’s one thing to have a political Minister making hare-brained and politicised appointments, but this group was appointed by public servants. How did no-one within MBIE raise red flags over such blatantly political appointments? Is public service neutrality is being eroded?
Members of the reference group are paid $560 per meeting.
Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson has introduced a five percent quota for government contracts awarded to businesses that present themselves as Māori or Pasifika-owned.
You may recall we were first to sound the alarm back in 2019 when found this idea buried deep in a Ministerial briefing.
But some say the new quota doesn't go far enough. First it was the Productivity Commission (under the leadership of Labour's pet economist Ganesh Nana), and now the company that verifies the "Māori-owned" businesses wants the Government to combine the quota with a spending target for these companies (well they would say that, wouldn't they!).
This is what political analysts call "mission creep". Instead of focusing solely on delivering value for taxpayers, procurement policy is now being hijacked to hit politically-determined targets.
That means less competitive tenders, leading to either higher costs for taxpayers, lower quality services, or both. It’s also incredibly unfair for those businesses – many of which employ Māori – that will miss out on contracts purely because their owners don't tick the right diversity boxes.
Taxpayers forked out $3.3 million for the cost of “cultural reports” for offenders in 2020. That’s five times as much as the year prior.
These reports argue how each offender should receive a reduced sentence due to “personal, family, whānau, community and cultural background”.
And it appears a cottage industry has emerged: anyone familiar with the courts system can charge up to $6,600 to write one, copy-pasting the standard lines they know will work to convince judges to cut sentences.
Taxpayers paid private contractors more than $13 million in just five years for interpretation services for people facing the courts.
In many cases the Ministry of Justice is paying these interpreters more than $125 per hour.
As the Herald reports:
Examples include $1700 paid to a te reo interpreter for a one-day hearing in Kaikohe; $2628 to a Māori translator at a two-day hearing in Wellington; and a $3197 bill for two sign-language interpreters for just 3.5 hours' work in January. The ministry said the cost included return flights.
Last week we learned that the Government didn’t just capitulate to illegal Ihumātao occupiers – it joined them in their illegality!
The Auditor-General released a damning judgement that the $30 million taxpayer-funded bailout should have been approved by a vote in Parliament.
Remember, the Government doesn’t have the excuse of ignorance here. Treasury had sternly warned the Government against using KiwiBuild money in this way.
There should be serious consequences. All eyes should now be on Attorney-General David Parker. It's literally his job to ensure the Government follows the law. We say if he endorsed this illegal deal across the Cabinet Table, then he's unfit for his position.
The Finance Minister has confirmed a new insurance scheme for collapsing banks and finance companies, funded by via levies on banks.
There are a number of reasons for alarm here:
Guaranteeing an effective bailout for banks will see those banks take greater risks with their lending. That’s exactly the kind of moral hazard that led to America’s sub-prime mortgages and the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. The Reserve Bank argued this very point, recommending the guarantee be capped at $50,000 per depositor, per institution. But Grant Robertson went for double that amount, $100,000.
The cost of the new levies on banks will naturally be passed on to deposit-holders. As if term deposit rates weren’t already low enough!
The inclusion of finance companies in the scheme is likely to see deposit-holders pay for bailouts of fraudulent finance companies. In fact we wrote to the Finance Minister in October warning him that the Serious Fraud Office prosecutes on average about one Ponzi scheme a year, and under the Government's proposals, those Ponzi schemes would become eligible for deposit insurance.
We asked Treasury officials if they gave the Minister any advice on this last problem. To our astonishment, they haven't.
A private developer wants Hamilton ratepayers to pitch in $10 million to an inland lagoon resort.
That is completely unjustified, considering the Council is already proposing a nine percent rate hike.
If the lagoon proposal makes good business sense, then it shouldn’t need a ratepayer subsidy. There’s a risk the lagoon fails to pull in punters and becomes a stagnant pond. That risk should be borne by the developer, not Hamilton ratepayers.
It’s a concern in and of itself that the developer had the cheek to ask the Council for ten million bucks. Hamilton City Councillors need to eradicate any perception that they’ll hand over ratepayer money to every passing monorail salesman.
Another two episodes of our Taxpayer Talk podcast have gone live.
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Stuart Nash recently called ACT MP Nicole McKee a "nutter" for her views on firearms. I chat with her to help Taxpayer Talk listeners decide for themselves. Listen here. |
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The New Zealand Initiative's Oliver Hartwich and our own Jordan Williams discuss National's policy to pay councils for consenting houses. Listen here. |
You can subscribe to Taxpayer Talk via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and wherever good podcasts are sold.
The Government has today appointed a “Minister for Announcements.”
This announcement was announced at an announcement hosted by the Acting Minister for the Announcement of the Minister for Announcements, Chris Hipkins, while he was IDed on his way into the Upper Hutt Cossie Club.
Hipkins said: “For too long, Ministers have had to make individual announcements about their own announcements. National’s nine years of neglect almost certainly caused this crisis. It is time to centralise announcements to improve efficiency. Centralising always works.”
Hipkins introduced journalists to the new Minister of Announcements, Georgie Dansey, a first term list MP.
Ms Dansey is an MP you think about so infrequently that you probably don’t realise that photo is not of Georgie Dansey – that is Jill Pettis, a Labour MP who left Parliament in 2008.
This is the first-term list MP, the now Hon Georgie Dansey.
Except that she isn’t an MP – because while this time it is actually Ms Dansey pictured and she was a Labour candidate last year, she was ranked 84th, last on the list. She once told The Spinoff that she would have been an MP if only 5.5 million New Zealanders voted Labour.
The actual Minister of Announcements will be Megan Woods on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and Chris Hipkins for Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Ramadan. However, for any really good news, announcements will be made by Jacinda Ardern and the country’s first man, Dr Ashley Bloomfield.
When asked about the actual results of all the announcements over previous years, Hipkins snapped back: “Don’t change the subject. This has nothing to do with outcomes.”
Gallery journalists described the Minister’s aggressive response as “like being savaged by a vegan lemur.”
Editor's note: This last section of the newsletter was provided by Taxpayers' Union Analyst (and occasional in-house comedian) Neil Miller.
As you can see, the range and craziness of what is going on in Wellington (and many town halls) is out of control. Our team has never been busier calling out the madness and fighting for taxpayers across a huge range of files. But we can't save the world if we can't keep the lights on. Our work relies on the financial support of our supporters like you. Click here to make a secure donation.
Have a great week,
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Media coverage:
NZ Herald Inflation could be making a comeback
NZ Herald Beehive Diaries: The bubble, coughing fits and health reform typos
The Weekend Sun Join The Tauranga Ratepayers’ Alliance
Newstalk ZB The Huddle: Is it fair for employers to punish staff stuck in trans-Tasman bubble limbo?
Mark Cameron is one of ACT's 9 new MPs, in this episode of MPs in Depth Louis sits down with Mark for an educational and energetic conversation on the plight of farming, the urban and rural divide, and why he chose ACT.
You can subscribe to Taxpayer Talk via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps.
At $50,000 per dwelling, is a big taxpayer handout to Councils the right medicine for a housing shortage? Jordan sits down with the Executive Director of the New Zealand Initiative, Oliver Hartwich for a friendly natter on the merits of National's latest housing policy.
You can subscribe to Taxpayer Talk via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps.
Louis sits down with new Act MP Nicole McKee for a wide ranging discussion from her passion for firearms and hunting, to dealing with the public spotlight, and the spirit of the new ACT party.
You can subscribe to Taxpayer Talk via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps.
This dashboard is subject to ongoing updates. Please contact [email protected] if you have more up to date information.
Council |
Proposed 21/22 rates increase |
Actual 21/22 rates increase |
| Ashburton District Council | 6.28% | 6.3% |
| Auckland Council | 5.0% | 5.0% |
| Bay of Plenty Regional Council | 5.8% | 5.8% |
| Buller District Council | 6.5% | 6.7% |
| Carterton District Council | 5.65% | 5.65% |
| Central Hawke's Bay District Council | 7.8% | 8.7% |
| Central Otago District Council | 6.7% | 6.7% |
| Christchurch City Council | 5.0% | 4.65% |
| Clutha District Council | 3.53% | 3.93% |
| Dunedin City Council | 9.8% | 9.8% |
| Environment Canterbury Regional Council | 24.5% | 18.8% |
| Environment Southland | 20.0% | 20.0% |
| Far North District Council | 5.5% | 6.7% |
| Gisborne District Council | 5.3% | 5.9% |
| Gore District Council | 8.22% | |
| Greater Wellington Regional Council | 12.64% | 12.95% |
| Grey District Council | 9.99% | 9.99% |
| Hamilton City Council | 8.9% | 8.9% |
| Hastings District Council | 6.8% | 6.8% |
| Hauraki District Council | 4.23% | 4.5% |
| Hawke's Bay Regional Council | 19.5% | 19.5% |
| Horizons Regional Council | 8.0% | 8.4% |
| Horowhenua District Council | 6.7% | 7.8% |
| Hurunui District Council | 8.49% | 8.49% |
| Hutt City Council | 5.9% | 5.9% |
| Invercargill City Council | 5.0% | 5.0% |
| Kaikoura District Council | 5.2% | 5.9% |
| Kaipara District Council | 3.37% | 5.1% |
| Kapiti Coast District Council | 7.8% | 7.79% |
| Kawerau District Council | 5.1% | |
| Mackenzie District Council | ||
| Manawatu District Council | 5.1% | 5.75% |
| Marlborough District Council | 5.73% | 5.1% |
| Masterton District Council | 5.5% | 5.5% |
| Matamata-Piako District Council | 11.85% | 11.73% |
| Napier City Council | 8.0% | 8.0% |
| Nelson City Council | 5.7% | 5.7% |
| New Plymouth District Council | 12.0% | 12.0% |
| Northland Regional Council | 19.8% | 17.6% |
| Opotiki District Council | 6.48% | 6.33% |
| Otago Regional Council | 73.2% | |
| Otorohanga District Council | 7.93% | 8.08% |
| Palmerston North City Council | 6.9% | 8.2% |
| Porirua City Council | 8.04% | 7.65% |
| Queenstown-Lakes District Council | 4.56% | 5.45% |
| Rangitikei District Council | 6.95% | 7.07% |
| Rotorua Lakes Council | 9.2% | 9.2% |
| Ruapehu District Council | 4.92% | 4.92% |
| Selwyn District Council | 4.9% | 4.9% |
| South Taranaki District Council | 4.73% | 4.73% |
| South Waikato District Council | 7.7% | 7.6% |
| South Wairarapa District Council | 17.65% | 29% |
| Southland District Council | 10.15% | 9.38% |
| Stratford District Council | 4.25% | 4.63% |
| Taranaki Regional Council | 9.9% | 9.9% |
| Tararua District Council | 9.82% | 9.44% |
| Tasman District Council | 4.54% | 4.4% |
| Taupo District Council | 6.5% | 8.7% |
| Tauranga City Council | 17.0% | |
| Thames-Coromandel District Council | 7.1% | 8.8% |
| Timaru District Council | 10.5% | 11.5% |
| Upper Hutt City Council | 4.8% | 4.91% |
| Waikato District Council | 9.0% | 6.5% |
| Waikato Regional Council | 7.3% | 7.7% |
| Waimakariri District Council | 3.95% | 4.3% |
| Waimate District Council | 9.9% | |
| Waipa District Council | 4.1% | 4.6% |
| Wairoa District Council | 10.0% | |
| Waitaki District Council | 8.95% | |
| Waitomo District Council | -0.53% | -0.54% |
| Wellington City Council | 13.53% | 13.5% |
| West Coast Regional Council | ||
| Western Bay of Plenty District Council | 12.0% | 11.5% |
| Westland District Council | 13.0% | 13.0% |
| Whakatane District Council | 6.84% | |
| Whanganui District Council | 5.7% | |
| Whangarei District Council | 6.5% | 7.0% |
From cleaning up Agent Orange, to being deported from Fiji, new ACT MP and self-described 'radical environmentalist' Simon Court shares his background on our MPs in Depth podcast series.
You can subscribe to Taxpayer Talk via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps.
As part of our MPs in Depth series, Louis sits down with new Invercargill MP Penny Simmonds for a wide-ranging discussion on her career and electorate.
You can subscribe to Taxpayer Talk via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps.
Louis sits down with Damien Grant for a discussion about the growth in size and role of the government, such as new tax changes on housing and the potential for rent control.
You can subscribe to Taxpayer Talk via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps.
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