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.

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.”

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."