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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.”
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."
Taxpayers’ Union welcomes decision to extend fuel tax cut
The Taxpayers’ Union – which has been campaigning for an extension to the diesel road-user charges and petrol excise reductions – has welcomed the Government’s announcement today that the fuel tax cuts will continue until 30 June.
They have, however, called on the Government to stop using the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF) to fund non-road programmes so fuel taxes can be kept down in the future while continuing to invest in and maintain our roads.
Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:
“Today’s announcement will come as a welcome reprieve to families and businesses who were facing steep price increases at the pump in addition to all the other inflationary pressures driving up the cost of living.
“Opponents of the fuel tax reduction argue that those who use our roads should pay for their maintenance and improvement. We agree. But the reality is that road users are subsiding public transport services, walking and cycling routes, loss-making rail services, and advertising campaigns through the NLTF.
“The Government should return the NLTF to its original purpose – paying for our roads. If it wishes to continue to fund these other programmes, it should do so by finding savings elsewhere rather than force road users to pick up the tab. This would allow for fuel taxes to be kept lower than they were before the cut, increased investment in our roads or some combination of the two.”
In the last government financial year to 30 June 2022 (including 3.5 months of the fuel tax cut), the breakdown of income to the National Land Transport Fund was as follows:
While the spending from the fund was as follows:
Taxpayers’ Union welcomes new Minister for Local Government
The Taxpayer’s Union has welcomed the appointment of a new Minister for Local Government and encouraged Kieran McAnulty to press pause on the Three Waters reforms.
Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:
“A new Minister for Local Government presents an opportunity for the Government to prove that it values local democracy. Whether it has been seizing water assets from councils or depriving Tauranga residents of an election, we have seen local democratic accountability significantly undermined in the past few years.
“The strongest signal Mr. McAnulty could send that the Government means business when it talks of a reset is by pressing pause on Three Waters. Now is the time to consider alternative models for water reform such as the one proposed by Communities4LocalDemocracy and backed by 31 councils and the mayors of our two largest cities.”
Fuel tax rises should be scrapped as inflation remains stubbornly high
The diesel road-user charge reduction scheme, which reduced rates by 36 per cent, is due to end with charges going up significantly tomorrow (1 February 2023).
The charge hike will mean a large increase in the cost of transport for diesel-powered vehicles, which is most of our heavy transport fleet. This will flow through to prices for consumers, manufacturers, and primary producers, fuelling already high levels of inflation.
Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:
“New Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has said all the right things when it comes to getting back to bread-and-butter politics and focussing on the cost of living, but actions speak louder than words.
“Tomorrow’s diesel road-user charge hike will hit Kiwi families and businesses hard at a time when persistently high inflation is already hurting. With petrol excise hikes looming in the coming months, it’s still not too late to have a rethink and keep fuel taxes down.”
Let our Schools Decide: Taxpayers’ Union launches petition
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has launched a petition calling for schools to have the authority to make their own decisions about emergency closures based on local circumstances rather than be beholden to bureaucrats in Wellington.
Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager Callum Purves says:
“The blanket shut down of all schools in Auckland following the weekend’s flooding has highlighted how tactics that were used during the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic have been normalised
“One-size-fits-all shut downs disadvantage students in areas unaffected by the emergency, impact kids’ education, and force parents to take time off work unnecessarily.
“Education is a core public service and it is funded by our taxes. Taxpayers are right to expect that closing schools should be a very last resort and should be informed by the circumstances of each school.
“It is time to stop the edicts from Wellington dictating what they think is in the best interests of our communities and let our local schools make the best decisions for their pupils, parents and staff."
Aucklanders can sign the petition at www.taxpayers.org.nz/let_schools_decide
Following Thursday’s surprise announcement by Jacinda Ardern that she will be stepping down as Labour Party leader, the Taxpayers’ Union commissioned a snap poll asking a thousand New Zealanders who should take over as Prime Minister and whether leading candidates will make voters more or less likely to vote Labour in this year’s election.
The percentage of participants who had heard of the following potential Labour leadership candidates:
Poll participants were asked if they had a favourable or unfavourable opinion of potential candidates. The net favourability score is the percentage of those who have a favourable opinion of a candidate minus the percentage of those who have an unfavourable opinion. The results, in order, are:
Participants were also questioned about whether the leading candidates would make them more or less likely to vote for Labour this year. The net impact score is calculated by taking the percentage of those who said the candidate would make them more likely to vote Labour minus the percentage who said the candidate would make them less likely to vote Labour. The results, in order, are:
Overall, when participants were asked who they want to replace Jacinda Ardern, 30% said Chris Hipkins followed by Kiri Allan on 10% with Nanaia Mahuta on 8%, Michael Wood on 6% and Megan Woods on 5%. 41% of respondents were unsure.
The poll also asked whether the new leader should retain or scrap signature policies of Jacinda Ardern's Government such as Three Waters, KiwiBuild, and merging TVNZ and RNZ. The net retain score (percentage of people favouring retention of the policy minus percentage of those favouring scrapping the policy) for each policy is:
The full polling report includes breakdowns by gender, age, geographic area, and party vote at the last election. You can download it here.
The scientific poll was conducted by Curia Market Research and commissioned by the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. The full polling report is being released exclusively to members of our Taxpayer Caucus. As is well known, but for full disclosure, David Farrar is a member of the Board of the Taxpayers' Union and also a Director of Curia Market Research Ltd.
The Taxpayers’ Union – Curia Poll was conducted from Thursday 19 to Friday 20 January 2023. The median response was collected on Friday 20 January 2023. The sample was a random selection 1,000 eligible New Zealand voters from an online panel. The results are weighted to reflect the overall voting adult population in terms of gender, age, and area. Based on this sample of 1,000 respondents, the maximum sampling error (for a result of 50%) is +/- 3.1%, at the 95% confidence level. Results for sub-groups such as age and area will have a much higher margin of error and not seen as precise.
This poll should be formally referred to as the 'Taxpayers’ Union – Curia Labour Party Leadership Snap Poll'.
Recent media coverage in the UK, showing that people sticking things up their bums is costing the NHS approximately £350,000 a year led the Taxpayers’ Union to question how much these awkward antics are costing Kiwi taxpayers and ACC levy payers.
Usually we have our eyes on how the Government is wasting taxpayers' money, however in this case taxpayers are being rear-ended by their fellow countrymen and women. Kiwi taxpayers are paying more per annum and per capita for people putting objects up their bottoms than their equivalents in Great Britain.
The Union has uncovered through the OIA that in the past five years the cost for active ACC claims related to foreign objects being inserted into anuses is about $302,660.00 excluding GST. The 2018/19 financial year was the most expensive costing $110,505.00; this is more than 2020/21, 2021/22, and the 2022/23 year to date combined. Despite the costs being higher in 2018/19, the number of individual incidents of objects in anuses was highest in 2019/20 followed by 2020/21 and 2021/22.
Unsurprisingly, with so much of the population based in Auckland, the largest number of claims came from New Zealand's largest city – 67 in total. Although in 2018/19 Canterbury saw the most claims. Manawatū-Whanganui is punching above its weight as the region with the third most numerous claims across the board. Nelson can proudly boast zero claims from 2019/20 to the present day. Taranaki had fewer than 4 claims in 2020/21 and zero cases at any other time in the past few years.
It appears Kiwis are even more kinky than our British cousins – on a per capita basis, foreign objects in places they ought not be are costing Kiwis more. In Britain, the £350,000 figure is a per annum amount derived by averaging out the spend across the years 2010-19. On a per capita basis (British population = 67.33 million) that comes to £504.97 which is NZ$963.66. The average per annum cost in New Zealand between 2017 and the current financial year to date is $50,443.00 and on a per capita basis this comes to $984.64 - even more than the Brits!
Taxpayers might be curious to find out what was happening in 2018/19 when the cost of anal insertion ACC claims adds up to more than the next three years combined. The mind boggles at what was happening down in Canterbury that same year as the largest number of cases were from incidents in that region.
What people get up to in their own time is up to them, but when their hi-jinx are hitting taxpayers in the back pocket perhaps they should reconsider their activities lest they become the butt of the country's jokes.
The OIA response, including a regional breakdown, is available here.
*Location is based on where an accident occurred and may differ to where a client was residing at the time.
Note ACC is funded by taxpayers though ACC levies.
New research from the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union reveals that public servants are receiving additional days of paid leave, beyond their statutory entitlements, amounting to more than $75 million per year. This year, taxpayers paid public servants for over 167,000 days that they weren’t even at work, excluding the four weeks that they are legally entitled to and public holidays.
We struggle to believe that public servants are working so much harder than the non-government workers who pay their salaries that they need all this additional time off.
The money spent could have paid for 1,000 extra nurses*, but instead it was wasted paying bureaucrats to sit at home.
The data obtained account for only 36,400 members of the public service when we know there are more than 60,000 employees.
We fear how high this number might be. Almost all public servants receive an additional three ‘department days’, but some public servants are receiving up to 30 additional days annual leave, which is absolutely ridiculous.
The worst offenders are the Ministry of Social Development and MBIE who spend more than $14 million and $12 million, respectively. The Department of Corrections, Oranga Tamariki and the Ministry for Women have not yet provided a response while the GSCB, NZSIS and Serious Fraud Office refused to provide a monetary value. The cost of this doesn’t even include productivity losses from the days the public servants are not working such as delays in processing times for visa and passport applications.
The Government should remove all leave additional entitlements for bureaucrats. If four weeks annual leave and 11 public holidays is good enough for those in the private sector, it is good enough for backroom bureaucrats.
New research from the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union reveals that public servants are receiving additional days of paid leave, beyond their statutory entitlements, amounting to more than $75 million per year.
This year, taxpayers paid public servants for over 167,000 days that they weren’t even at work, excluding the four weeks that they are legally entitled to and public holidays. This equates to more than 457 years.
We struggle to believe that public servants are working so much harder than the non-government workers who pay their salaries that they need all this additional time off.”
The money spent could have paid for 1,000 extra nurses*, but instead it was wasted paying bureaucrats to sit at home.
The data obtained account for only 36,400 members of the public service when we know there are more than 60,000 employees.
We fear how high this number might be. Almost all public servants receive an additional three ‘department days’, but some public servants are receiving up to 30 additional days annual leave, which is absolutely ridiculous.
The worst offenders are the Ministry of Social Development and MBIE who spend more than $14 million and $12 million, respectively. The Department of Corrections, Oranga Tamariki and the Ministry for Women have not yet provided a response while the GSCB, NZSIS and Serious Fraud Office refused to provide a monetary value.
The cost of this doesn’t even include productivity losses from the days the public servants are not working such as delays in processing times for visa and passport applications.
The Government should remove all leave additional entitlements for bureaucrats. If four weeks annual leave and 11 public holidays is good enough for those in the private sector, it is good enough for backroom bureaucrats.
A link to the data obtained so far can be found here. A small proportion of the data had to be extrapolated where departments provided incomplete responses.
*Based on a $70,000 salary.
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