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John Key: don't use our taxpayer money on a SkyCity convention centre.
We say a deal's a deal.
Back in May 2013 when the SkyCity convention centre was announced, the Government promised a national convention centre suitable for between 3,500 and 5,000 attendees in return for allowing SkyCity to have more pokies and tables. Throughout the 2014 election, the Government told New Zealanders that we were getting a 'free' convention centre. The deal was done, the ink was apparently dry.
Now SkyCity are trying to rip us all off. They've filed plans for a convention centre for only 1,500 and 3,000. As a result, John Key and Steven Joyce aren't ruling out dipping into our pockets and forking out for SkyCity.
UPDATE: WE DID IT!
You spoke and they listened!
Steven Joyce has announced that no taxpayer money is going to be used to support SkyCity’s convention centre. Instead, SkyCity are going back to the drawing board to come up with a cheaper design. Fantastic.
In just a few days more than fifteen hundred people signed our petition and the message got through to Mr Joyce and SkyCity. This is a win for the little guy.
While there could be devil in the detail - and don't worry we'll be making sure that SkyCity don’t now try to build something a fraction of the size that was promised - today at least taxpayers can breathe a sigh of relief.
Sign our petition to tell John Key not to use taxpayer money on SkyCity - we'll deliver the signatures to Parliament later in this month.
SkyCity handout: Letter to the editor nails it
A letter to editor published in today's NZ Herald nails the problem with SkyCity trying to strong-arm the Government for a handout for the National Convention Centre.
Corporate parasites cashing in
Commenting on its convention centre proposal, SkyCity says it is “working on a solution with the Government to bridge the funding gap. In resolving this issue, we will ensure that the value of this significant and complex project is not diminished for our shareholders’’.
Is it for real? Does it really believe taxpayers and ratepayers should subsidise its shareholders? We really do live in a country drowning in corporate welfare when people can make statements like this without being castigated by the Government or the Auckland Council.
The only utterances we have heard from them is that a bail-out with public money would be the last resort and not desirable. No flat-out refusal, as there should have been.
Once again, private enterprise is targeting the public trough. New Zealand is a country where profits are always privatised and losses always socialised.
I am sick of overpaid corporate parasites feeding off my endeavours. Chorus is another example. The Commerce Commission has allowed it to once again overcharge for its services, causing internet providers to raise their prices.
Chorus — not the taxpayer or consumer — stuffed up its quotation. So once again, shareholders should not be inconvenienced or short-changed.
Graham Hansen, Howick.
We don't know Graham, but he might be interested to read our report Monopoly Money which tracks the cost of taxpayer funded corporate welfare since 2008. The report is available to view and download here.
Sky City corporate welfare
Fairfax has picked up our comments on SkyCity's recent comments to prompt taxpayer funding of the controversial convention centre.
Auckland Councillors blast Sky City 'corporate welfare' Stuff 22/12/2014
Auckland ratepayers should not have to pay for a blow-out in the cost of the Sky City National Convention Centre, councillors say.
Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce raised the prospect of the Auckland Council chipping in to help fund the project, after new estimates revealed the cost could blow out by as much as $128 million.
The increase in cost could leave taxpayers on the hook for any shortfall, but Joyce said the council could provide some assistance.
[...]
The Taxpayers' Union has derided the deal as "corporate welfare" and called on the Government not to bail Sky City out.
"The whole idea of the SkyCity deal was that Auckland and New Zealand would get an international class convention centre, paid for by SkyCity, in return for various concessions to the casino," Taxpayers' Union executive director Jordan Williams said.
"It was never suggested or intended that the taxpayer or ratepayer would have to shoulder any of the burden. If SkyCity underestimated the cost of the centre when they signed the deal, that's their problem."