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.

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

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.”

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

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)

Welcome to the first Taxpayer Update of 2023! I hope you had a good break.

Yesterday's shock announcement of Jacinda Ardern's resignation as prime minister is likely to improve Labour's chances of re-election later this year, based on numbers we're releasing today in the first political poll of 2023.

We don't yet know who will be facing up against Christopher Luxon on 14 October, but if Labour drops some of its unpopular policies, it could be back in the game. 

Our job at the Taxpayers' Union this year is to ensure that the issues we all care about – protecting democratic accountability, scrapping wasteful government spending and keeping our taxes low – are at the heart of the general election campaign. 

Last year, we put Three Waters squarely onto the political agenda. With your support, we can do it again and ensure taxpayers are front and centre of the political debate.

NEW POLL: Labour reaches new low 📊

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

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

This means a narrowing of the gap between the two major blocs with the Centre-Right down one seat on last month to a combined 63 seats and the Centre-Left up three seats to a combined total of 55.

The one number that ended a Prime Minister? Ardern's net favourability goes negative for the first time 📉

The outgoing Prime Minister's net favourability rating (that is the percentage of New Zealanders who tell our pollsters they have a 'favourable' view less the percentage who say 'unfavourable') has been gradually declining for quite some time. Back in September 2021, she was on +32% but this month, her ratings went negative for the first time. She leaves office with a score of -1%.

Christopher Luxon similarly scores a result of -1% this month, but his trend over the same period has been upwards. In September 2021, before he took on the National leadership, he was on -33% and he has slowly managed to turn this around.

This month, with much media speculation about New Zealand First re-entering Parliament, we asked respondents for their favourability towards Winston Peters. He scores a very poor -40% and does badly across voters of the four largest parties. 

But this year's general election remains on a knife edge 🗳️

While the Centre-Left have not been able to govern on their own in our poll numbers since March last year, the election remains close. The Centre-Right have never been more than three seats over the 61-seat threshold required to form government. 

A new prime minister, a new cabinet and potentially a new policy agenda means that everything is still to play for over the next 9 months. 

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

Taxpayers spending at least $75 million per year on additional days off for public servants 🏖️💰

Over the break, our research revealed that public servants are receiving additional days of paid leave, beyond their statutory entitlements, amounting to more than $75 million per year!

In the year that’s been, taxpayers paid public servants for over 167,000 days that they weren’t even at work, excluding the normal four weeks leave and public holidays. It’s a 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.

While the money spent could have paid for 1,000 extra nurses, instead it was wasted paying a whopping 457 years' worth of leave total for bureaucrats to sit at home.

We fear how high the total number of extra leave days may be, as the data we obtained only account for 36,400 members of the public service when we know there are more than 60,000 employees. 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. We are calling for leave entitlement to be brought in line with the private sector. 

Jordan was interviewed on Newstalk ZB about the findings. Click here to listen. 

POLL: Kiwis not fans of the reverse Robin Hood Clean Car Discount 🏹💸

Last month, we asked our pollster to find out whether New Zealanders support funding the Government's Clean Car Discount of up to $8,625 on the purchase of some electric and hybrid vehicles by taxing the purchase of non-electric cars up to $5,175 depending on the level of their emissions. 

Just 33% of Kiwis supported taxing the purchase of non-electric vehicles to fund the Clean Car Discount. Outright opposition to the scheme was at 47% with those who were unsure at 19%. 

Most support for the car tax comes from Green Party voters, Wellington, and younger demographics. And it won't come as a shock that rural New Zealanders, on the other hand, are not fans.

We say the 'clean car discount' is a tax on low and middle-income Kiwis, who are shelling out their hard earned tax-dollars so that wealthier, inner-city residents can buy Teslas. With the cost of living crisis continuing to bite, the Government needs to scrap this unfair tax. 

Airing $475 of Minister Damien O’Connor’s dirty laundry 🧺🧼

At the end of last year, one of our student researches spotted a peculiar charge on the Minister’s expenses. While staying at a London hotel in July, Minister O’Connor and his staffer spent $475.00 on laundry services for just two days' worth of clothes.

The Minister appears to be a serial clothes-spoiler. His own receipts show that just two days prior he had used the laundry services of another hotel, this time in Belgium. The Minister's office declined to give us the name of the hotel that the Minister was staying in at the time so that we could verify that the charge was an accurate reflection of the laundry charges of that hotel, citing that “for security reasons, it is not the policy of my office to release the names of hotels used while travelling overseas.” 

This is completely at odds with all of the Minister’s previous releases where every hotel the Minister has stayed at was named. It appears that this policy was adopted after we exposed the Minister earlier in the year when one of his staffers bought themselves a $100 breakfast!

Travel sounds grand when it's other people's money...

Kainga Ora spends more than $200,000 on koha between 2019-2021 😲💵

Giving a koha is the Māori custom of gifting to show appreciation. In 2022, this tends to be in the form of a monetary contribution. It’s become common for government departments to give koha when they interact with marae or have someone perform a ceremonial role.

While most agencies that reported comprehensive information about koha in their Annual Reviews had spent less than $10,000 in the financial year 2020/21, Kainga Ora blew all other agencies out of the park with a whopping $123,377.00 spent on koha.

Between 2019 and 2021, the public housing agency spent $204,897.00 on customary monetary gifts, many at $1,500 and $2,000 a pop.

We say Kainga Ora's spending on koha is way out of line. Most other agencies got by just fine with more modest spends. The Ministry for the Environment, The Human Rights Commission, and Waka Kotahi all spent less than $500 on koha over the same period.

Kainga Ora needs to explain to taxpayers why they are such a glaring outlier in this area. The agency is completely out of control, spending over $200,000 on koha between 2019 and 2021 alone. Taxpayers should be able to expect that government spending is prudent and accountable. Kainga Ora is achieving neither of those objectives.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

NewstalkZB Taxpayers' Union Executive Director wants Government to remove additional leave entitlements for public servants

NewstalkZB Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance spokesperson on AT replacing HOP Cards with National Ticketing Solution

NewstalkNZ Midday Edition: News Fix [from 01:38]

Autofile Kiwis 'not behind' clean car discount

Auckland Council discriminates against vegetarians in $46,000 giveaway to meat eaters

Auckland Council spends $46,227 on a giveaway coercing meat-eating households to convert to vegetarianism. 

Around 2 months ago, one of our supporters notified us of an email they received where participants had the chance to obtain a free giveaway by completing a survey in relation to their food consumption.

The survey came from the ‘Different Dinners Trial’; an investigation into the eating habits of Auckland residents for the Council to ‘understand more about what types of interventions work best to support willing Aucklanders to make more food choices with a lower carbon impact.’ In other words, Auckland Council wants to know how to turn people vegetarian.

It should be mentioned this was no ordinary survey either. If anything, it was more of a recruitment procedure, directed on finding willing subjects that were open to trying a plant-based diet. Surveys were sent out to many Auckland residents, but only those who met specific criteria could finish the survey. The Council tells us they received 732 of these ‘completed surveys’ where participants all obtained at least one of the giveaway options. That’s a cost of $63 per response.

The list of criteria to complete the survey was the following:

• The person/household eats meat for dinner 5 or more times per week
• The person/household is willing to try eating one or two more vegetarian dinners per week
• The person is not extremely confident in cooking vegetarian meals
• The person does not live alone
• The person generally eats dinner with at least one other person in their household
• The person is interested in taking part once trial has been explained

Listed below are the costs of the survey, showing just shy of $50,000 was spent on providing the project. We can only applaud Auckland Council’s self-restraint on purchasing just 300 MyFoodBag vouchers.

It should be reiterated that only completed surveys (ones that met all the criteria) received a giveaway. This meant that vegetarians, light-meat eaters, those who live alone, plus confident vegetarian cooks were all effectively shunned from getting taxpayer funded free giveaways. It is almost comical that the meat-eating individuals this project actively frowns upon are the ones who were rewarded with free meals.

It is clear Auckland Council are shockingly indifferent towards this blatant discrimination. But regardless of this inequity, thousands of ratepayer dollars have been squandered on a council pet project that as I will explain, will not work and is completely unnecessary.

The main goal of this project is to achieve New Zealand’s emission goals through decreasing our meat consumption. As they put it, “This survey forms part of a broader programme of work looking at how Auckland Council can respond to its commitments to address climate change.” This specifically refers to NZ’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which aims to reduce emissions 50% by 2030 and to be net-zero by 2050.

Though, whether or not one agrees with these goals and how much prioritisation should be given to them, collectively having a more plant-based diet here won’t do anything to offset our emissions. If the Council does manage to convert a significant portion of Aucklanders to vegetarianism, which seems unlikely, they will hardly put a dent into NZ’s production of high carbon-emitting red meat. Being an export driven agricultural nation, NZ doesn’t rely on local consumption. 88% of beef and 95% of lamb is sold overseas, and this ratio will only increase if we reduce our meat consumption. When you take into account that demand for meat has generally risen worldwide, foreign consumers certainly won’t be hard to come by.

However, even if our diet did have a large effect on emissions, it’s hardly as if Kiwis' diets are in dire need of an intervention. In general, we have already started transitioning to a more plant-driven diet. We’re actually one of the only nations to have decreased our meat consumption since 2000. And with vegetarianism significantly on the rise, alongside a shift over to the consumption of leaner meats such as low-carbon emitting chicken and pork, it demonstrates that New Zealanders are already strongly line with this project’s intent.

Thus this might be one of the most unnecessary projects Auckland Council has managed in a long time. Not only will it explicitly discriminate against minorities (vegetarians), but the greater project of transforming our eating habits is needless intervention which won’t work to reduce New Zealand’s export-driven agricultural emissions. Overall, this vegetarian conversion project is undeniably the wrong approach to reaching our climate targets.

Agriculture makes up around 50% of our emissions, so it is crucial we look into how the industry can reduce its carbon footprint. Yet it is equally important to get everyone on the same page. Stunts like this will continue to divide people, and this will seriously affect the prosperity of New Zealand in future years. New Zealand farmers are already some of the most carbon-efficient in the world thanks to their ingenuity and adaptability. Their emissions per unit have decreased by around 1% for at least the last 20 years. They should be backed with a manageable framework where they can adapt and prosper, because the status-quo will only continue to push them out of the industry.

In closing, although this project doesn’t cost the Earth on its own, it does reveal Auckland Council’s persistent intent to waste taxpayers’ dollars on ideological projects that don’t achieve anything. Councils are in no position to lecture the public on their eating habits regardless of the cost, but spending tens of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars on what is clearly an attempt to pressurize meat eaters to align with their agenda is completely unacceptable and should be called out.

You can find our OIA response here and a link to the survey format here

This story came as a tip from one of our supporters. If you think you have your own tip relating to government waste or extravagant spending, feel free to drop us a line here.

Revealed: Taxpayers spending at least $75 million per year on additional days off for public servants

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.

Dear Supporter,

Our lastest Taxpayers' Union Curia poll has just been released. We summarise the results at the end of this update – and what would happen if this poll was reflected in an election and we ended up with a hung Parliament.

More taxpayer funding for the media: Will this affect election coverage?

The Government has doled out another $4 million to media from the 'Public Interest' Journalism Fund this week.

The latest announcement includes $1.2 million for Allied Press, $374,245 for iwi news, $160,000 for The Spinoff to write about the 2022 local body elections and $39,380 to Metro Media Group to write a four-part series on how the arts get funded, and $800,000 for a programme introducing young people to journalism as a "viable career".

Check our website for the full list of funding recipients from the PIJF.

In his last blog post for the Taxpayers' Union, Louis explained how this funding damages media independence, no matter how much the journalists deny it:

Significant funds have been allocated for struggling outlets to train and employ new journalists. But with the $55 million soon set to run dry, the Government will face immense pressure from the media to top up the funding, lest they have to lay off their new young journos.

New Zealand media bosses and editors are protective of and loyal to their staff, and financially invested in keeping their outlets afloat. This presents an obvious conflict of interest in next year's general election campaign: media figures have a personal and financial interest in electing a Government that will protect their funding. New Zealanders will rightly view their election coverage with this in mind.

Click here to read the full piece.

Only a week left to have your say on Three Waters

Time flies: it's now just one week until Parliament stops accepting written submissions on the Water Services Entities Bill (a.k.a Three Waters).

If you haven't already made a submission, click here to use our tool.

Alternatively, you can spend a bit more time making a submission through Parliament's webpage.

Already, 16,000 New Zealanders have made submissions through our website. That's a stunning effort. And thousands of you have requested to have your submission heard orally – this is crucial to delaying the legislation, and we know that each day the Three Waters debate drags on, the more the Government suffers politically.

Waiting an Adernity: When will taxpayers see housing at Ihumātao?

Eighteen months after the Government forked out $30 million in housing funds to purchase the paddocks of Ihumātao, there is still no sign of progress towards construction.

In fact, the group of iwi and government representatives meant to make decisions about the land have only had one meeting with Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson, who has given them another three and a half years to just to stump up a plan for housing on the land.

The ACT Party has described the amount of time it's taking to get houses build at Ihumatao as an 'Ardernity' – a label that could just as easily be applied to the wait for 100,000 KiwiBuild homes, or progress on Auckland light rail...

New Taxpayers' Union Chair

We're delighted to have Laurence Kubiak appointed as the new Chair of the Taxpayers’ Union Board.

Laurence is a high tech entrepreneur, a recent Chair of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and former CEO of the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research.

Here's what he told media:

I’m delighted to have been asked to chair New Zealand’s leading voice for government transparency and fiscal prudence.

The Union stands for public spending that is efficient, transparent, and subject to appropriate accountability: values that are the heart of any robust system of governance. The Taxpayers’ Union gives a public voice to these values, a voice that will become stronger and even more important as we chart our course through these unsettled times.

I'd like to thank Casey Costello, our Acting Chair since the launch of our ‘Stop Three Waters’ campaign late last year. Anyone who saw her speech against co-governance at our town hall event in Auckland will know she's a star.

New poll: Labour/National-blocks neck and neck

Our latest Taxpayers' Union Curia Poll was released just a few moments ago. 

While there are no significant shifts in support for the major parties, a boost for the Māori Party means that this month's result would likely translate to a tie on election day.

National and ACT win 60 seats, Labour and the Greens win 55, and the Māori Party nets 5 seats.

You can read more on the poll's findings on our website. But we better answer the obvious question...

Hung Parliament – What happens in a tie?

It’s election night 2023. The centre-left bloc of Labour and the Greens, joined by the Māori Party, has won 60 seats. National and ACT have also won 60 seats. In a 120-seat Parliament, neither side has the majority required to form a government. What happens?

Josh Van Veen (a member of the Taxpayers' Union team and a part-time political historian) lays out potential scenarios:

Scenario 1: Labour and National could put aside their ideological differences to form a ‘grand coalition’. There is precedent. In Germany, under Chancellor Angela Merkel, the centre-right Christian Democrats governed with the centre-left Social Democrats on three separate occasions. Back home, we can see parallels with the United-Reform Coalition that governed New Zealand between 1931 and 1935. The Coalition eventually led to the formation of the modern National Party. What about a NatLab Government?

If this seems far-fetched, remember that Jacinda Ardern once personally picked Christopher Luxon to chair her business advisory council!

Scenario 2: Labour and National could agree that the party with the most seats should govern. This would mean that the ‘loser’ abstains on confidence and supply while otherwise fulfilling the duties of Opposition. But such an arrangement would leave a "lame duck" Government unable to pass any laws without consent from the Opposition. On the other hand, New Zealanders might welcome this kind of consensual politics as a positive and constructive innovation.

Scenario 3: To make Scenario 2 work for the full three-year term, Labour and National could agree to govern on a ‘rotational’ basis. Christopher Luxon would serve 18 months as prime minister before handing back power to Jacinda Ardern (or another Labour leader) to see out the Parliamentary term. The arrangement would require both parties make significant policy concessions and perhaps sign up to a joint legislation programme. Scenario 3 is a grand coalition in all but name.

Scenario 4: Of course, National could dispense with Labour and attempt to win over the Māori Party. This would likely see National abandon its stance on co-governance and might complicate relations with ACT. But if he pulled it off, Christopher Luxon could go down in history as our wokest prime minister – changing the country’s name and perhaps establishing a separate Māori parliament or upper house.

Scenario 5: If the first four options are ruled out that leaves only one alternative: a new election. This scenario regularly plays our in Israel, where four general elections were held between 2019 and 2021. With Jacinda Ardern cast in the role of Benjamin Netanyahu, she would remain Prime Minister through the new election. And so on. While it could be the tidiest option, it is the most expensive.  In 2020, it cost $160 million to run the election (though this included two referenda).

Re-doing an entire election might sound like banana republic stuff, but frankly it seems more realistic than the alternatives.

Thank you for your support,

Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

Timaru Herald  South Canterbury mayors urge people to have their say on Three Waters reforms

Waikato Herald  Three Waters Reform: Waipā mayor Jim Mylchreest says it's time to speak up and share your thoughts

Politik  Everybody is worried about Groundswell

Hawke's Bay Today  Hawke's Bay rates issues highlighted in annual increases

Homepaddock  7 questions on 3 waters

Stuff  Beware of fish-hooks in free trade deals

1 News  NZ Maori Council further distances itself from Matthew Tukaki

Southland Times  Three Waters advocacy group to front Invercargill City Council

Rotorua Daily Post  Three Waters Rotorua protest: 120 turn out to oppose ‘loss of local control’

SunLive  WATCH: Three Waters: NZ’s hot topic

SunLive  Three waters roadshow stopping in Tauranga 

Stuff  Polls diverge on voter direction as left and right blocs neck and neck

The Working Group  The Working Group Podcast with Jordan Williams, Maria Slade and Brooke van Velden 

The Daily Blog  Winners & Losers in latest Taxpayers’ Union Curia Poll: NZ Political Spectrum is splintering

Stuff  The Ardern Government is in a death spiral with no hope … or is it? 

Marlborough Midweek  Stop Three Waters turnout ‘amazing’ 

Stuff  Turnout draws praise at Stop Three Waters roadshow in Blenheim 

RNZ  Auckland councillor appalled at national cycleway project blowouts

Dominion Post  Contract of NZSO board chairperson not renewed after Taxpayers’ Union appointment

Offsetting Behaviour  Thou shalt not suffer a conservative on your Board

Timaru Herald  Timaru stop for five-week nationwide roadshow rallying opposition to water reforms

Otago Daily Times  Strongest turnout yet at latest Three Waters roadshow meeting

Otago Daily Times  Three Waters plan ‘undemocratic’

Otago Daily Times  Hundreds at 3 Waters reforms protest meeting

SunLive  Three Waters protest to oppose “loss of control”

Oamaru Mail  Lower rates with Three Waters 

Otago Daily Times  Three Waters meeting packed

RNZ  Political commentators: Brigitte Morten and Lamia Imam 

The Platform NZ  Sean Plunket speaks with former New Zealand broadcaster Peter Williams 

Stuff  Fired up crowd heckle Gore’s mayor at Groundswell’s 3 Waters meeting 

RNZ  Groundswell, Taxpayers’ Union roadshow in Gore