Dear Supporter,

Revealed: Chris Hipkins forces school to open with a roll of zero 🚸

Taxpayers' Union road trip: the school with no children

This week we revealed that Tuturumuri School in the Wairarapa is currently open and employing four staff – despite having zero students.

After a tip-off from a concerned taxpayer, I visited the school with my colleagues Ashley and Matt to investigate for ourselves. You can watch our video on Youtube here, or on Facebook here.

The school is costing taxpayers $1,300 a day, with two of the four staff required to sit at the property every "school day".

The situation is bizarre. Staff are forced to show up each day at a ghost school, twiddling their thumbs while they wait for Education Minister Chris Hipkins to make a decision.

The school's board voted to shut the school last year after its roll dwindled from seven down to two. However, the Education Minister Chris Hipkins stepped in at the last minute to insist on yet another round of consultation (despite the school having gone through a similar process in 2018).

This is a case of provincial politics overriding common-sense.

Taxpayer Victory: Some sunshine prompts Minister to act 😉

On Wednesday, the day we went public with the story, Minister Hipkins suddenly sprung into action and announced to media that he is closing the school. He tells us the school's last day will be on February 28.

It’s a shame that the Minister has muddied the waters by blaming ‘statutory process’ for the delays. The reason this school has remained open so long? The Minister's Office overrode the decision of the Board of Trustees to dither on the closure for political reasons.

This isn't just about Tuturumuri School – it’s about how a combination of bureaucracy and political cowardice can grind decision-making to a halt, all at the taxpayers’ expense. This sickness is embedded across the public sector.

Million-dollar payout for Napier town clerk?

Napier City Council CEO Wayne Jack is set to receive a near-$1 million exit package golden handshake.

Considering the CEO is only two years into his contract, it’s obvious councillors have lost confidence in him. And who could blame them? Mr Jack is the Council CEO who was exposed for instructing Council staff to trawl through Facebook posts made by city councillors who opposed a new pool complex – a project Mr Jack supports. 

That’s not to mention his track record of committing extravagant sums of ratepayer money to pet projects which haven’t made it off the ground – like his $23 million velodrome and that $41 million aquatic centre.

If Councillors are unhappy with his performance – and they have every reason to be – then they should skip the nicety and cost of a managed exit, and simply sack the guy.

Click here to sign our petition against a ratepayer-funded golden handshake

Mr Jack has spent seven years being paid around $300,000. We say he's milked Napier ratepayers enough already.

National Party enters 2020 spending race

Thought Labour's $12 billion ($7k per household) infrastructure announcement was big? National's Transport spokesman Chris Bishop has announced that his party will spend even more.

The taxpayer-funded bidding war has begun. Regardless of whether you think roading projects are good value or not, the framing of Bishop’s speech should seriously concern taxpayers.

A rush to announce larger and larger spending figures means the quality of spending may be ignored, and tax relief for struggling New Zealanders risks being shelved entirely.

The Taxpayers’ Union is gearing up to put lower taxes, less waste, and more transparency at the centre of this year’s election debate. We can now confirm that we will be relaunching our successful Bribe-O-Meter in the coming months, evaluating and comparing the costs of each party’s election bribes.

Sir Peter Jackson - New Zealand's biggest welfare bludger?

In a NZ Herald report (subscribers only), Matt Nippert reveals that Sir Peter Jackson's Weta Digital receives around $40 million in taxpayer handouts per year.

To make things worse, his company tried to obstruct freedom of information releases for the public exposé of the payment amounts.

And it's no wonder. He has taken taxpayers for a ride. Each job at Weta Digital is underwritten by $25,000 in annual support from taxpayers. 😱

This is the ultimate in socialism for the rich and blows to bits any arguments that subsidies make sense from an economic/jobs perspective.

In 2017, we exposed that the cost of the government’s various corporate welfare schemes is $931 per year per household. These new figures show just how out of control crony capitalism is becoming, and successive governments are to blame.

David Parker is right to skewer bludging Rio Tinto

In more positive news, yesterday Environment Minister David Parker slammed Rio Tinto for failing to clean up hazardous waste, and singled them out for trying to link the waste issue to its internal "strategic review" of the New Zealand operation.

Good on him. In Opposition, Parker often sided with the Taxpayers’ Union against corporate welfare and we’re delighted to see him maintain this stance in government.

Rio Tinto is reviewing its viability in a conspicuously public way. This is because it's a tool to pressure the Government into granting the company another bailout, under the threat of job cuts. Now the company has stepped deeper into the gutter, suggesting its clean-up of hazardous waste depends on the results of its review, and by implication, a handout from taxpayers.

This is disgraceful, thuggish behaviour: a multinational using an environmental hazard that it created to hold taxpayers over a barrel.

Here's Islay's 'Policy in 60 Seconds' video on Rio Tinto:

Just in: A romantic message from the Minister of Finance 💖

Have a great weekend,

Louis Houlbrooke Communications Officer New Zealand Taxpayers' Union