NationBuilder

This week we exposed the $6.2 million cost of rebranding New Zealand’s fire services. It's just another indictment on the merger of rural and urban services, which was meant to save taxpayer money.

The spending figures were berried in a document delivered to a Parliamentary Select Committee and can be found on page seven. The expense covers signage and uniforms – not the restructuring process itself. The rebrand is ongoing, so figures will increase.

We have consistently opposed government rebrands, which suck resources away from core services. But this one left us stunned – we’ve never seen a rebrand this expensive. This money could have paid a year’s salary for 145 junior firefighters.

It gets worse...

The culture of waste within Fire and Emergency isn’t limited to rebranding. Delving deeper into the Select Committee report reveals further incredible expenses. In the last two years, Fire and Emergency spent:

This absurd level of spending reinforces the findings of our recent research report Cash to Ashes, which found that Fire and Emergency expenditure is skyrocketing, as it can spend its insurance levies without Budgetary scrutiny. The funding model for Fire and Emergency is simply not fit for purpose. We’re calling on Minister Tracey Martin to scrap the fire levy entirely, and set a reined-in budget for Fire and Emergency through the standard Budget process.

Government hugs beneficiaries, kicks taxpayers

The Government has confirmed that on April, for the first time, benefits will move upwards in line with wages (instead of just inflation / the costs of living). The Government has announced that they'll keep doing this annually from now on.

We say the Government should do the same for taxpayers rather than just beneficiaries. Income tax brackets aren’t even indexed to inflation, let alone wages. The result is that each year, taxpayers move into higher tax brackets meaning they keep less, while beneficiaries get more.

Council lobbies to lower voting age to 16

Christchurch City Council has decided to use its limited resources to lobby the Government on lowering the voting age to 16.

Of course, the Council didn’t bother consulting with ratepayers before jumping on this issue.

More to the point, Christchurch City Council has better priorities – such as getting its infrastructure up to scratch. We say rates are for services, not for our local councils to lobby central government on constitutional issues.

A taxpayer-funded weather service to compete against...

...a taxpayer-funded weather service

But in recent years, our science agency NIWA has been spending money to provide its own set of competing forecasts.

Now a private weather forecaster has accused the Government of running a duopoly.

Victory: A dumb tax has been scrapped

Once in a blue moon, when taxpayers make their voices heard, a man named Winston Peters gets the message.

That's what has happened with the Government's policy to tax ordinary cars and subsidise electric vehicles.

The Tesla subsidy would have penalised tradies and lower-income motorists. In fact, in August we revealed the policy was written based on flawed advice from the Ministry of Transport (who even admitted it).

Meme of the week