NationBuilder

It's been a recess week at Parliament this week, but even with some of the top political leaders out of the country, the scourge of government waste persists ...

At the same time, good news for the Government (and Mr Luxon) in this month's exclusive Taxpayers' Union – Curia Poll (see below).

NZQ-Ay?! Yet another expensive rebrand we've uncovered 💸🤬

Given the dire state of New Zealand's education system, you'd think department heads would be steadfastly focused on ensuring that kids are actually at school and learning.

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (the agency tasked with ensuring young people are getting quality teaching, accurate educational records, and internationally transferable qualifications) has instead decided to blow $2.9 million on a flashy rebrand and a website upgrade.

Exposed by your humble Taxpayers' Union, this rebrand involves a new logo, and a change to the colours of the agency's website. Impressive stuff.

Of course, it is sometimes necessary to make technical upgrades to ensure websites function properly but too often government departments seize the 'opportunity' to blow hundreds of thousands of dollars ‘refreshing brand identity’ (whatever that means). We say this nonsense has to stop and there is an easy solution: having one standardised logo for government agencies as they do in the UK:

$365k golden goodbye for gross incompetence and failed CEO 👋🏻🤑

The $365,000 payout to outgoing Kāinga Ora (the Government's Homes and Communities agency) Chief Executive, Andrew McKenzie, is nothing short of a reward for failure.

Calling it a 'resignation' is about as credible as an email from a Nigerian prince. But it shows the real issue here: under New Zealand employment law, it's extremely difficult to sack even those who are clearly failing. While some may argue we need laws to protect vulnerable workers, making it nigh on impossible to get rid of lousy CEOs on $700,000+ means many boards and businesses are stuck with duds unless they get out the chequebook. An ACT MP has a proposed solution applicable for small businesses, but as this example shows, it's also big organisations paying dearly to get rid of people who clearly aren't performing.

We sent our friendly mascot Porky-the-Waste-Hater down the road to Kāinga Ora head offices to present Mr McKenzie with this great 'gift' from taxpayers.

But wait, there's more... 🤦🏻‍♂️

Sadly – for taxpayers anyway – this wasn't the only big taxpayer payout in the news. In fact, it wasn't even the biggest. Not to be outdone, our friends (I use that term rather loosely) over at the Film Commission paid their Chief Executive out more than half a million!

"The board and David Strong both had opportunities to better handle the disclosure and management of his conflicts of interest. Inadequately documented decisions and discussions, gaps in the implementation of these decisions, breakdowns in communication and information flows, and blurred accountabilities were significant contributing factors to the events that unfolded."

Despite this 'strong' criticism, Strong not only received $100,000 in pay while he was on leave but also a $438,700 payout in compensation when he left the job permanently. Our policy guru, James, has slated this decision, saying that "bureaucrats already earning more than ministers shouldn't be paid hundreds of thousands of dollars more not to do their jobs."

Policy Victory: Local democracy defended! 🗳️💪🏻

Back in 2022, we raised the alarm about about Nanaia Mahuta's 'Review into the Future for Local Government' – a follow-on from Three Waters and another Labour pet-project that looked to radically change the way our local councils operated and de-couple them from local democratic accountability.

You might remember that we set up a submission tool to make it easy for New Zealanders to have their say on the draft recommendations and more than 14,000 of you made your views known, accounting for the vast majority of responses. Sadly, the hand-picked panel ignored these and ploughed ahead anyway.

The final recommendations included things like lowering the voting age to 16, enabling unelected 'Te Tiriti-based appointments' to councils, changing the voting system without a referendum, introducing so-called citizens' assemblies (erm, what does that make councils then?), and much more.

Well, there's some good news. The Local Government Minister, Simeon Brown, has put the review on the policy bonfire, labelling the proposals "ideologically-driven". He has even instructed officials to down tools so we won't waste money preparing a formal response to the report. Result!

Christchurch spends $800,000 on... graffiti 🎨🖌️

Speaking of councils, our Local Government Campaigns Manager, Sam, was quick to call out Christchurch City Council’s last-minute allocation of $800,000 for so-called street art initiatives from a capital endowment fund meant for things like water pipes and improving roads. This comes after Christchurch agreed to an almost 10 percent rates hike, which is about $320 extra a year for the average Christchurch household.

Families up and down the country are tightening their belts, and we think councils should not be exempt from practising restraint. Now more than ever is the time to shelve nice-to-have art projects and prioritise responsible spending decisions to fund core council services and keep rates as low as possible.

No more taxpayer cash for KiwiSaaS 💵🛑

Grant Robertson loved chucking money at whatever corporate special interest group had the shiniest lobbyists, and so far it’s a habit the new Government has found difficult to kick.

Now, compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars of your cash that are given out in corporate welfare, this is small fry, but it’s a step in the right direction.

So we just wanted to take this opportunity to say bravo, Judith Collins. It’s a great start, now it’s time to tell the rest of the crony capitalist industry (I'm looking at you, video game subsidies!) to take a hike.

NEW POLL: Gains for National and NZ First while Labour drops 📊💥

There's an improvement in the Government's numbers in this month's hot-off-the-press Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll. Here are the headline results:

Decided Party Vote over time

Compared with last month's poll, National is up 2.2 points on to 37.6% while Labour drops 3.5 points to 25.9%.

The Greens are relatively static on 12.5% (-0.2 points) while ACT drops marginally to 9.1% (-0.6 points).

New Zealand First is up 1.7 points to 7.3% while Te Pāti Māori is down 0.5 points to 3.5%.

For the minor parties, TOP is on 2.4% (+1.6 points), Outdoors & Freedom is on 1.0% (-0.3 points), and the combined total for all other parties is 0.8%.

Here is how these results would translate to seats in Parliament:

Seats

National is up three seats on last month to 47 while Labour is down three seats to 33. The Greens are unchanged on 16 while ACT is down one on last month to 11 seats. New Zealand First is up two seats on last month to nine while Te Pāti Māori is unchanged on six.

The combined projected seats for the Centre-Right of 67 is up four on last month. The combined seats for the Centre-Left is down three to 55. On these numbers, National and ACT would require the support of NZ First to form a government.

This calculation assumes that all electorate seats are held. A Parliament on these figures would have an overhang of two seats and a total of 122 seats.

More detailed results, including preferred Prime Minister scores and government approval ratings, and how to get access to our full polling reports (including geographic breakdowns) are available on our website.

Taxpayer Talk – MPs in Depth with Dr Carlos Cheung 🎙️🎧

Taxpayer Talk: Carlos Cheung

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Connor sat down with National Party MP Dr Carlos Cheung.

Carlos caused one of the greatest upsets at the 2023 Election when he unseated Michael Wood, winning the Mount Roskill seat off the Labour Party for the first time since it was created.

Carlos was born in Hong Kong and moved to New Zealand as a teenager to attend boarding school at Auckland Grammar. He shares his early life experiences, challenges in adapting to a new culture, and his career shift from academia to property management. He has a PHD in biological science and did his thesis on diabetes-induced cardiovascular disease. He reflects on his motivation for entering politics, emphasising community service and the desire to create impactful policy changes.

Listen to the episode on our website | Apple Podcasts, | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio

Have a great weekend.

Yours aye,

NZQ-Ay?! Yet another expensive rebrand we've uncovered 💸🤬

$365k golden goodbye for gross incompetence and failed CEO 👋🏻🤑

But wait, there's more... 🤦🏻‍♂️

Policy Victory: Local democracy defended! 🗳️💪🏻

Christchurch spends $800,000 on... graffiti 🎨🖌️

No more taxpayer cash for KiwiSaaS 💵🛑

NEW POLL: Gains for National and NZ First while Labour drops 📊💥

Taxpayer Talk – MPs in Depth with Dr Carlos Cheung 🎙️🎧