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For the staff here at the Taxpayers' Union, we're always looking for new ways to torture poke-fun at Jordan. But after making him sit through three days of this year's Local Government New Zealand conference, even we felt bad for him!

Day one included 43 minutes of pōwhiri, 15 minutes of "transgender paper scissors rock" (yes that's literally what LGNZ called it) and countless sing alongs for the 800 atendees, but they allocated just ten minutes for the Prime Minister to talk about the Government's plans for local government. Talk about priorities. 

The conference cost nearly $1,000 per day to attend (though 99% of the attendees were not paying for it themselves!) and Jordan tells us that even with the open bars in the evening and open (all you can eat) ice cream bar during each of the three days, it wasn't worth the money.

But, between those hour-long morning and afternoon teas buffets, Jordan did get something to be happy about. 

Luxon lays down the facts to out-of-touch councils 

We don't normally promote politician's speeches, but we really think the Prime Minister's speech from earlier in the week, is a must read.

Luxon hounded local councils for wasting money on vanity projects and nice-to-haves while pipes were bursting and potholes were unfilled. Wellington's flash new loss-making convention centre was a prime example.

As Jordan put it (covered by Newsroom.co.nz):

All four new policies laid out in the PM's speech fall squarely on the side of the ratepayer. They boil down to:

✅ forcing councils to get back to basics,

✅ introducing benchmarks so ratepayers can measure performance,

✅ limiting spending on pet projects and

✅ demanding more transparency and accountability to ratepayers. 

So four big ticks from the Taxpayers' Union!

And with thousands of ratepayers having already emailed the PM calling on him to cap council rate hikes, it is certainly consistent with the noises from the Government this week. We sense that even more policy victories are possible... 🥳

But while the Prime Minister was busy preaching a 'back to basics' approach his Economic Development Minister had other ideas... 🤦

Is a $1.5 million "street dance" competition really "back to basics"?

Less than 24 hours after the Prime Minister gave his 'get back to basics' local government speech, So-called "Economic Development" Minister Melissa Lee announced that she is teaming up with Auckland Council to "co-fund" $750k each a street dance competition!

Talk about the left hand not knowing what the right hand is saying... And of course the media immediately picked up on the 'do as I say, not as I do' hypocrisy. Case and point: What is a 'core activity’? Government tells councils to focus on ‘must-haves’ (Stuff.co.nz)

The Government can’t expect to be taken seriously by local government when it continues to splash cash on silly projects that make great photo opportunities but don’t deliver value for most New Zealanders currently struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.

Not to be rude to the hoards of street dancing Taxpayers' Union supporters out there, but just like our criticism of the last Government's infatuation with DJ's, we respectfully point out that rolling out taxpayer funding for street dancing is not economic development.

And this wasn't some out-of-touch government department that sprung this at the worst possible time. The 'economic development' street dance funding was literally a Ministerial announcement! See Media release: Hon Melissa Lee. 'New dance competition set to bring economic benefits' (Beehive.govt.nz). 

Speaking of those not needing to busk on the street, this week we revealed the lucky group of New Zealanders who are far from struggling – and you're paying them!

RICH LIST REVEALED: NZ's highest paid council CEOs 💰💰💰

Rates bills are landing on doorsteps across the country, and with an average hike of 14% Kiwis are feeling the sting in their wallets.

Town Clerks, sorry, Chief Executives, across the country are failing to keep costs under control. It turns out the same is happening to their own salaries! That’s why we’re providing transparency, so ratepayers can judge for themselves.

It won't come as a surprise that local governments' top brass are overpaid, but the scale is staggering. While most Kiwis are tightening their belts, many of these CEOs will be needing a second belt to hold up stuffed pockets!

See for yourself where your council ranks. Then let us know if you think you’re getting bang for your buck.

Trees for 15 townhouses: Kāinga Ora blows $73,000 🏡

Also this week, our research team blew the whistle on the state housing agency, Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, for pouring tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars into *checks notes* trees. 

We must go to the wrong garden centre, because at $685 per tree, the agency spent $73,350 on just 107 for a 15-house development in Hastings! 

What's worse, is that this just scratches the bark. Kāinga Ora doesn't even know (or just won't tell us) how much they are spending on trees at their other developments across the country!

As an agency in charge of around 72,000 properties, we hate to think just how much "green money" is going to waste.

No wonder the agency is in such a financial mess.

Pro-tip for Cabinet Ministers? Don't turn up to the Taxpayers' Union in a Crown limo 🤫

Here at the Taxpayers' Union we love to give Taxpayer Update readers the inside gossip, and we thought we had a really doozy.

Last week, we hosted Minister of Media and Communications, Paul Goldsmith, at our Auckland office for an event with supporters on Media Matters: taxpayer funding, mistrust, and perceptions of bias.

The event was booked months ago, but happened to occur right after we ran into the difficulties with NZME screening advertising (despite taking more money under the so-called Public Interest Journalism Fund than any other media company).

The Minister was running a few minutes late, so while a member of staff waited outside for the Crown limo to arrive, you can imagine the surprise when Minister Goldsmith turned up on a lime scooter! (not an actual picture 👇)

The Taxpayers' Union was initially flattered when the Minister initially told us that they take potential criticism by the Taxpayers' Union so seriously they'd been told to ditch Crown cars when coming to our events!

Unfortunately, we learned later that the Ministerial BMW was just stuck in traffic and it had been faster for the Minister get out and get the scooter. How disappointing.

If you're interested, our next Taxpayer Caucus After 5 event is pencilled in for October with Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. For information about joining the Taxpayer Caucus, click here.

Oh, and before you ask, we are yet to confirm who paid for the scooter... 😉

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Newstalk ZB Heather du Plessis-Allan: I'm not getting excited about the money spent on that dance competition

Newstalk ZB Barry Soper: Was Kamala Harris' speech today boring? [4:02]