Hi Friend,

In politics, the squeaky wheel gets the oil, and it seems we've had another win thanks to your humble Taxpayers' Union shining the light on mad spending coming from Wellington.

You may recall my earlier emails about the so-called "Health Research Council" which is supposed to be about supporting "high-quality, high-value research" but has in fact been pumping out nonsense for years (my earlier email below is just a sample!).

So I am absolutely delighted to report that this afternoon Minister of Health Shane Reti announced that he is issuing new Ministerial guidelines applicable to the Research Council's grant making so that it "better aligns" with the priorities of the Government and the health system. In his words:

“What that means is a sharper focus on real-world projects leading to improved health and/or health system outcomes, such as improving timely access to quality healthcare for New Zealanders."

And we all know it's badly needed!

You can read the full media release over on the Beehive website.

Of course, we'll be following this one closely (and double checking that the next round of funding decisions cut out the nonsense) but based on what the Minister has said it looks like a great win!

And it's not just a win for taxpayers. Every health dollar is particularly precious and better use of this money, literally means more lives will be saved.

This simply wouldn't have happened without the Taxpayers' Union blowing the whistle and highlighting the wasteful grants publicly (and, dare I say, embarrassing those in the Beehive!).

So thank you again for your support in making today's victory possible.

Now onto the next one! :) 

Jordan @ Taxpayers' Union

From: Jordan Williams
Date: Wednesday 19 June 2024 at 12:30 PM
Subject: ⚠️ TRIGGER WARNING: This is what your taxpayer dollars are being spent on... 

Dear Friend,

While cancer patients wait for the Government to "find the money" to fund desperately needed modern drugs, the very money meant for health research and saving lives is being flushed down the toilet.

At our weekly staff meeting this morning, the research team took me through the latest batch of grant funding decisions by the Health Research Council.

My heart sank, Friend.

I wanted to get the information in front of you ASAP so you can judge for yourself. I'm emailing to ask for your support so we can expose the wasteful spending and force the Government to redirect the cash to modern cancer medicines.

Friend, you won't believe the nonsense Wellington is getting away with!

But first, let's remind ourselves what the Health Research Council is. 

According to their website, their purpose is to "support high-quality, high-impact research by investing in People, Ideas and Priorities." They describe themselves as "the home of health research in New Zealand" and "here to improve the health and wellbeing of all New Zealanders through our process of identifying and supporting high-quality, high-value research that delivers far-reaching impact within the health and science landscape."

You can see where this is going...

Here are a few examples of just the first round of 2024 funding:

Sounds like high quality science! 👀

Rather than fund the actual cancer medicines, the Government is funding "timely access" to cancer treatments witch-doctor cancer treatments. Ka pai!

If that doesn't work, there is always music therapy 🎶

Or how about, rather than fixing hospitals, or building nicer family waiting rooms, we splurge $150k on a study to understand the space?! Thanks to the Health Research Council, a very well paid 'space cadet' is coming to the rescue. 🏥

For our religious taxpayers, there's one for you too! 🙌

Research into Hine te Iwaiwa (who was the wife of Tinirau and is known as the spiritual guardian of childbirth who assists at the entrance into, and the exits from this world) is, as we understand it, worth a lot of money cutting-edge science.

And then there's the help for our Pacific friends. 🌴

Remember, these grants are not for front-line services to help Pacific communities, but rather to "support high-quality, high-impact research"...

Here's a thought: why not get New Zealand's own health model right (to serve everyone living here) before we start ethnic segmentation of our health system?

Then there's this grant, for nothing other than to support an academic's professional development! 

We had a quick look into Dr Borell. If you thought her work was, well, scientific, I've got some bad news.

This is her Massey University profile:

Belinda (Ngati Ranginui, Ngai Te Rangi, Whakatōhea) has recently completed her PhD, The Nature of the Gaze: a conceptual discussion of societal privilege from an indigenous perspective.  The thesis explores how Kaupapa Māori paradigms can make important contributions to research topics that may not be of direct or immediate relevance to Māori communities. Insights gained from a Kaupapa Māori investigation of white privilege in Aotearoa New Zealand are discussed. The thesis argues that cultural hegemony is maintained through structured forgetting, silence, and suppression of dissent which has dire consequences for dominant cultural groups as well as marginal. Structural racism and privilege are amenable to analyses utilising similar frameworks albeit from opposite sides that can provide valuable insights to understanding inequity more broadly. I also examine ways in which Kaupapa Māori analyses of white privilege can illuminate pathways of redress that will benefit all New Zealanders and provide more embracing perspectives of nationhood.

Dr Borell was also recently awarded the Hohua Tutengaehe Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Health Research Council of New Zealand to further her research into societal privilege.

Congratulations to Belinda for the $649,997 for her 'professional development'. Who knew naval gazing paid so well!? 🥳 🎉

Friend, that's just a taste!

Friend, these are just a selection of the nutty grants that the Taxpayers' Union will be highlighting over the coming weeks.

But make no mistake, while we can laugh about the decisions being made in Wellington, for the parents of those kids sitting on oncology wards, there is no humour in this. 

More than $30 million of the Health Research Council's annual budget of $125 million seems to have very little to do with health. That money alone is nearly half what is needed to fund the 13 cancer drugs that weren't in last month's budget.

The cancer drugs are not unaffordable, Friend, it's a matter of priority.

If you agree that the sorts of grants listed above are not a good use of your money, I'm asking you to chip in so we can put an end to this madness and redirect this money to front-line health and actual scientific research.

Support us to force the Government to take on the academic establishment and vested interests running these rorts

We all know the "experts" will scream to the media the moment the Government touches so-called "science money". That's why the Taxpayers' Union is needed to counter their spin and expose outfits like the "Health Research Council" for what they're doing with our money.

Like so much in government, things get captured. The Health Research Council is now just a group of self-interested academics giving our money to other self-interested academics (if you can call them that).

Friend, will you support the Taxpayers' Union to force fiscal reprioritisation so that this money goes to actual scientific research and front-line medicines like cancer drugs?

>>> Donate to the campaign <<<

While Nicola Willis can shift some of the blame for the underfunding of Pharmac onto the last Labour Government, it simply isn't good enough to suggest there isn't enough to plug the gap, when we are still spraying money up the wall on nonsense like this. She needs political pressure to make the tough decisions and push back against the woke bureaucracy and academic establishment making these decisions.

As you can see, Friend, the money isn't going to where they say it is. We can win this – are you with me?

Thank you for your support.

Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

ps. The Taxpayers' Union can only hold the Government's feet to the fire with support from people like you. Make a secure and confidential donation here so we can force the Government to take on the "academic establishment" running these rorts.