|
Hi Friend,
Every week the team at the Taxpayers’
Union are uncovering, exposing, and publicising government waste.
And, as you’ll see below, the change in
government hasn’t fixed the problem. In fact, it's getting
worse, not better.
While the media and opposition
politicians talk about new ways to tax New Zealanders more –
if only they focused on how to improve the quality of government
spending.
It’s
time we said enough is enough. We need to go to war on government
waste, but we need your support today so we can mount
it.
Case in point: even more
wasteful “scientific research” spending…
, you may recall the Taxpayers’ Union
recently exposed the millions ACC is spending on "Rongoā Māori"
(traditional Maori healing and prayer) for humans. We never thought
that taxpayers were also funding Rongoā Māori for trees! We
were wrong.
A decade ago, the Government established
something called the “National Science Challenges”. Managed by the
Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE), it was
intended to “tackle the biggest science-based issues and
opportunities facing New Zealand”.
According to MBIE’s website, the 11
Challenges are supposed to “focus science investment on issues
that matter to all New Zealanders” and bring together
“the country’s top scientists to work collaboratively
across disciplines, institutions and borders to achieve their
objectives.”
The Government has “invested" sorry,
spent, just over $680 million taxpayers' money to date.
Given the previous examples of
unscientific spending the Taxpayers’ Union has already
uncovered this year, I asked our research team to have a quick look at
the latest funding and progress reports for the eleven
challenges.
First up, we were really encouraged to
see that one of the founding 'Principles' of the National Science
Challenges is 'Science Quality' meaning (according to MBIE’s
website):
"Each Challenge is dynamic and includes mechanisms to
bring in new ideas, researchers, and research providers to refresh the
Challenge. Each research plan involves identifying and selecting
the best science to address the
Challenge."
You can see where this is going…
What do sperm whales and kauri trees have in common? 🐳 + 🌳
= 💸
Friend, one of the eleven challenges is
'New Zealand’s Biological Heritage Challenge' which the Government
says is “to protect and manage New Zealand’s biodiversity, improve
our biosecurity, and enhance our resilience to harmful
organisms”.
But in Wellington, nothing can be done
without incorporating an indigenous worldview.
So a pōwhiri or hui? Goodness no, the
boffins at MBIE, the Ministry for the Environment, and AUT decided
that for this challenge, traditional Maori “ways of knowing” (known as
Mātauranga Māori) be given equal weight as the “alternative
ideology” (and that is literally the description in the official MBIE
documents) of science.
So that’s what led to the project titled
Ngā Rakau Taketake Saving Our Iconic Trees.
According to MBIE:
“[the] programme name Ngā Rākau Taketake (NRT) reflects
the historical connections Māori and other New Zealanders have with
our kauri and myrtaceae trees. ‘Taketake’ refers to the permanence of
that relationship. This programme aimed to protect and restore this
relationship and connection."
A government 'Science Scoping Group' was
commissioned, which, according to MBIE “scanned the research
landscape to identify where the research and impact needed to be made
in the myrtle rust and kauri dieback spaces”.
They came up with seven themes of
research, all working towards what officials called their 'guiding
star' of:
The mauri (life force) of the kauri and of our native
myrtle species are safeguarded, sustained and enhanced for our
tamariki and mokopuna.
Make no mistake, Friend, at the
Taxpayers’ Union we support saving the trees! Kauri dieback and myrtle
rust diseases are challenges the Government ought to be spending time
and money on to figure out.
But I’m not sure this is what most
taxpayers would have in mind…
🎶 Mātauranga Māori-based solutions for kauri
dieback and myrtle rust 🎶
There are mountains of material to work
through (so expect more to come), but we thought we'd give you a
flavour of what your money is being spent on.
The quotes below are taken directly from
the official science challenge website:
Overview Te Tirohanga
Whānui
Māori worldviews are essential for establishing priorities and
allowing the co-production of knowledge in response to threats to
taonga rākau (treasured tree) species.
In the fight against kauri dieback and myrtle rust, Māori have
been seeking solutions that call on their knowledge systems and
understandings of the physical and meta-physical elements of the
universe. This includes
solutions embedded in the spiritual dimensions of this knowledge, that
are vital to the protection and enhancement of the natural
environment. These are often overlooked, or at worst
subjugated, by conventional environmental management practices and the
science knowledge that underpins its decision-making.
Te mauri o te rakau, te mauri o te ngahere, te mauri o te
tangata: Mātauranga Māori based solutions for kauri dieback and myrtle
rust was a suite of kaupapa Māori projects that aimed to restore the
collective health of trees, forests and people. The team did this by
connecting to, and resourcing, Māori communities and their
environmental knowledge holders to explore solutions embedded in
mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge).
The 'Research Area Summary' document
outlines:
Māori whakapapa describes how the
kauri and tohorā (sperm whale) are brothers, but they were separated
when the tohorā chose the ocean over the forest. In this research area
we looked at how this connection could possibly help save the kauri
from kauri dieback disease.
The team was led by Matua Tohe Ashby and investigated rongoā
(traditional medicine) solutions for kauri dieback. This involved
tohorā, karakia and mōteatea, and tied into the second Oranga research
project: Te reo o te waonui a Tāne. The team also trained
kauri communities in rongoā solutions to help save their rākau
(trees).
It goes on to explain what the “research”
actually involves:
Led by the Pawarenga community, Dr. Valance Smith and his team
collaborated with kaitiaki and leaders from Pawarenga to delve into
the realm of ‘ihirangaranga’—
vibrations and frequencies—as healing sounds, to construct a sonic
tapestry of rejuvenation and well-being.
Nestled amidst the
Te Auwarawara forest, the soundscape is a layered composition,
intricately woven with sonic samples of healthy kauri within its
untouched habitat, the whale song of its cetacean kin the tohora,
inlayed with the healing sounds of taonga puoro, takutaku, and
karakia, representing profound layers of ancient wisdom and knowledge,
deeply ingrained in the very fabric of the
soundscape.
In addition, the soundscape of ailing kauri trees has been
captured and examined to gather vital baseline data, enabling
continuous monitoring and tracking of their healing
progress.
This project was supported by an array of mātauranga Māori
tools, including pūrākau (oral narratives), maramataka (lunar
calendar), and ngā kaupeka (phases of summer and winter) unique to the
Pawarenga region. These invaluable resources serve as both treatment
modalities and management tools, empowering the community to foster
the well-being and vitality of their
kauri.
Let’s put this into plain language.
Money, taxpayers were told was being used for the best
possible “Science Quality”, is being used to record whale sounds, mix
them with sounds of healthy forests, and then by sending people with
boom boxes, taken into unhealthy Kauri forests to figure out whether
the sounds “soothe” Kauri trees suffering from Kauri dieback
disease.
The millions wasted: You couldn't make it up 🤦
They’re also spending millions (yes,
millions, see below) so that the sound of ailing trees is also
captured to 'gather vital baseline data, enabling continuous
monitoring and tracking of their healing progress' – because
not doing that would just be silly, right?
According to the “Scoping Panel Report” document that our
research team now has their hands on, somewhere between $29.6
and $65.5 million of taxpayer money has been spent on the
Kauri dieback project alone.
Just one in a series 👀
According
to MBIE, this project is just one of a ‘whole series’ of research
programmes along these themes that have been implemented under the
“Science Challenges”
Even Kara kea – singing at certain frequencies – is being
used to "help the Kauri healing process" against the dieback
pathogen.
🚨 Declare WAR on Wasteful Spending 🚨
Friend,
this is a perfect illustration of what is going wrong in Wellington.
If it weren't for the Taxpayers' Union these things wouldn't see the
light of day.
That’s
why I’m asking for your support today so that we can declare war on
government waste.
 Will you support this
effort with a confidential donation?
Exposing the [taxpayer funded!
🤯] ideology behind the waste 😡
Few would dispute that traditional Māori
“forms of knowledge” are worth protecting. But the anti-science of
this project is astonishing.
Dr Smith, millions spent
singing to the trees.
As part of our research, we've discovered
a video of Dr Valance Smith (referred to above as the leader of the
NRT project – pictured) saying that Indigenous knowledge gets no respect because the
“colonisation process” has “tried to remove our knowledge” and that
projects like this must be given an equal footing to
the colonisers ideology (i.e. the scientific
method).
In fact, Smith is even on tape
acknowledging that this project 'isn't really research' but is
(apparently) 'even better' because it is allowing mātauranga Māori to
stand 'as equals' with the worldview of 'colonisers'. His academic
profile states:
Recently, Dr Smith was appointed Assistant Pro-Vice
Chancellor (Māori Advancement) and leads the Mātauranga Māori Strategy
at AUT. Valance provides cultural leadership to AUT, his whānau and
abroad, this year accompanying the Pacific Mission Delegation to
Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands alongside Rt Hon Deputy Prime Minister
Winston Peters.
While
his doctoral thesis looked at the role of contemporary Māori music in
promoting te reo Māori (2014), his most recent research applies
mātauranga Māori across many disciplines of research including
kaitiakitanga, well-being, and research in design for
health.
Again, let's translate to plain
language: the six-figure salaried "expert" leading what is
supposed to be one of New Zealand's 'top science quality'
projects, is nothing more than a cultural and music expert.
As a result, taxpayers are literally seeing millions spent
on playing whale music to trees.
Sunshine is the best disinfectant 🔍
If you agree that these sorts of projects
need to be publicly debated, and an injection of realism into both
Wellington and science spending, please stand
with the Taxpayers’ Union so that we can continue our work and declare
war on government waste.
|
