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Hi Friend,

We've been taking some big issues head-on this past week, and we wouldn't be the Taxpayers' Union if we didn't have a laugh while doing it...

Bouncy Council? Well someone had to be the adults in the room 🦄🎉

Kids on Council. Enough said, right?

We've been banging the drum for years that unelected appointees should not have voting powers on council committees – call us radical, but we believe in democraticaccountability at local councils.

But even we didn't think councillors would be childish enough to appoint unelected high-school kids to vote on council committees controlling $3 billion of assets!



Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst used her casting vote to put school-aged kids on the council committees that do most of the heavy lifting at council – not even those covering financial strategy and managing the recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle are safe.

It's a disaster waiting to happen. Councils aren't toys, but luckily instead we parked a new council chamber for the councillors to play with right on their front lawn!

So, we headed over to Hastings and held a (firmly tongue-in-cheek) Council Committee Meeting in Hastings' brand new Council Chambers. Hawkes Bay Today and the Hawkes Bay App dubbed it the Bouncy Council.

<[link removed]>>> Watch the video here << <[link removed]>

And to their credit, a couple of the (adult) councillors that voted against the Mayor's proposal came down and joined the festivities. But all jokes aside, we're making a serious point.

Friend, we have to stop the practice of local mayors and councillors appointing unelected decision makers, screwing the scrum and undemocratically changing voting numbers around council committees. And we have to nip this one in the bud before the idea of appointing school-aged kids spreads to other councils.

We need to force a u-turn in Hastings, and demand that your local council doesn't try to do the same thing. It's common sense, but school-age adolescents should not be appointed to governing roles at councils.

>> Sign the petition here << <[link removed]>

Who wouldn't want a free trip to Hawaii?! 🌊🏄

But we've not been the only ones having fun! One very lucky Member of Parliament recently bagged herself some taxpayer-funded fun in the sun.

It's hardly a great secret that more than a few MPs like to splash around their expense accounts, but some MPs are worse than others. For example, recently released figures show that one Te Pati Maori MP spent more on flights than all ACT backbenchers combined and 63% more than the next highest spending MP!

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Debbie Ngarewa-Packer spent $39,209 on flights in just three months, including a junket to sunny Hawaii. Sun, sea, and surf - nice work if you can get it...

Stuff asked Ms Ngarewa-Packer how she spent so much money, but the response was *crickets*. And because of our broken, outdated system, there's quite literally no way for the public to know what their money was spent on.

Parliament has a special carve out from the Official Information Act meaning that we only know the total figures for each MP, not the individual amounts (as we'd be able to find out from nearly every other agency within government).

Speaking to the Sunday Star Times, I said: <[link removed]>

"MPs should be upfront about how they're spending public money, but taxpaying Kiwis shouldn't have to stand around with the begging bowl waiting to see what scraps of information MPs want to throw their way."

"They have a right to demand answers on what...MPs are chucking on their expense accounts."

"The Parliament Bill is hoping to drag Parliament into the modern age.

"But it can't do that without much-needed reform to let Kiwis finally call time on MPs playing it fast and loose with taxpayers' cash. At the very least, MPs' expenses need to be subject to the OIA."

It's time for a change, and your humble Taxpayers' Union are happy to lead the charge on this one. Stay tuned...

It's about time bureaucrats kicked off the slippers 🛏️😴

And if you think it's hard to figure out what MPs are spending, wait til you see how hard it is to work out where bureaucrats are from nine to five.

Here in Wellington, the once bustling Lambton Quay cafes are dead. And while the public sector unions make the bogus claim the problem is the (relatively small number of) lay offs, in fact the real issue is that tens of thousands of Wellington bureaucrats are staying in bed.

When the Public Service Minister, Nicola Willis, told these would-be shirkers that they might have to start putting some trousers on from nine to five, all hell broke loose. Screams of "where am I meant to park now that Wellington is more cycleway than road" and "I used to look after my kids all day while I was supposed to be working, what will I do now?" could be heard all throughout the capital's suburbs.

Public sector productivity has been lagging since COVID. And that's no great coincidence when so many public servants now crawl out of bed at five to nine and spend the day sitting around in dressing gowns.

In fact, the latest batch of census data paints the clear picture. Between 2018 and 2023, the number of New Zealanders working from home increased 60%. However, the increase in Wellington was over double that, at 125%.

Nicola Willis says enough is enough and it's time for the bureaucrats to get back to the office. We say she's bang-on.



This isn't going to be a one-stop fix for public sector productivity. But it's a start, and breaking the culture of just doing enough to get by is how we'll start getting value for our tax dollars. So for getting the ball rolling, Nicola Willis deserves a pat on the back for this one.

Bank CEO putting profits first? Surely not 🤯🤑

But whilst Nicola Willis is doing her best to get productivity moving in the right direction, someone else was doing their level best to tank it.

ANZ's Chief Executive, Antonia Watson, came out publicly last week in favour of a capital gains tax. Naturally, RNZ took the bait and span this as some benevolent rich-lister calling for fairness. Well if a banker talking about fairness wasn't a big enough red flag, let's work through why bankers are set to make a lot of money if they manage to get a CGT.

Every capital gains tax proposal to date excludes the family home. Politically, that makes sense for the left-wing politicians who will pretend the tax won't hit middle-class families.

But what that means is that investment and capital allocating into jobs, businesses, capital plant and the very things New Zealand needs to improve productivity (and therefore wages) is disincentivised.

Instead, a capital gains tax would further encourage even more money into residential housing! And who's New Zealand's largest residential property lender that would benifit... One ANZ Bank (with a shameless banker boss wanting a juicy bonus, it seems).

While some politicians have the audacity to claim that a capital gains tax will ease the housing crisis, any basic analysis shows that a CGT would make it even harder for young Kiwis to get on the housing ladder.

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New Zealand is the single worst country in the OECD at attracting capital (after recently being overtaken by [checks notes] Mexico!). That means our businesses and entrepreneurs are staved of capital. The last thing we need is more taxes on the very thing we need more of to grow the economy and wages.

If you're an ANZ customer, join me in writing to Antonia Watson to tell her what you think of her champing higher taxes on you and your family.

>> Send an email to Antonia << <[link removed]>

Adrian Orr can't manage one currency, let alone two 📟📈

From one bank to another, and this time, it's the Reserve Bank in the spotlight.

A few months ago, we said the Central Bank Governor Adrian Orr should stop wasting time on trying to create a centrally controlled "digital cash".

Orr's one job – keeping the lid on inflation – has been outside the target range for 40 months. But instead of worrying about that, Mr Orr's being working behind the scenes on making himself a new little plaything.



We said it would be a blown-out expensive mess, and boy were we right...

One of our keen-eyed young researchers, Rhys, went digging for the project's financials. So far, the Reserve Bank have spent nearly $2.2 million on scoping out how to press ahead with digital cash, $2.15 million of which went straight into the pockets of some very lucky Wellington consultants. And you can add another $1.3 million in staff costs for the project onto that as well.

But here's where it gets ridiculous...

Despite being in the project's fourth year, not even once did they think to ask what implementing a digital cash scheme would actually cost. They still have absolutely no idea and haven't even bothered with a project plan, or budget.

And, taking a leaf from Yes Minister, the Bank has not even considered assessing similar schemes being tried overseas to see if New Zealand can learn from the mistakes of other central banks. 

How are these not the very first two questions on the list? It boggles the mind trying to work out what these consultants have actually been doing for the last four years, but what we do know is they've been making an absolute killing doing it. 

MPs in Depth: Suze Redmayne

<[link removed]>

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, we sat down with National Party MP Suze Redmayne.

Suze was elected as the MP for Rangitikei at the 2023 General Election. Suze and her husband run an award-winning farm and sell their lamb under their own brands. Suze shares her life story, what drew her to politics and what she hopes to achieve during her time in Parliament. Also discussed is a number of Members' Bill ideas Suze is considering and what the role of government should be in the economy.

Listen to the episode on our website <[link removed]> | Apple Podcasts <[link removed]> | Spotify <[link removed]> | iHeart Radio <[link removed]>

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Have a great week! 😊


James Ross
Policy and Public Affairs Manager
New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union





In the Media:


NZ Herald Why a police stock-take got the PM grumpy <[link removed]>

InterestMortgage rate relief could bring about a breakthrough in the polls that has otherwise eluded Prime Minister Christopher Luxon <[link removed]>

KiwiblogWhy did Hipkins favourability take a dip? <[link removed]>

The PlatformMark Mitchell on Police Commissioner Andrew Coster’s resignation <[link removed]>

The SpinoffA roll call of all the people championing a capital gains tax <[link removed]>

NewstalkZBAuckland & Wellington 3pm bulletins 27th September – Hastings District Youth Councillors <[link removed]>

Sunday Star Times, The Press, The Post, Waikato Times This MP spent $39k on flights, but Te Pati Maori won’t say why <[link removed]>

Sunday Star Times, The Press, The Post, Waikato Times‘It’s very close’: Labour-led bloc just 2 points behind Govt in internal polls <[link removed]>
<http:>NewstalkZB Barry Soper: ZB senior political correspondent recaps the Tim Walz-JD Vance Debate <[link removed]>

NewstalkZB Heather du Plessis-Allen Drive Full Show 02 October 2024 <[link removed]>

The PlatformJordan Williams on Ngapuhi wanting the Government to pay them $8 billion <[link removed]>

Hawkes Bay TodayBouncy castle protest against youth council voting rights in Hastings <[link removed]>

Hawkes Bay App Taxpayers' Union brings "Bouncy Council" to Hastings District Council <[link removed]>

NewstalkZBThe Huddle: Recapping the mood of the Boardroom results <[link removed]>


KiwiblogMayor gives unelected 15 year olds a vote on council <[link removed]>

New Zealand Taxpayers' Union Inc. · 117 Lambton Quay, Level 4, Wellington 6011, New Zealand
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