Hi Friend,

Bumping this up your inbox as the Taxpayers’ Union board have asked me for an urgent update. They are meeting later this week to decide the next steps in relation to the legal threats outlined below.

Basically, we need to decide whether to continue investigating MBIE's 'science' spending (that uncovered the whale music and karakia prayer for Kauri trees) or pull right back and give in to those who are trying to get the facts taken down.

Click here to ensure the Taxpayers’ Union can continue to expose government waste, and name and shame those who are responsible. <[link removed]>

I’m really hoping you agree that the work to expose those wasting our money is essential to ending the waste and rot in Wellington.

Thank you for your support.

Jordan @ Taxpayers’ Union

From: Jordan Williams
Date: Friday 7 March, 11:35AM
To:
Subject: The legal claim being made against the Taxpayers' Union

Dear Friend,

CONFIDENTIAL

I am loath to have to send you this email, but I need to bring you up to speed on a very tough challenge I'm facing.

Back in January, I emailed you about the Taxpayers' Union blowing the whistle on the $4 million "whale song for Kauri trees" project that saw whale music and traditional Māori prayer (karakia) being used to 'treat' Kauri trees under the guise of Government funded 'science'.

Last week, Melanie Mark-Shadbolt sent us an extremely threatening legal letter. She is the person we pointed out is both a "co-director" of the organisation that awarded funding for whale songs for kauri trees and is also associated with the company that received $4 million to carry out the project.

Ms Mark-Shadbolt says she intends to sue the Taxpayers' Union for a sum exceeding $225,000 for sending you the email below and publishing it on the Taxpayers' Union's website.

She claims – through her expensive lawyers - that by making supporters like you aware of the fact she is both a co-director of the science challenge (which is true) as well as being associated with the supplier of the services (which is also true), we are guilty of defamation.

She alleges that by merely pointing out these facts, it amounted to us claiming that she is "using her position as co-director of the Biological Heritage [Science Challenge] to improperly benefit herself" (her lawyer's words).

I have already amended our website to clarify that Ms Mark-Shadbolt advised she recused herself from the decision to appoint Te Tira Whakamataki Limited to undertake the playing of music to Kauri trees. But the simple clarification is not enough. Ms Mark-Shadbolt's lawyers are demanding a lot more than that.

Her lawyers have insisted that we purge the email and online article we sent you from all website domains under our control, issue a full retraction and apology, and for us to pay out Ms Mark-Shadbolt.

Otherwise, they say she's going to the High Court to seek in excess of $225,000 from the Taxpayers' Union (and also me personally).

We need your support to fend this off and continue our work on "science" funding being used for things like whale music for trees. <[link removed]>

Even though we had all the material facts right, defending a High Court claim would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, even if we ultimately win. For the Taxpayers' Union, the threat is truly existential. Our ability to continue our work is on the line.

In my opinion, if Ms Mark-Shadbolt was genuine in her concern (or just wanted to 'clarify' that she didn't appoint her own company to do the work) then she would have responded to our request for an interview. Instead, she waited four weeks and then came after us with a full frontal legal assault. I believe this is an attempt just to silence us. Why else would she have her lawyers demand that the entire article be taken offline?

The whole point of the Taxpayers' Union criticism is to ask how on earth we have people in the Government who think using $4 million of our money to undertake mythical nonsense using money meant for "science" is ethical or acceptable.

If asking these questions (and pointing out who is who in the chain of command) results in legal proceedings, New Zealand is stuffed. Accountability depends on transparency.

That's why I'm so reluctant to cave in, shut down the investigation, and remove the whale song for Kauri trees story from the internet. So we really are counting on your support. <[link removed]>

There's also a real irony in Ms Mark-Shadbolt's claim. When I was interviewed by Sean Plunket on The Platform about the story, I specifically said that we had not established that Ms Mark-Shadbolt had appointed her own company. The lawyers for Ms Mark-Shadbolt are stretching the meaning of the email so, presumably (in my opinion!), they can shut us down for asking questions or drawing attention to the extremely questionable "science" spending.

Friend, I believe that it is the role of the Taxpayers' Union to ask the questions that powerful officials like Ms Mark-Shadbolt don't necessarily want to be asked. And to hold these insiders to account. That includes calling for them to front up to the public and explain how $4 million for a project that included karakia and playing music to trees is a justifiable use of your taxpayer money. That's why I'm asking you to help ensure this attempt to get the Kauri tree whale song exposé taken offline doesn't succeed. <[link removed]>

This legal threat has already cost us a five-figure sum. And even if we successfully defend defamation proceedings court awarded costs amount to only a fraction of the actual costs of the lawyers and proceedings.

The legal process itself becomes the punishment. It's why defamation threats are so often used to shut down discussion. Friend,  <[link removed]>will you ensure that doesn't happen here? <[link removed]>

Please contribute to the defence fund so we can continue to shine the light on this sort of unjustifiable spending. <[link removed]>

Thank you for all you do. 


Jordan Williams
New Zealand Taxpayers' Union

PS. the original email is below. Do you think we went over the line? Unless we can raise the necessary defence fund, these efforts to uncover spending will come to an abrupt end. <[link removed]>

From: Jordan Williams
Date: Wednesday 22 January, 1:27PM
To:
Subject: What the media won't tell you, 



Hi Friend,

Trigger warning: this email is likely to upset you

This email is longer than usual, but important. It will likely see kickback from those who like to attack anyone who dares to criticise spending when it relates to indigenous matters.

The media won't touch it. But, frankly, unless we take on these sorts of rorts, New Zealand's reputation for accountable government won't last long.

I'm also emailing to ask for your support so the Taxpayers' Union can continue to name and shame Wellington's rorts and demand the Government actually rein in wasteful spending. <[link removed]>

Remember when we told you about the whale music being played to trees to 'cure' Kauri dieback? 🐋🎶🌳

A few months ago the Taxpayers' Union went public exposing the taxpayer-funded "science" project our researchers uncovered to (and this is no joke) record whales, mixing those sounds with recordings from healthy Kauri forests, to take into unhealthy Kauri forests, play back the audio recordings and assess whether the whale music could be effective in 'soothing' Kauri trees and beating myrtle rust and Kauri dieback. 

You really couldn't make it up.



To recap, it was part of the "National Science Challenges" which are to bring together "the country's top scientists" and use "the best science to address the Challenge[s]".

One of the challenges relates to protecting New Zealand's biodiversity, including our iconic trees.

Recall that MBIE officials insisted that as part of the project, "matauranga Māori" (i.e. traditional Māori knowledge) must be on the same footing as "colonial science" (their description, not mine!).

MBIE's justification for this project is that according to Māori legend knowledge, sperm whales and kauri trees are brothers.

The hypthosis taxpayers are forking out to test, is whether the whales have a "calming" effect on the trees, and therefore help the trees resist disease. (, we're not making this up, it's literally on the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment website!)

- they spent HOW MUCH?! 🤯

After we blew the whistle on the project, officials spent months playing games and refusing to answer our basic questions on the "Oranga (wellbeing) project".

It's all rather murky complex (the project is managed by MBIE, but the actual payments are from Landcare Research) and after much determination (i.e. staff time! 😠 ), James and the research team have finally got to the bottom of how much was spent on the Ngā Rakau Taketake project.

Officials are still refusing a line-by-line breakdown (I wonder why...) but, in total, this matauranga Māori-based "research" cost taxpayers $4,027,020.

FOUR MILLION DOLLARS to mix music for trees 🎧



That's right, four million (plus GST) was paid to investigate whether recording whale sounds, mixing them with recordings from healthy Kauri forests, and playing them to unhealthy Kauri forests and other nonsense such as "The language of the domain of Tāne" – all in the name of “healing” them and "science".

Here's what the four million paid for:

Sonic tapestries of rejuvenation and well-being

About the project 

The Oranga (wellbeing) project was set up to fight against kauri dieback and myrtle rust and consisted of five “research projects”. 

1 Rongoā solutions for kauri ora

2 The language of the domain of Tāne

3 Hapū solutions for myrtle rust

4 The sovereignty of seed

5 A ‘Critical Friend’ approach

The whale song feeds into the first two points of the project, and the project was carried out by an organisation Te Tira Whakamātaki Limited (which received the funds).

So who is Te Tira Whakamātaki Limited? 🧐

Friend, as part of this investigation, we've uncovered that the "research" was outsourced to a private "not for profit" company: Te Tira Whakamātaki Limited.

And that's when we came to a stunning realisation – which now explains why the departments have been so cagey about giving us information on the project...

According to Te Tira Whakamātaki Ltd's website, its "Co-funder and Trustee" is Melanie Mark-Shadbolt.



And here's the startling thing: Ms Mark-Shadbolt is also the Co-Director of the very same BioHeritage Science Challenge Science – i.e. the Government initiative funding the project!

I had the team work through the finances and Charities Commission records of Ms Mark-Shadbolt's company. The company's costs are almost entirely salaries (surprise, surprise!), and its charitable purpose is merely "Provides advice, information, and advocacy".  

Nice work if you can get it.

Why aren't the media asking questions? 🚨

Friend, it's bad enough that this taxpayer money was spent in the first place to "research" what we all know is nothing more than a myth (whales being brothers of the Kauri, and that they're able to communicate with each other). 

But when the provider of these nonsense projects (playing music to trees) is also one of the two Co-directors of the overall "science challenge" what hope is there the taxpayer will get value for money or scientific knowledge will be advanced?

And here's the kicker: The project leaders openly admit that this isn’t even real research. They describe it as a way to give Māori knowledge equal footing with science, claiming it doesn’t need to meet scientific standards because it’s about “restoring mauri (life force)” rather than achieving measurable, effective results.

And yet, MBIE continues to call it “top science quality” while burning through millions of taxpayer dollars.

So, instead of putting resources toward actual science and solutions, this project uses public money to fund what can only be described as mystical performances in the forest.

Only the Taxpayers' Union are willing to call out this grift 📣 

Friend, in the ideal world, the media (and Opposition political parties) would be all over this. But no one likes calling-out government waste if it relates to indigenous projects. We will no doubt be labelled things even for sending this email.

Because it is Māori related wasteful spending, newsrooms fall over themselves not to cover it. We even get individual journalists contact us about some of our stories saying they'd love to pick them up, but their colleagues and editors would go berserk. 

, we cannot buy into making apologies. If anything shows that the Taxpayers' Union continues to be needed to find, expose, and fight wasteful spending it's this. Will you support our work so we can continue to fight the War on Waste? <[link removed]>

Will you back taxpayers in 2025? ✊

Friend, the Government has no money. Families are struggling. New Zealand is literally getting poorer. The Taxpayers' Union must continue to shine sunlight onto wasteful spending, no matter what the PC-brigade would rather we not talk about.

This is why we need your support: to use 2025 to take on these (at best) “feel-good” projects. <[link removed]>

On this particular spend, we want to go to the Auditor General and ask him to investigate the process and prudence of paying millions to Te Tira Whakamātaki to play music to trees. But we need your support to dig deeper and uncover and prove exactly who approved what, and when. <[link removed]>

>> Support the 2025 War on Waste << <[link removed]>

We are counting on your support to make Government waste a national issue this year and demand accountability for every dollar spent. Will you stand with us to get the job done? <[link removed]>

Thank you for your support.


Jordan Williams
Executive Director
New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. 

p.s. The Taxpayers' Union doesn't waste money playing whale music to trees. But to expose and embarrass Wellington to cut the waste, there is no polite way to put it: we can't do the work, if we can't keep the lights on. <[link removed]>

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