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Hi Friend,
Despite the
sad news about the passing of Jim Bolger this week, it's still been
very busy. As more of the final council election results come
through, one message is clear: this was the Revenge of the
Ratepayer.
Local election results: Revenge of the Ratepayer
🗳️
A clear
pattern has emerged from the local body election results: mayors who
treated ratepayers with disdain have been thrown out of office, while
those who showed fiscal restraint have been rewarded.
Of the ten councils with the biggest annual
rates hikes (12.6 percent and above), only one mayor — in Grey
District — held on. Of the top 20 highest increases (9.9
percent and above), just five mayors kept their jobs.
In
contrast, of the ten councils with the smallest rate hikes (5.8
percent and below), seven mayors were re-elected. Among the
bottom 20, 13 mayors retained office.
Friend, communities across New Zealand have sent a message loud
and clear to stop using ratepayers as a money tree. This
election proves what we’ve said all along: voters don’t
want endless rate hikes, they want councils to
live within their means.
Putting promises into practice
💪
It’s been
great to see some real wins coming out of our Ratepayer
Protection Pledge campaign.
An
incredible 108 candidates who signed our Pledge have been elected,
including seven mayors (that’s about 10 percent of all mayors in New
Zealand) and 101 councillors spread across 47
councils.
That’s 108
voices around the table reminding their colleagues that every dollar
spent comes from someone’s pocket. It’s a solid start – a sign that
voters want change, and that some of their representatives are ready
to deliver it.
To
everyone who chipped in, put up signage, or otherwise supported our
efforts over recent months - thank you for making it
possible.
From Mayor to Chair: have a job on your way out...
😳
Just
because we’ve got a new crop of councillors doesn’t mean we’ve
finished exposing the old ones yet.
There have
been some real shenanigans going on as mayors and councillors seek to
secure themselves a cushy job for their post-council
selves.
Take Neil
Holdom – former Mayor of New Plymouth District Council – who, in a
closed-door meeting the day before the election closed, was appointed
chair of his Council’s new Water Services Council Controlled
Organisation.
The new
Mayor, Max Brough, is not impressed. He’s instructed lawyers to
investigate how it all unfolded. More to come on this, it
seems...
No
longer the Mayor, but still a picture of waste: Tory’s portrait
problems 👩🎨
Neil Holdom
wasn’t the only mayor securing a legacy on the way out. In Wellington,
outgoing mayor Tory Whanau managed to leave behind something rather...
artistic.
Thanks to
what the Wellington City Council called a “mistake,” Wellington
ratepayers have forked out $7,000 for a painted portrait of the
outgoing mayor. The painting reportedly shows what Whanau herself
described as “Mana serving Diva” (their words, not ours). 👀
For
context, the last painted mayoral portrait was of Kerry Prendergast
back in 2011. Since then, mayors have sensibly opted for photographs
instead. Celia Wade-Brown’s photo cost $2,000 - hardly cheap,
but still a bargain compared to Tory’s canvas.
Celebrating the Government’s good news: Smaller
bureaucracy, better books ⚡️
This week
brought two bits of good news for taxpayers (and the Government): the
Government’s books look a little healthier sorry, less sick than
expected, and the ballooning public service has actually started to
shrink. And not a moment too soon!
The
latest figures now show the public service has shrunk by 1,568
full-time roles since the election, from 64,222 to 62,654.
It’s not a revolution, but it’s the first real movement
in the right direction since the Government was elected.
Not even
after the cuts, there are still 15,000 more bureaucrats than when
Ardern was elected in 2017. And, as we all know, most of those roles
are buried in policy shops and back offices that do little to improve
frontline public services.
Meanwhile,
the 2025 audited financial statements show the government itself is
doing a bit better than forecast in terms of cutting fat. Core Crown
spending has fallen as a share of the economy, and a few one-off
blowouts from 2023/24 haven’t been repeated. Finally, some
good news.
But let’s
not break out the bubbly just yet. Government spending is still much
higher than when the current Government came into office, and the
return to surplus will take more discipline and a steady refusal to
let the bureaucracy bloat back up.
Getting the
Government's boot off the neck of the productive economy is the only
way to boost growth, productivity and living standards.
More of this please, Nicola Willis! 👏👏👏
$2.8 million youth survey comes with $7,500 of brownies
🍫💸
Your humble
Taxpayers' Union has sniffed out a baker's dozen of waste stories over
the years arising from the Ministry of Social Development, and this one
takes the biscuit.
MSD
has spent $2.8 million on a "youth wellbeing survey" – amounting to
more than $350 per survey response!
And as if
that wasn't enough, the hungry bureaucrats decided the best way to get
schools to take part was by sending them $7,544 worth of
brownies.
Under
the Official Information Act, Investigations Coordinator Rhys
uncovered that MSD’s research contractor, Ipsos, sent brownie boxes to
184 schools and kura at $41 a pop. The perfect staffroom
treat!
While families across the country are tightening
their belts, bureaucrats are literally sweetening the deal to get
people to [checks notes] fill in surveys. Questions
include whether young people consider whether there is "value in
connecting between groups".
And, just
in case you worried that the survey was good value for money, check
out the mumbo jumbo reports that the last one was used to create.
This
is what having 15,000 too many bureaucrats looks
like...
Should the Government get out of the landlord
business? 🧐🏡
Our friends
over at the NZ Initiative have released a new report asking a simple
question: why does the government still own more than 77,000 houses
when it’s proven to be such a poor landlord?
The report,
with the short and snappy title Owning less to achieve more:
Refocusing Kāinga Ora, argues that helping people with housing
doesn’t require the state to own the houses. Government ownership has
been costly and inefficient. Kāinga Ora’s costs are roughly
double those of private landlords, and it struggles with rent arrears
and disruptive tenants.
The report
suggests selling state houses to community housing providers, iwi,
private landlords, or current tenants. He also recommends housing
vouchers to give tenants more choice and selling off Kāinga Ora’s
unused land to boost supply.
The
takeaway: both tenants and taxpayers could be better off if the
government stopped trying to be a landlord and focused on ensuring
real housing options that actually work.
👉 Read
the full report here
Taxpayer Talk: Cameron Luxton on the Gene Technology Bill
🎙️
This week
on Taxpayer Talk, Peter Williams is joined by ACT MP Cameron
Luxton for a wide-ranging discussion on the Government’s new Gene
Technology Bill and what it means for innovation and regulation in New
Zealand.
Cameron
shares his perspective on the Bill’s Māori advisory committee and how
ACT approached its position.
Peter and Cameron also discuss the Bill he has drafted to
improve transparency and accountability in local government by banning
unelected voting members on council committees - we'll definitely be
keeping an eye on this!
You can listen here,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Another
long newsletter Friend, after another busy week for the team. I'll let
them sleep one day.
Enjoy your
weekend!
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Tory
Relf
Head of Comms
New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union
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Ps. Thank you to everyone who supported our Local
Government Campaign Fund. We've had great success - including seven
mayors who signed the Ratepayer Protection Pledge - it couldn't have
happened without your support.
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RIP Jim Bolger