Hi Friend,

This email is important if we are to avoid a New Zealand that is based on rent seeking and resource allocation & environmental planning based on ancestry.

Earlier this year, the Taxpayers’ Union made public the ridiculous $4 million+ of taxpayer money meant for “science” that was spent on treating Kauri dieback with potions made from whale oil and by playing whale music to kauri trees. 

And after eight months of continued grassroots campaigning and the Taxpayers’ Union putting pressure on Ministers, the Government eventually responded to the call to rewrite the criteria for funding and return science money to, well, science.

Friend, sunlight proved to be the disinfectant.

Today I’m emailing you about a similar issue – one that the mainstream media outlets are also refusing to cover.

It’s another example of grift, waste, and taxation under the guise of “tikanga Māori" and local councils “upholding” the Treaty partnership.

Friend, a few months ago the Taxpayers’ Union received a tip-off about a Ngāi Tahu-owned consultancy called Mahaanui Kurataiao and some insider-information about its ‘special’ relationship with the Christchurch City Council.

What the research team discovered was extraordinary.

In the last three years, the Christchurch City Council has paid out $1.36 million of ratepayer money to advise the Council how to engage with the six local “Papatipu Runanga” within Christchurch City.

Papatipu Rūnanga is the term used within Ngāi Tahu to refer to the local tribal councils or local governing bodies of each hapū/sub-tribe within the wider iwi.

Note what the actual services are: not necessarily to advise the Council on the consents and planning directly, but rather to advise the Council on how to engage with the six local tribal bodies and what needs to be referred to them.

The foxes guarding the hen house? 

But here’s the thing, Friend, guess who owns Mahaanui Kurataiao? Yes, it's the very same local Ngāi Tahu sub-tribes that the company charges to advise on how the Council must engage with iwi.

See the problem?

This practice of turning the Treaty's 'right to be consulted’ into a major moneymaker needs to be exposed and brought to a close.

Of course, no tendering was ever involved in this sort of work. The Council – legally bound to consult with local iwi stakeholders – has been forced by the local iwi to engage through its fully owned consultancy company.

Will you chip-in to the Taxpayers’ Union to keep digging and expose this regime for what it really is? 

If this is anything but Treaty-related, it would be called out for what it is: unfair rent seeking and an abuse of Treaty power. Special rights of consultation under the Resource Management Act were never intended to be turned into taxes on ratepayers, developers, and businesses. But that is exactly what is happening.

It’s time to expose it and bring it to an end.

Secrecy and so-called “commercial sensitivity” 

Time and time again, elected officials and resource consent applicants are told that a consent, project, development or piece of infrastructure cannot proceed without sufficient input (or, in many cases, sign off) from local iwi.

So the Taxpayers’ Union began asking for the actual invoices of all these payments going from the Council to Mahaanui Kurataiao. They wanted to know the precise “cultural monitoring” services the Council paid for.

But Council officials are giving transparency the middle finger. They have, to date, refused to provide a cost breakdown, or any of the invoices.

The Christchurch City Council say it is to protect the “commercial position” of Mahaanui Kurataiao.

Friend, this isn’t the first time the City Council in Christchurch has refused to give the Taxpayers’ Union basic information.

Back in 2018, when the Council tried to keep secret the cost of its $1.2 million touch screen wall for the library, the Taxpayers’ Union ensured ratepayers got transparency by taking the Council to the Ombudsman, and ultimately to the High Court.

Back in 2018, the Council relented right as the Taxpayers’ Union’s legal team was literally filing the proceeding at the Wellington High Court. Having won back then, I'd argue that this case is even more important to take on.

Only with your support can the Taxpayers' Union invest the time and resources to challenge the Council and blow these deals open.

This is just the tip of the iceberg...

According to public records, this Ngāi Tahu subsidiary alone is raking in millions of dollars every year across the councils in just the Canterbury region!

The research team are still waiting for answers on how much Waimakariri, Selwyn, Environment Canterbury and NZTA have also spent on Mahaanui Kurataiao consultancy fees.

This is who the company lists on their website as "Strategic Partners":

And it appears Ngāi Tahu are running the identical scheme in other regions. For example, in Otago through a company called “Aukaha”, as well as in Te Ao Mārama Inc in Southland.

I’m emailing to ask for your support, so that the Taxpayers’ Union can employ a dedicated researcher to take a deep dive into this whole "industry" and give the public transparency about the money being spent. 

Will you join me in supporting the cause?

Because it is Māori-related wasteful spending, most newsrooms won’t (or can’t) cover it.

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 this work so the Taxpayers’ Union can continue to expose this waste? 

> Chip in to support the Taxpayers’ Union <

Thank you for making the effort possible.

Peter Williams Financial Supporter and Former Board Member New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

Ps. Paying an iwi-owned company to advise on how to engage with the same iwi groups isn’t “consultation”. It’s exploitation. It's time to expose it, and bring it to an end.