Three years behind schedule, and $200,000 over budget, Rotorua Lakes Council has finally installed its new sculpture at the Hemo Gorge roundabout:

The reported cost was $743,000, but insiders have told us that the final bill will be even higher once the sculpture's helicopter journey and botched installation are taken into account.

And because it was co-funded by the New Zealand Transport Authority, taxpayers from Invercargill to the Bluff were pinged.

You may remember the sculpture – it was nominated for a Jonesie Waste Award back in July, but now that it's complete we think its cost deserves more attention. Watch this space.

New Green MP endorses benefit fraud, smears Sir Bob Jones

First it was Metiria Turei. Now Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March has endorsed defrauding the taxpayer.

Here's what the newly-minted MP (and self-proclaimed socialist) said in his maiden speech to Parliament:

I want to start by acknowledging everybody who has ever had to lie to Work and Income to survive. In our queer community there is a saying that I love. It goes, "Be gay, do crime." … For sole caregivers, it means lying to Work and Income about their relationship status in order to have enough income to feed their children. … When your ability to be who you are—and therefore your survival—is criminalised, it is an act of love to break the rules to allow others to thrive.

Ricardo went on to abuse his Parliamentary privilege (you can't be sued for something you say in the House) by smearing the Taxpayers' Union's landlord, Sir Robert Jones.

Here's what Ricardo said:

I clearly remember seeing clips that night of the Winston Peters and Bob Jones of the world scapegoating immigrants for the housing crisis, for unemployment, and for inequality in general.

Had Ricardo spent five seconds checking Google before his speech, he would have found opinion pieces by Sir Bob titled ‘Migrants good for NZ - the more the merrier,’ and even ‘Welcome illegal immigrants with open arms’.

He might have even discovered that Sir Bob sponsors a scholarship for the daughters of refugees, with recipients including the likes of Fanus Amanuel Mehreteab, whose family fled war-torn Eritrea and who writes ‘I sincerely thank Sir Robert Jones, and everyone involved in this scholarship, for giving young refugees an opportunity to make their dream come true.’

Clearly, the idea that Bob Jones is some kind of anti-immigrant populist is nothing more than a figment of Ricardo’s imagination, conveniently justifying his own prejudiced views of New Zealanders who don’t share his politics.

Needless to say, the Taxpayers' Union will be closely watching the Parliamentary career of Ricardo Menéndez March.

Ratepayers' Report league tables in the media (and an update to the rankings)

If you haven't already, make sure you see how your local council stacks up in the 2020 edition of our Ratepayers' Report league tables.

The 2020 edition of the Report, released on Tuesday, has already been covered by RNZ, 1 News, Newshub, Stuff, the Dominion Post, the Timaru Herald, Waitomo News, and the Otago Daily Times (see the links at the bottom of this email).

I was interviewed by Corin Dan on RNZ's Morning Report and made the point that that small councils need to beware of costly property projects (think Carterton's $500,000 clock tower renovation), while big councils like Auckland would do well to examine day-to-day expenses like top-heavy salaries.

We've also had to update the report: Grey District Council now officially has New Zealand’s lowest average rates.

This update comes because Central Otago District Council came clean and publicly admitted it gave us incorrect rates data!

It’s astonishing that despite having explicitly been asked to review data before its publication, Central Otago District Council still got it wrong. That said, good on them for publicly fronting up to their mistake.

Have a great weekend,

Louis Houlbrooke Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers' Union