Dear Friend,

I am emailing all of our members, financial supporters, and those who participated in our recent supporter survey.

Over the last few weeks, the Board – Casey Costello, David Farrar, Chris Milne, Hon Ruth Richardson, Jordan Williams, Peter Williams, and I – have worked with the staff to plan for the year ahead and set priorities for election year to promote our mission of Lower Taxes, Less Waste, More Transparency.

But there is an elephant in the room

Concerns about the Government’s proposals to centralise public services and decouple governance from democratic accountability were not just the key feedback from our supporter survey, but are also becoming more and more of our daily work.

Three Waters, the recent health reforms, and new proposals to impose unelected decision makers on all of New Zealand’s local councils are the most talked about, but there are many others.

The Taxpayers’ Union, like all pressure groups, relies on changing public policy by changing the hearts and minds of New Zealanders to influence policy through the political process. That is now under threat. 

The short point is that the watering down of democratic accountability is an existential threat to the Taxpayers’ Union’s ability to do our job. You cannot fight for a more prosperous New Zealand through the political process when many of the ultimate decision makers are not accountable to voters.

That is why, as an organisation we are adopting a new mission as of today: Lower Taxes, Less Waste, More Accountability.

Transparency is not enough

If decision makers are not accountable for the decisions they make on our behalf, we can no longer say that we live in a democracy. As democrats first and foremost, we say that is not good enough.

As part of our planning for next year, we looked long and hard at our Stop Three Waters campaign. In just 12 months, the Taxpayers' Union has changed Three Waters from something not being covered in the media, to the political issue across almost every commentary piece about whether the Government will be re-elected next year.

We are winning the Three Waters argument because we are sticking to principle.

I say we are winning because, first, the public polls have shifted. A few weeks ago, the team released polling showing that 60% of Kiwis are now against Three Waters (with just 23% supporting and 18% undecided). That is a dramatic shift from even just a few months ago.

Secondly, our campaign, the roadshow, TV advertising, and the local election banners across the country have made it socially – and therefore politically – acceptable for politicians and public figures to voice their opposition in the media. We are now actually getting less media attention to our own Three Waters campaign – but for us that’s a win. The mayors of our two largest cities have, in effect, taken up the Stop Three Waters baton!

So as you can see, Friend, the public are now dramatically on our side. Three Waters is now one of the biggest political vulnerabilities to Jacinda Ardern.

We are winning the argument on Three Waters because we have remained focussed on the economics – the higher water costs and increased bureaucracy – rather than play into the Government’s strategy of trying to frame opponents of the scheme as intolerant. 

Applying this principled strategy to ‘co-governance’ and centralisation

We will be tackling the proposals to implement co-governance across local and central government in a similarly principled way – debates over Treaty politics are a matter for others. For us, it is simple: Local and central government must be accountable to taxpayers and ratepayers. If we don’t like decisions taken, we must be able to remove those decision makers democratically at the ballot box.

I hope you’ll agree that this refocussing of our efforts is necessary and essential, if we are to achieve our vision of a prosperous, low tax New Zealand with efficient, transparent, and accountable government, and that you will continue to support our efforts.

Thank you for doing what you do, and the feedback that we use to guide our work. I hope that you will support our new mission: Lower Taxes, Less Waste, More Accountability.

Yours sincerely, 

Laurence Kubiak Chairman of the Board New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

P.S. We have updated our website to reflect the new mission and tackle some of the misperceptions our opponents like to play on. As you'll see, this is a people-powered effort with the vast majority of our financial support from small dollar donations from tens of thousands of Kiwis who share our values for affordable, efficient, transparent, and accountable public services. To each an everyone of our financial supporters, thank you for making our work possible.