Dear Supporter,

I hope you've enjoyed a good summer break.

Government waste doesn't rest, so we've been busy. First things first...

This week we've been working through the Government's new climate change syllabus. We've found that, rather than focusing on the science, it is a taxpayer-funded attempt to convert 11-year-olds into left-wing political activists.

The teaching material, which you can read here, promotes the campaigns of Greta Thunberg, School Strike for Climate, and even Greenpeace.

The material suggests a carbon tax while failing to mention that we already have an Emissions Trading Scheme. And it fails to explain that New Zealand produces just 0.17 percent of global emissions.

But here's the biggest problem: teachers are told to dismiss skepticism from students as a "coping mechanism".

A 15-page "wellbeing guide" for teachers of the new material says:

Children may respond to the climate change scientific material in a number of ways. They may experience a whole host of difficult emotions, including fear, helplessness, frustration, anger, guilt, grief, and confusion. When discussing the material, teachers may encounter students who cope through avoidance, denial, diversionary tactics, wishful thinking and a range of other coping mechanisms.

This is condescending rubbish. It isn’t teaching kids how to think – it’s telling them how to feel.

In fact, students have to sit through five different sessions focused on their feelings about climate change, with activities including a ‘feelings splash’ and a ‘feelings thermometer’.

The students are eventually encouraged to reduce their feelings of anxiety and climate guilt by participating in political activism.

We say that the national curriculum – funded by all taxpayers – should not be hijacked to promote a political agenda.

While all schools have been sent this material, they don't necessarily have to teach it. We encourage concerned parents to contact their school board and ask if their school is teaching the climate change syllabus.

Revealed: Civil Aviation Authority's sky-high catering costs

After investigating a tip-off, we can now reveal that the Civil Aviation Authority spent over $232,000 on catering in the last financial year.

An annual catering expense of $232,000 is around $1000 every single working day of that year.

Living costs in New Zealand are spiralling out of control and Kiwis are desperate for tax relief. Rather than making Government departments more efficient, we're seeing free lunches rolled out in public entities.

We contacted a CAA employee to ask how these catering expenses got so high. Sadly, she was away from her desk for a – presumably catered – CAA function.

We are waiting on further details.

Housing shortage creates gravy train for motelliers

With a record waiting list for public housing, the Government is throwing an incredible amount of your money at motels to provide "emergency housing".

Here are the recent payments to just one motel in Browns Bay:

All up, the Government has spent more than $125 million on emergency housing in two years, and costs are only expected to increase.

Emergency housing is a band-aid, not a cure for the housing crisis.

We need to repeal the regulatory taxes that make it more expensive to build houses. Sadly, successive Governments have put serious reform of the Resource Management Act and the Building Act into the "too-hard basket".

School gets $50,000 revamp even though it's probably going to close

Just as we warned, Jacinda Ardern's "spray and pray" approach to education spending has created some bizarre examples of waste.

Pukemiro School in the Waikato has just four local students on its roll, and a commissioner is considering closing it down.

However, the school is still getting $50,000 for renovations – the minimum spend-up for all state schools, announced by the Prime Minister in December.

As a local resident says: "If one of the options on the table is to close the school, why not pause spending any big money on the school until its fate is decided?"

It seems the Government is sitting on far too much taxpayer money to worry about such sensible questions.

All the best,

Louis Houlbrooke Communications Officer New Zealand Taxpayers' Union