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Hi Friend,
Happy
Friday!
From $5
million roadside statues to a new Taxpayer Hero council, it’s been a
week of contrasts. We’ve also had our say on the draft Code of
Conduct, checked the mood on Nicola Willis, and seen more candidates
sign up to the Pledge.
Pledge Update: Who’s really standing with
ratepayers? 🗳️📊
The pledge
is live, the numbers are in, and they’re growing by the day!
Over 1 in 6 local election candidates have now signed our
Ratepayer Protection Pledge — spanning 67 councils, including nearly 1
in 5 mayoral candidates.
We’ve
already heard from supporters using the Pledge and our Ratepayer
Voting Guide to press candidates and share the results with friends.
It’s proving to be more than a list of signatures - it’s turning into
a national movement.
And it’s needed. A new
survey of candidates shows that even though 75% of voters support a
rates cap, a whopping 62% of candidates won’t commit to one. That’s
the gap the Pledge helps close. It lets you see
exactly who’s willing to stand for ratepayer-friendly policies — and
who isn’t.
Our
Ratepayer Voting Guide makes it simple: enter your address and
instantly see which candidates back transparency, accountability, and
rates restraint in your patch.
The bottom
line? Don’t let candidates get away with vague promises. The Pledge
shows who’s on your side — and who’s not.
👉 Search
your address to check who signed the pledge before you
vote.
Ratepayer Heroes: Fewer cones, bigger savings in
Taranaki 🚦👏
I love
shining a light on councils that actually deliver for ratepayers and
this week, New Plymouth District Council deserves the
spotlight.
Instead of
dragging their feet, NPDC got ahead of the game and started applying
the new risk-based traffic management guidelines last year. The
result? Projects are being finished faster and cheaper.
Transport
Minister Chris Bishop has even written to the Council, praising them
for “vision and leadership”. And for once, we’re delighted
to say that this is exactly the kind of behaviour we need to
see from councils.
The numbers
tell the story: NPDC set a goal of cutting traffic management costs by
5 per cent. They smashed it – hitting 6 per cent savings already. On
top of that, smart planning during the Waitara roundabout project
saved another $100,000 by coordinating water main works at the same
time.
This isn’t just
about fewer road cones (though we’ll happily take that too). It’s
about a council making the effort to coordinate properly, reduce
disruption, and respect ratepayers’ money.
Ratepayer
Heroes indeed. 🌟
Auckland Council sells film studios — and we’re
all for it 🎬💰
This week,
we heard the news that Auckland
Council is reportedly finally moving ahead with selling its film
studios in Henderson. And honestly? Good move.
For years,
ratepayers have been footing the bill for upgrades, maintenance, heavy
capital outlays, while council juggled a business it probably never
should have run in the first place.
The studios
are massive (they house multiple sound stages, prop workshops,
production offices, you name it) and have been central to many
high-profile productions.
Selling to
a private consortium (reportedly involving high-profile names 👀) puts
the studios into hands that can run them leaner, smarter, more
aggressively. They’ll chase clients, maintain competitiveness, be
nimble. That’s how industries grow, not by having councils
trying to be film-studio landlords.
Of course,
there are risks around access, lease agreements, public interest
protections, heritage. But those are negotiable. The alternative is leaving
ratepayers on the hook for continuing cost
overruns.
This could
be a huge win for Auckland. Let the private sector take on the risk;
let ratepayers see fewer surprise bills.
It’s about
time councils stop being in the movie business.
$5
Million for Roadside Statues? 🚧🎨
The newest
low from NZTA isn’t potholes or delays — it’s art installations. Our
OIA shows the agency spent $5.05 million on mahi toi (artwork) along
the Manawatū Tararua Highway.
What wasn’t
included in that multi-million dollar price tag? A tender process. A
cost-benefit analysis. Even proper community consultation. Just a big
bill for taxpayers.
The
sculptures were created in collaboration with local iwi and tied to
cultural themes — but this isn’t about heritage or art. It’s about
priorities. New
Zealand already ranks near the top of the OECD for what we spend on
infrastructure, and near the bottom for what we actually
get. Extras like this might look small in isolation,
but across projects they stack up fast. It’s one reason budgets blow
and delivery slips.
If
NZTA is serious about cutting back on non-essential spending, roadside
artwork should be the first to go. Ratepayers want money put into
safety, maintenance, and actually finishing roads — not
statues.
Confidence in Willis Collapses
📉
The Mood of
the Boardroom survey dropped this week – and it says what taxpayers
already know. The Government’s books are in a hole, and business
leaders have lost confidence in Nicola Willis and Christopher Luxon.
The graph below shows how much their ratings plummeted in just one
year.
The
ministers actually getting things done – Erica Stanford, Chris Bishop
– scored well overall.
You can
feel the strain in every piece of comms out from the Beehive. The
numbers don’t add up, the path back to surplus is murky, and
confidence is slipping. It's time for a reset.
What we’re
calling for is simple: a Spring Statement. To make a difference before
election year, the Government needs to front up before the year is
out, lay the books on the table, and set out a credible path back to
surplus. No more vague promises. No more “wait and see.”
Start with
something that actually lifts investment and productivity.
Full capital
expensing is the obvious first step. Our A
Pathway to Surplus report shows how to pay for it – without
higher taxes and without more debt.
No
more working groups. No glossy strategies. Just a plan to balance the
books and boost growth. The tools are already there – they just need
to pick them up and get on with it.
Read
A Pathway to Surplus here
Draft Code of Conduct: back to the drawing board
📝📜
Local
Government Minister Simon Watts has been keen to get a Code of Conduct
completed for local authorities because the existing,
non-standardised, arrangements are not working well.
The main
problem is that allegations of code violations get thrown around when
parties merely have disagreements, which is stifling freedom of
expression and the forthright exchange of
views. Unfortunately, the Local Government
Commission’s draft standardised code doesn’t cut the
mustard.
James
and Ray have put together a full submission, which you can read
here.
First off,
the draft randomly includes prescriptive Treaty of Waitangi
references. The
Treaty isn’t even in the Commission’s own terms of reference – and
worse, it clashes with the Local Government Act 2022. That’s not
“standardisation”, that’s confusion baked in from the
start.
Then there
are the principles. Some are so vague they could be twisted
into weapons by anyone with a grudge. The whole point of a
Code is to reduce misuse, not invite it.
And don’t
get us started on the investigator powers. They’re over the top –
failing every test of fairness and impartiality. No councillor
should ever face a process where the investigator plays judge, jury,
and executioner.
But the
biggest red flag? The draft doesn’t even guarantee councillors access
to council-held information, despite the terms of reference explicitly
saying it must. Without it, elected members can’t do their job of
holding officials accountable.
Our
submission went in today. We’ll keep you posted – but for now, this
draft needs to go back to the drawing board.
Taxpayer Talk with Peter Williams: Roger
Partridge on unscrambling the ministerial maze
🍝🎙️
This week
on Taxpayer Talk, Peter Williams is joined by Roger Partridge from the
New Zealand Initiative to unpack his new report: Unscrambling
Government: Less Confusion, More Efficiency.
Right now,
New Zealand has 81 ministerial portfolios, 28 ministers, and 43
departments. That’s three times as many portfolios and nearly
twice as many departments as comparable countries.
Roger
argues this sprawling Cabinet structure makes it harder to know who’s
accountable, pushes up costs, and slows down solutions to big
challenges like housing, welfare, and climate change. In short: too
many cooks, not enough results.
👉 Listen
to the new episode or wherever you get your podcasts.
Have a good
weekend!
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Tory
Relf
New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union
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Ps. We’re heading into a critical
stretch, Friend. With ballots in mailboxes,
our work makes the difference between councils that spend wisely and
councils that blow the budget. If
you want to see more Pledge signers, more OIA revelations, and more
pressure on big spenders, please chip in if you can. Every dollar
helps us keep fighting for you.
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