Josh Van Veen from the Ratepayers’ Alliance sat down with independent mayoral candidate Craig Lord who - after an impressive first effort in 2019 in which he placed third - is back in the race for the City of Sails.  Craig gives an honest appraisal of his opponent's strengths and weaknesses, explains how he views the role of mayor, gives his take on co-governance, and whether or not the widely accepted underdog can in fact win this crucial election.

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In this edition of Taxpayer Talk,  the focus is on education. With literacy and numeracy standards falling dramatically across the country, long-time educator Alwyn Poole has just finished some extensive research to find which are our most successful schools academically. Using the percentage of students leaving school with University Entrance grades, the results may surprise and shock you. How come a Decile 1 school in South Auckland can produce better results than many far more affluent schools? Why do Catholic schools produce such good results? Does the Ministry of Education really care about falling academic standards?
 
Then on the Political Panel, former MP and Cabinet Minister Maurice Williamson and Taxpayer Union co-founder David Farrar talk about Parliament as a place to work, and is bullying in 2022 really just a stern talking to in 1992? And host Peter Williams responds to some of your correspondence received at [email protected]

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Josh Van Veen from the Ratepayers’ Alliance sat down with independent mayoral candidate Wayne Brown to discuss why he is running and his plan to fix Auckland. 

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Former TVNZ broadcaster (now Taxpayers' Union Board Member) Peter Williams has taken over as host of our new weekly Taxpayer Talk podcast. In this week's episode, he speaks to author and social commentator Ewen McQueen on his book One Sun in the Sky: the untold story of sovereignty and the Treaty of Waitangi. He also hosts our first of what we plan to be a weekly political panel, this week covering the Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll and problems within National with Taxpayers' Union Cofounders, David Farrar and Jordan Williams.

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Earlier this year, the Taxpayers’ Union financially supported a judicial review of Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta’s advice to Cabinet that her Three Waters proposals were required for the Crown to comply with its obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi.  On 4 August, the first ‘in chambers’ hearing was heard in Wellington. Jordan sat down for an update with one of the two Queens Counsels leading the matter, Gary Judd QC.

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After five years at the Taxpayers' Union, our Campaigns Manager Louis Houlbrooke is retiring and heading to South America. Jordan sits down with Louis to discuss the ups and downs of Louis' time here at the Taxpayers' Union, the significant policy victories he has achieved and some of the shocking examples of government waste he has uncovered over the years. 

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Straight out of the Beehive's Budget Day "lock up", Jordan sits down with Cameron Bagrie of Bagrie Economics to break down the good, the bad, and the ugly of the biggest ever increase to operational Government spending.

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In February, the Government launched its road safety strategy called Road to Zero. The strategy hopes to reduce road deaths to zero by 2030.  The Government has allocated $85 million on advertising this strategy alone. Join Louis and motorsport champion Greg Murphy, as they discuss why this unrealistic strategy is purely spin, which will not reduce the number of deaths on New Zealand's roads. 

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In 2005, the Port of Auckland was delisted from the NZX and was taken over by what is now Auckland Council. Since then, the port has underperformed, become inefficient, and lagged behind other ports such as the Port of Tauranga. Jordan sits down with Greg Smith from Devon Funds to discuss how a public ownership model of Auckland's port has decimated its performance, value and status – costing Auckland ratepayers dearly. 

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Last month, the Government quietly tried to pass Tamati Coffee's Rotorua District Council Bill. When electing Rotorua Councillors, it would have meant a vote on the general roll would have been worth 39% of a vote on the Māori roll. Due to public pressure and the Attorney General calling it a breach of the Bill of Rights Act, the Government backtracked. Join Jordan and David Farrar, as they discuss how the bill nearly removed one person one vote in Rotorua, and came close to setting a dangerous precedent for New Zealand democracy. 

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