Taxpayer’s Union is wasting taxpayers’ money

Written By: - Date published: 9:24 am, September 15th, 2020 - 35 comments
Categories: broadcasting, election 2020, labour, spin, tax, taxpayers union, the praiseworthy and the pitiful, uncategorized - Tags:

The entity that is full of rabid right wingers but calls itself a union and who believes that strongly in personal responsibility that it took the Government’s Covid wage subsidy claims that it is opposed to Government waste.  In fact one of its three professed reasons for being is less Government waste.

Which is why its latest stunt is something of a mystery because I cannot think of a more wasteful use of taxpayer’s money.

It has complained to the Broadcasting Standards Authority about Labour’s first election advertisement.

In its own words:

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has laid a complaint with the Broadcasting Standards Authority regarding the Labour Party’s first television advertisement for the 2020 election campaign.

In the advertisement, Jacinda Ardern misleadingly claims that her Party will “make apprenticeships free”. In reality, these apprenticeships are not free – they are paid for by taxpayers.

Spreading the myth that there is such a thing as a free lunch – or a free apprenticeship – is wrong. That’s why we’re holding the politicians to account.

What does the policy provide?  From the Labour website:

Labour is committed to making New Zealand the best place in the world to be a child. A large part of this is making sure every child can get a great education. That’s why we’re committed to lifting the achievement levels of all students, providing opportunities for them to thrive and succeed.

And the detail:

Boosting the apprenticeship and trades training to help people upskill and retrain, often for free in the next two years, and partnering with industry to fill skills gaps.

And here is the broadcast that has so upset Jordan and Co:

The policy is clear.  Free education for many to upskill.  Of course there will be a cost to the state and the taxpayers generally but that is what happens with redistributive policies.

The TU’s complaint is naff.  They have stretched the language way beyond breaking point to try and make a cheap political point. The apprenticeships are to be free for those of us that qualify, and of course there will be a cost to pay.

What should the Broadcasting Standards Authority do?

It can refuse to consider the complaint on the basis that it is frivolous and vexatious.  And it can then award costs against the TU again on the basis that the complaint was frivolous and vexatious.

As a taxpayer I hope it takes this course.  And I agree with the Taxpayer’s Union that we should hold those that deliberately waste taxpayer’s money to account.

35 comments on “Taxpayer’s Union is wasting taxpayers’ money ”

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  1. Hanswurst 1
    15 September 2020 at 9:35 am

    Hmmm. The Taxpayers' Union would seem to me to have the rather large problem that, more or less whenever any commercial outfit markets anything as free, someone will have purchased it or paid for its manufacture, and be forgoing the income from its sale. By that reasoning, the word 'free' (as in beer) must be banished from the English language entirely.

    • Sacha 1.1
      15 September 2020 at 11:06 am

      Including their favourite, 'free' speech.

    • Uncle Scrim 1.2
      15 September 2020 at 12:26 pm

      Yeah it's a ludicrously wilful misreading of what 'free' actually means – in this case free training (depending on circumstances) for the apprentice/trainee, ie at no cost to the consumer of the service/offering. The TU must go nuts every time one of those TV ads offers a 'free' set of steak knives with some product, or McDonalds offers a free Coke with a burger.

      As for all the ‘free’ roads out there …

  2. Sabine 2
    15 September 2020 at 11:11 am

    That is the issue, apprenticeships should be paid. Work should be paid, even if you are just 'learning' on the job.

  3. greywarshark 3
    15 September 2020 at 11:21 am

    How would Winnie think about this in a common-sense way?

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/426069/the-elevator-pitch-what-s-needed-is-a-party-of-common-sense-winston-peters

    The Elevator Pitch: 'What's needed is a party of common sense' – Winston Peters
    This series is exactly as its name suggests – perfect for those with a light appetite for politics or just a short attention span.
    Party leaders are limited to the length of an elevator ride to explain why they deserve your vote.
    In this episode, Winston Peters went to the top in one of the Beehive's many lifts pitching New Zealand First as the party of promises.
    He said no other party had kept promises like it had, over a length of 50 years.
    Peters said their party's experience was essential amid the others with extremes.

  4. tc 4
    15 September 2020 at 11:28 am

    Every time the TU pop up most folk are reminded of their role in the full frontal DP era alongside moral icons like Barclay, Gilmore, Slater, Eade etc

    So carry on Jordan I say, he wears the hypocrisy so well

  5. Don 5
    15 September 2020 at 11:33 am

    Hi “The Standard”. I really like the look of your headlines but I can’t figure out how to actually read the articles. I can’t get past the headlines. Do I need to log in? Is there a subscription? Looking forward to your reply. Don Edmonds, Kaikohe.

    • daryl 5.1
      15 September 2020 at 12:04 pm

      Don highlights an issue with viewing the standard through chrome on a mobile – this seems to be a bit random, but I've seen exactly the issue he's talking about (or I think he's talking about). Don, this doesn't happen from a pc, you will be able to view them there.

    • Cricklewood 5.2
      15 September 2020 at 12:46 pm

      Switch to desktop view, I have the same problem on mobile. Not on all post though.

    • greywarshark 5.3
      15 September 2020 at 12:47 pm

      Can someone advise this commenter? We aren't all whizzkids you know. Presumably its to do with using a smartphone or such – which I haven't got.

      It probably is just something like swiping to the right or touching that button at the top.

      Cheers Cricklewood.

  6. Gosman 6
    15 September 2020 at 12:13 pm

    Thanks for sharing the information. I am sure the Taxpayers Union is also pleased you are doing so. As for your concern about their use of the term Union do you also object to the various Rugby Union's around the country using the term to describe their organisation?

    • left_forward 6.1
      15 September 2020 at 4:04 pm

      The rugby unions are associations of people who love to play rugby, and the taxpayer's union is an association of people who don’t…

      • Draco T Bastard 6.1.1
        15 September 2020 at 4:47 pm

        The Taxpayers union is a union of people who prefer not to pay taxes no matter how much they benefit from being part of society. They also much prefer if other people pay taxes to support them.

  7. Barfly 7
    15 September 2020 at 12:24 pm

    Aw you are so cute when you are attempting subtlety please keep trying devil
    Reply to Gosman

  8. Chris 8
    15 September 2020 at 12:55 pm

    I couldn't believe the shit that was coming out of that idiot Millar’s mouth on RNZ the other afternoon. It was fantastic.

  9. McFlock 9
    15 September 2020 at 1:47 pm

    One question that keeps bugging me about their taxpayer funding: shouldn't the taxayer's "union" have insured themselves against pandemics, recessions, and other calamities?

    Personal responsibility and all that.

  10. PsyclingLeft.Always 10
    15 September 2020 at 4:36 pm

    They quite eagerly accepted the Socialists Handou… Government Wage Subsidy

    'The money will be used to support nine of the incorporated society's employees, according to an entry on the Government's public database of wage subsidy recipients.

    "This decision was made on the basis of our ethical obligations to staff during the Government-mandated economic shutdown," a post on the group's website said.

    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/04/coronavirus-taxpayers-union-gives-up-ideological-purity-accepts-60-000-in-taxpayer-wage-subsidies.html

    ha Oxymoron….Taxpayer Union and Ethical

    • McFlock 10.1
      15 September 2020 at 4:50 pm

      By their "ethics" they should have been left to fail in order to encourage other nonprofits to purchase the appropriate insurance.

    • Tricledrown 10.2
      16 September 2020 at 8:10 am

      The taxpayer union will have to prove a decline in income according to rules around the subsidy.

  11. Tricledrown 11
    16 September 2020 at 7:48 am

    Free publicity for Labours policy from the rabid right.

  12. Peter 12
    16 September 2020 at 10:03 am

    I give Williams credit for the consistent quality of the parody he does and is

  13. Patricia Bremner 13
    16 September 2020 at 12:55 pm

    Just desperate to be in the news.

  14. McFlock 14
    16 September 2020 at 4:05 pm

    OK, the TU getting the government wage subsidy is still bugging me.

    Firstly, why were they eligible?

    As in, how did they get a 30% reduction in revenue? Is their business model just monthly subscriptions dripfed by fuckwits whose income dried up over covid?

    What services do they actually provide, other than sending furries to political events? Do they release actual research? Where does that research go – into a fuckwit echochamber?

    Are their furries registered as actors/entertainment for ACC?

    How many employees/EFTEs do they actually have?

    Was Jordan one of the employees who kept getting paid because of the subsidy?

    Are the board taking disciplinary action against management for not insuring against pandemics and having to rely on a government handout?

  15. Austringer 15
    16 September 2020 at 8:17 pm

    It used to be the employers paying the apprentices, along with monthly day off paid to attend block courses at the Uni! for, on the top of the Practical skill training on site the skill training of the technical side of the Trades. Now the Unions, used to take care of their apprentices, free of charge ensuring their employer was not rorting the apprentices entitlements under the labour Laws. However, when the then 90!s National Government overhauled in its entirety the then labour rules of employment and at the behest of those employers who had apprentices, crying foul, the cost of these block courses, and the cost of paying for this apprentices tools is crippling, and so the end of apprenticeship!s yet the bosses charging out their day one apprentice as the same rate as a skilled Trades Person. So apprentices are in need more than ever, and the Government is training them.

    Wonder if the Taxpayers union is associated or close friends with the a,c,t. who are all in favour of importing skilled off shore semi skilled and skilled cheap workers and in this period of Covid-19 escape from a place of Covid-19, what price the wage to come and work here.

  16. Byd0nz 16
    16 September 2020 at 8:19 pm

    If apprenticeships had never been thrown out, we wouldn't have had the lack of skilled workers needed. Same goes for the MOW , despite the bad jokes about leaning on shovels, the MOW produced highly qualified engineers and expertise in bridge and road building that is sadly missed these days with private enterprise short cuts and botch ups.

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