It’s full steam ahead with the spendathon. Overall, government spending next year is forecast to be over $59 billion higher than four years ago.
Next year’s total spend of $128 billion equates to thirty five percent of the economy.
Its staggering.
The scale of spending is one thing. There’s also the matter of quality spending. Bang for buck and whether the desired outcomes are actually delivered.
I was taken aback to see Grant Robertson scoff at the concerns about $51 million being wasted on that abandoned Harbour Bike bridge. Grant belittled MPs concerns about such wastage, given it’s a fraction of his operational budget.
Since when has it been no big deal to piss away $51 million dollars with nothing to show for it?
Low quality spending for low quality outcomes should never be tolerated. And isn’t that the wider problem at play here? Just imagine if we compiled the full laundry list of soiled spending projects.
A very timely specimen is the Ihumātao deal. Timely, because this odious deal is celebrating its first anniversary this week.
The $30 million purchase of Fletcher’s land at Ihumātao was a shameful outcome to a shabby fit of interference by the Prime Minister. Not only did that deal destroy Fletcher’s plans to build four hundred and eighty homes, but nothing has progressed on this land, one year on.
The chequebook was rolled out to quell the protestors.
The moolah was released from the Land for Housing Programme. When the deal was done, there was no guarantee even ten houses would end being built on this land. So, one year on, what’s happened?
The Steering Committee still hasn’t been appointed, let alone any agreement on housing provision. This time last year, Grant hailed the deal as a unique and innovative solution.
And they have got nothing to show for it.
Mike Yardley mixes his life-long passions for Travel and Current Affairs. Mike is a Travel Editor, Syndicated Columnist & Correspondent on radio, in print and online. Plus he is a Current Affairs Columnist and Commentator. He regularly contributes to NewstalkZB.
3 comments:
Grant Robertson shows his contempt for hard-working taxpayers but trivialising the wastage of hundreds of millions of dollars. He justifies it with trite comments like "a unique and innovative solution".
To what? Wasting taxpayers money!
I know socialist governments are renowned for waste, inefficiency and bureaucracy but Grant seems to think that's one of his key performance indicators.
Maybe he thinks borrowing the money makes it acceptable.
He certainly wouldn't last very long in the real world of business, where you don't have a ready pool of interest free money to draw from. Oh yeah, that's why he's a Labour government Finance Minister instead.
The tooth fairy and the fairy queen would have absolutely no compunction in emptying the safe prior to their departure in the near future.
I think it would be a good strategy for the opposition to make an itemised list of spending for absolutely no return. To be included would be every maori land grab settlement, covid vaccination bribes, waste on harbour cycle pathways, money spent on three waters, health reform,PMs and labour MPS salaries. The billions spent on climate change rorts, that spent on vaccines which do not give immunity but can cause life changing injuries or death. The list is endless.
However I am sure someone would reject the premise of those facts even though they were obtained from government sources under OIA and were written statements.
The $51million wasted was bad enough but I'd like to know what it was spent on. That would probably shock us even more. A few engineers, planners and lawyers must have boosted their retirement funds by a huge amount for doing relatively little.
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