Point of Order: Auckland Council tosses $128,000 at Circus School

• The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance reports –

The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance can reveal through a Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act request that Auckland Council gave $128,352 to Te Kura Maninirau, New Zealand’s first kaupapa Māori circus school.

The school was successful in receiving all four grants it applied for, including a lump sum of $120,000 for leasing obligations, and aims to reimagine ‘the current Eurocentric language of circus into a voice that has a deeper resonance in Aotearoa’.Alliance Spokesman, Sam Warren, commented:

“Harder to swallow than a flaming sword, councillors really have put on a show this time for Auckland ratepayers.”

“Kids will enjoy the summersaults—but not for one moment can we pretend that funding a circus school has anything to do with core business for a council.”

“And to be really clear, this decision will cost one, average Aucklander, more than 31 years of paying rates—and Auckland Council wants to increase them even more? Get real.”

“Asked recently by a councillor what a ‘nice-to-have’ was, this might be one of the worst we’ve seen. Loud and clear, ratepayers want Council to focus on the basics like roads, bins and pipes. Where is this disconnect and who is behind it?”

“Fortunately for the school though, if they need more clowns for the troupe, they can contact whoever approved this spectacle as an appropriate use of public funds.”

Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton