Wednesday, 10 May 2023 12:55

Expensive pet food!

Written by The Hound

font size decrease font size increase font size
Print
Email

OPINION: Your canine crusader was staggered to learn that an investigation by the Taxpayers' Union has revealed that taxpayers and Otago ratepayers have forked out more than $2.76 million to kill just... 18 wallabies!

That's a kill cost of $153,000 per wallaby and it's taken 26,000 hours of work.

An OIA by the Taxpayers Union revealed this was just one of the 'Jobs for Nature' projects funded by the Government's Covid slush fund.

Labour dreamt up the 'Jobs for Nature' scheme - and allocated it $1.2 billion in funding - as a 'make work' programme when it feared NZ would see mass job losses as a result of the pandemic.

According to the Taxpayers Union, 'Jobs for Nature' has continued to dish out taxpayer money to ineffective 'conservation' projects at an average cost of around $200,000 per 'job'.

No wonder the country is facing massive fiscal problems when the Government develops silly ideas like this!

More like this

Otago Regional Council to launch winter flyovers

Otago Regional Council is set to begin its annual winter farm flyovers in the next three weeks.

Waste-watch

OPINION: Media luvvies have pigeon-holed the Taxpayers Union (TPU) as some right-wing lobby, but as far as this old mutt can tell, the TPU focuses on shaming poor behaviour and wasteful spending by those that govern us, no matter who's in power.

Help available for flood-hit farmers

The chair of the Otago Rural Support Trust, Tom Pinckney, says he believes that they will be especially busy in the coming months as the enormity of the floods hit home.

Support welcomed for southern farmers

Federated Farmers says it welcomes the announcement of extra Government support for farmers and growers in Southland and parts of Otago after the region was hit by severe wet weather.

Pay it back!

OPINION: Your canine crusader believes the Taxpayers Union is on to a good thing with its latest campaign to get media outlets who took the previous Labour Government’s ‘bribe’ – sorry taxpayer handout – via the highly controversial and discredited Public Interest Journalism Fund (PIJF) to pay it back.

Featured

Big return on a small investment

Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.

$150B farm succession challenge looms for NZ agriculture

Within the next 10 years, New Zealand agriculture will need to manage its largest-ever intergenerational transfer of wealth, conservatively valued at $150 billion in farming assets.

Meyer Cheese invests $3.5 million in state-of-the-art Waikato facility

Boutique Waikato cheese producer Meyer Cheese is investing in a new $3.5 million facility, designed to boost capacity and enhance the company's sustainability credentials.

Editorial: Sensible move

OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.

DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb NZ wrap up M. bovis compensation support after $161M in claims

Compensation assistance for farmers impacted by Mycoplama bovis is being wound up.

Farmers win as government scraps proposed Fringe Benefit Tax on utes

Selecting the reverse gear quicker than a lovestruck boyfriend who has met the in-laws for the first time, the Coalition Government has confirmed that the proposal to amend Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) charged against farm utes has been canned.