Tuesday, 30 July 2024 15:25

Out of control

Written by The Hound

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OPINION: The Taxpayers' Union has run the ruler over council rate increases and concluded, "Our councils are out of control".

They've revealed that the average for city and district councils is an eye-watering 14% hike this year on top of the 15% rate hikes at regional councils.

Special mention goes to West Coast, Wellington, Central Hawke's Bay and Gore for topping the 20% mark.

The union also found that at nearly every council, the proportion of spending going to roads, pipes, pumps, etc. has been reducing compared to that spent on staff payroll, back-office bureaucracy, etc.

Analysts agree non-tradeable inflation, driven in no small part by rates, is key to reducing inflation, yet it's hard to see any evidence of councils cutting fat and focusing on core services.

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OPINION: Mike Chapman, former chief executive of levy-funded HortNZ, has thrown out a challenge to farmers and growers to put their levy-funded industry organisations under the same scrutiny as fertiliser, electricity, labour and freight.

True Reflection?

A fair question has been raised about how member-funded organisations should conduct themselves when taking a public position on any given issue.

Stuffed!

The canine crusader always has his nose in the air for more media maleficence, so was pointing as soon as he saw the Stuff headline: ‘Wellington residents respond to PM saying he doesn’t need his job!’.

Civil Circus!

OPINION: It really is getting harder to lampoon government bureaucrats when they do such a good job of it themselves.

Anyone in the primary sector will know about the clowns covering the countryside in the red tape we all have to wade through.

Spare a thought then for media outfit Stuff who were threatened with fines up to $200,000 by a snivelling civil servant from the MoH for illustrating a quiz question with a photo of part of the cover of a 45-year-old copy Playboy.

As Stuff notes, “It wasn’t the Playboy cover which caused offence. No, it was the back page which… featured an advert for a cigarette brand”.

As Regulations Minister David Seymour notes, “The real scandal here is, well, no wonder we’ve got problems in healthcare when they’re doing the Stuff quiz during work time.”

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