Politics 🗳️ NZ Politics

[Rizzah]

I'm not suggesting cutting funding to find efficiency but accountability for the funding received. And not to mean "making a profit" but to use the money to try and achieve the best outcomes for the taxpayers and those receiving services or providing assets such as infrastructure. It's about achieving a balance and trying to achieve the best outcomes.... not continuously throwing money at something and hoping that something will work out (much like the massive increases in budget under the previous government) or stripping it back so things are underfunded (like this government).

Where are your measures of efficiency and accountability/effectiveness coming from?

 

[miket12]

Where are your measures of efficiency and accountability/effectiveness coming from?

Take KO for example. While no one would argue that social and public housing isn’t needed, they’ve entered into public/private partnerships to provide affordable housing like Paerata Rise. Ardern was out there when sections were first houses were being completed. But, instead of being affordable, the housing there is 15% more expensive than the average new build dwelling in Pukekohe… only a few kms further south. The number of KiwiBuild and social housing homes there has been dropped down by over 75%. Very few sections there are available for private purchase and instead have to be brought from their “build partners”. The smaller builders, who would spec build 3-4 houses per year have been pushed out of there, and Kumeu and Royal Oak.

KO’s open cheque book policy drove up land costs in Auckland to ridiculous levels and was a major contributing factor to the huge increase in property values causing private developers to increase their offers for land.

While KO and their build partners are building a large number of houses, only a low percentage of them will remain as social and public houses.

But this has meant that KO’s debt levels have risen hugely to the point that it’s been acknowledged they won’t be able to pay it back and will either default or require a huge government bailout.

Then there’s the Dunedin Hospital where things like parking wasn’t included in the budget. Continuous changes requested by MOH and clinicians have led to a huge blowout.

The blowout in the cost for the ferry terminals which were designed to have a life expectancy of 100 years but, by KiwiRails own projections, would have been underwater within 50.

Auckland Lightrail which was supposed to be finished within 4 years but they had even completed the geotechnical investigations after two while the budget went out over three times the initial estimate Labour campaigned on. Money spent of plans for cycleway/pedestrian bridge attached to the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

Millions of COVID money spent on things like funding school lunches and cameras in boats. Millions spent on telling us some tobacco products are better than others. Millions spent on consultants by the department which is supposed to be looking at reducing them.

Hundreds of millions of mental health spending that can’t be accounted for.

While I don’t know all the ways you would measure efficiency and accountability, it seems pretty obvious to me that all governments, left and right, only pay it lip service. Put it this way, $800,000,000 is a lot of money to increase teachers salaries than paying for more expensive lunches for kids.