Latest news with #HeatherduPlessis-AllanDrive
Scoop
21-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
More Than $3 Million Spent Promoting Auckland Council's $36 Million Food Scrap Bins
Press Release – Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance The Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance revealed last night on Newstalk ZB's Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive that $3,248,785 has been spent on advertising and promotion for Auckland Council's $36 million Food Scrap Bin Programme. Sam Warren, a spokesman for the Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance, has slammed Council, saying: 'An extreme amount has been wasted on a poorly planned programme. Council seems desperate to make it work—and after all that money wasted, they say only a third of residents actually use the bins.' '$1.4 million on paid media, $620,000 on an agency for concept and designs — and even $70,000 for 'research'. Even after $194,000 on 'community engagement programmes and training' Aucklanders still aren't interested.' 'The obscenely expensive programme has been exposed for its lack of full emissions auditing, and the more digging done, the worse it actually seems to get. It's fast becoming nothing short of a scandal.' 'As it's been pointed out, the scheme doesn't stack up from an both environment and an economic standpoint. Auckland Council seem to have acted desperately to make this work, and have spent more than $3 million of ratepayers' money flogging a dead horse.' 'As pressure grows on Council for its virtue-signalling, we've called for the scrap bin programme to be scrapped—or at the very least, an opt-out option for those two thirds of Aucklanders not using the bins but are still forced to pay for them.'
Scoop
21-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
More Than $3 Million Spent Promoting Auckland Council's $36 Million Food Scrap Bins
Wednesday, 21 May 2025, 1:59 pm Press Release: Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance The Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance revealed last night on Newstalk ZB's Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive that $3,248,785 has been spent on advertising and promotion for Auckland Council's $36 million Food Scrap Bin Programme. Sam Warren, a spokesman for the Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance, has slammed Council, saying: 'An extreme amount has been wasted on a poorly planned programme. Council seems desperate to make it work—and after all that money wasted, they say only a third of residents actually use the bins.' '$1.4 million on paid media, $620,000 on an agency for concept and designs — and even $70,000 for 'research'. Even after $194,000 on 'community engagement programmes and training' Aucklanders still aren't interested.' 'The obscenely expensive programme has been exposed for its lack of full emissions auditing, and the more digging done, the worse it actually seems to get. It's fast becoming nothing short of a scandal.' 'As it's been pointed out, the scheme doesn't stack up from an both environment and an economic standpoint. Auckland Council seem to have acted desperately to make this work, and have spent more than $3 million of ratepayers' money flogging a dead horse.' 'As pressure grows on Council for its virtue-signalling, we've called for the scrap bin programme to be scrapped—or at the very least, an opt-out option for those two thirds of Aucklanders not using the bins but are still forced to pay for them.' © Scoop Media
NZ Herald
28-04-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Watch: Nicola Willis on what to expect from the Budget – no charities tax this year
These speeches can touch on topics such as the Government's forecast debt track, and its self-imposed spending limits. Willis has previously said she wanted to stay within her $2.4 billion operating allowance for new spending – a sum Treasury thinks is already not enough to fund existing cost pressures. That would mean departments would need to cut some spending to fund cost pressures. Willis revealed on Newstalk ZB's Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive on Monday she would not be making tax changes to tax charities in the Budget. The Government had openly been investigating changing the way charities are taxed so businesses that operate as charities are treated like businesses and pay company tax. 'I can confirm that [no changes are coming at the Budget] because we are continuing work in this area. 'We had a short, sharp consultation with the charities sector and that has thrown up two key things: that is the potential revenue the Government would get from this is pretty small ... at the most, $50 million a year, so it's not essential to our Budget that we hurry these changes through. 'What officials have advised is the consultation has uncovered a lot of complexity about definitions and rules and how charities would react in practice,' Willis said . This could mean changes are coming in future, but not at the current Budget. 'I want to work through it carefully, I'm very committed to making sure we've got a fair system with high integrity. We will be making changes in this space but I don't want to rush it and get it wrong,' she said. Thomas Coughlan is the NZ Herald Herald since 2021 and has worked in the Press Gallery since 2018.
