Rt Hon Winston Peters

New Zealand First Leader

Member of Parliament for Northland
21 JUNE 2016

Miserly National Short-Changing Local Councils

Councils around New Zealand are being asked to pay for tourism infrastructure which ratepayers can’t afford, says New Zealand First Leader and Northland Member of Parliament Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“Tourism Industry Aotearoa called on the government to provide $100 million to support local councils deal with tourism but all the government could come up with is $12 million funding over four years.

“Twelve million, at $3 million per year, stretched all over New Zealand for local communities to deal with huge tourism numbers is going to go almost nowhere,” Mr Peters told the Paihia and District Ratepayers’ Association.

“The government last year received $630 million net surplus from GST on international visitor spending.

“Why isn’t a slice of this massive surplus being diverted to communities to help pay for infrastructure impacted by tourism?” Mr Peters asks.

Full speech here

ENDS

© Scoop Media