2,000 New Zealanders Have Already Joined Call for Halt to Clinton Funding

13 JANUARY 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

In the last 12 hours more than one New Zealander per minute have added their name to a petition organised by the Taxpayers’ Union calling on Murray McCully to veto the Ministry of Foreign Affair’s plans to give an additional $5.5million of taxpayers’ money to the “Clinton Health Access Initiative”. The Clinton Health Access Initiative is an affiliate of the controversial Clinton Foundation which appoints a majority of the Initiative’s board.

Executive Director of the Taxpayers’ Union Jordan Williams says, “The response has been overwhelming, with more than 2,000 signatures in only a few days. New Zealanders from across the political spectrum are expressing their outrage that NZ Aid money is being used to back the pet project of a foreign politician.”

“New Zealand has a long-established convention of not funding overseas politicians with taxpayer or aid money. With the emerging trend of politicians setting up charitable foundations – the Clinton family, Donald Trump, and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair among others – it is time for the convention to be extended to charities founded by politicians. Inevitably, these sorts of charities have a duel purpose of building the reputation of the founder, as much as the charitable work.”

“NZ Aid should be going to programmes that are the most effective and efficient in achieving our aid objectives. Channeling money through entities established by international politicians is not a proven effective and efficient method of giving aid to those who most need it.”

“While the Taxpayers’ Union resists the notion that it is legitimate to use Aid money for diplomatic purposes in any case, with the US Presidential Election now over, it is even more important for the New Zealand funding of the Clinton Foundation’s Initiate to cease.”

“It is simply bad practice for MFAT to give Aid money to an entity so closely associated with politics and politicians. The money would be much better going straight to an organisation like the Red Cross.”

The petition can be signed online at www.taxpayers.org.nz/clinton_petition.

ENDS

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