8 OCTOBER 2018

As if $870,000 from the film commission and NZ on Air wasn’t enough, MFAT is now using taxpayer money to host swanky events promoting My Year With Helen, a documentary about Helen Clark’s failed bid to head the UN.

Taxpayers' Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “Politicians would kick up a giant fuss if $900,000 of taxpayer money was used to produce and promote a documentary about Sir John Key, and rightly so. Every dollar spent on booze and canapés is a dollar that can’t be spent on the core services that taxpayers actually expect from government.”

“It’s not like Helen Clark is a government employee – she’s a former politician who’s capable for doing her own fundraising. So why are taxpayers continuing to bankroll her interests?”

“The kicker in this is that taxpayers had to pay thousands for the right to show the film at our own embassies. We’re literally paying to promote the film.”

“Helen Clark and the film’s producers should agree to pay back the $33,000 spent on promotional events. Otherwise, taxpayers are left with the impression that public money is being appropriated for vanity projects of the political elite.”

ENDS

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