FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
30 OCTOBER 2018
The Government’s decision to fund the APEC conference in Papua New Guinea looks like an enormous waste of taxpayers’ money, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director Jordan Williams says “Papua New Guinea’s decision to purchase Maseratis – luxury italian automobiles – for the APEC conference highlights how wasteful it was for the Government to give them $15 million to host APEC."

"If Papua New Guinea was sticking to budget and still finding it difficult to fund facilities to host the conference, then maybe New Zealand could justify providing some funding, but that’s clearly not the case.”

“Even if the New Zealand Government didn’t directly fund the Maseratis – which to be fair to Winston Peters, is unlikely – underwriting other expenses just frees up budgetary room in other areas. Providing funding needs to come with conditions on the entire budget for the conference, not just how the specific funding is spent.”

ENDS

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