16 SEPTEMBER 2019

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the left-wing campaign group “ActionStation” to front up and be transparent about how much taxpayer funding it takes from the Government to underwrite its activism activities.

Earlier in the month, the Taxpayers’ Union exposed the group as having received a $15,000 taxpayer funded grant from Netsafe to call people out for online ‘hate’. It appears the group is targeting conservative views it portrays as hateful or uneducated, such as those supporting equality of citizenship and civil rights.

The funding contradicts ActionStation’s claims that it receives no government funding, and Netsafe’s policy not to fund political campaign groups.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Jordan Williams says:

“I commend the efforts of campaign groups like ActionStation that strive to make New Zealand a better place. But sneakily using government funding to campaign is immoral.”

The Union is also highlighting the group’s lack of financial transparency.

“Although the group is an incorporated society, it hides all of its donations and expenditure inside a company structure. There is just no way for the public – or even donors – to know what it spends money on, where donations and government funding end up. For a group taking government money, this is all very underhand.”
ENDS