Taxpayer-funded mud slinging?

27 JULY 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Taxpayers’ Union is astounded at MBIE’s decision to provide $1.5 million of funding to the Mudtopia Festival, to be held in Rotorua in December. It was revealed today that $90,000 of the fund has been spent by Rotorua Lakes Council on importing mud from South Korea.

Researcher Matthew Rhodes says, “How MBIE and Rotorua Lakes Council think spending $90,000 on importing mud from overseas is a good idea is beyond imagination. It’s like Dubai importing sand for a Desert festival.”

“The Rotorua Mayor was on the defensive in the NZ Herald today, trying to dispel claims that the mud money was a wasteful use of ratepayer money, by highlighting that the money had in fact come from MBIE. That is no excuse. Whether it’s funded by the ratepayer or the taxpayer, either way it is still public money, and the Council’s attitude to this spending shows little regard for those who earned it.”
ENDS

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