Responding to the Government’s plans to disband Callaghan Innovation, Taxpayers’ Union Spokesman James Ross said “corporate welfare has no place in New Zealand.”

“Callaghan Innovation has shown itself to be a toxic organisation, with a culture that leads to waste on a wallet-shattering scale. The Taxpayers’ Union has worked for years exposing the agency’s waste, and this is a major win for Kiwi taxpayers.”

“This should mark the end of corporate welfare across the board, with a shift to fostering growth through healthy competition.”

“The agency’s role as corporate-handout-granter-in chief can’t simply be reshuffled to another agency as part of this shake-up of the Crown Research Institutes.”

“Given that one Crown Research Institute – Landcare Research– had chucked $4m at a project playing whalesong to trees, clearly getting science funding back to basics has been in order for a long time.”

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