The Taxpayers’ Union scored another own goal yesterday when they decided to have a go at well-known journalist David Farrier (not to be confused with David Farrar) over Government funding he’d received to make a documentary.
While that slinging match isn’t really worth reporting on, being that it was mainly just a couple of privileged white guys calling each other names, the adjoining thread by a guy called Nick is worth chronicling.
Nick absolutely demolishes the Taxpayers’ Union, which is likely why one of their founding members, Jordan Williams, attempted to distance himself from his organisations online activity.
So for posterity’s sake, here are Nick’s accurate and informative tweets concerning the TPU:
Many people discovered The Taxpayers' Union today after they attempted to criticize the government funding of @davidfarrier & @DylanReeve's critically acclaimed and financially profitable documentary 'Tickled.'
— Nick (@StrayDogNZ) July 26, 2021
So for the initiated, here's a primer on The TPU.
Thread 🧵
1/ pic.twitter.com/CEDmg72Py9
According to co-founder David Farrer, the 'Union' was established to push back against groups requesting taxpayer money such as The Nurses Organisation, Post Primary Teachers' Association and Amnesty International.
— Nick (@StrayDogNZ) July 26, 2021
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Co-founder Jordan Williams grew up alongside several ACT MPs including Dr. Don Brash and Stephen Franks.
— Nick (@StrayDogNZ) July 26, 2021
Political commentator Dr. Bryce Edwards has called The Taxpayers' Union "the ACT Party in drag."
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Despite their ongoing refusal to reveal the sources of their financial backing, British American Tobacco have confirmed they have been paying "a standard annual corporate membership fee" to the TPU for several years.
— Nick (@StrayDogNZ) July 26, 2021
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TPU have repeatedly opposed increased taxes to cigarettes and pain packaging laws.
— Nick (@StrayDogNZ) July 26, 2021
Despite this, TPU spokesman Louis Houlbrooke claimed it was not hypocritical to criticize conflicts of interest in the public service because public entities were held to a "special standard."
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Despite vowing they would never take taxpayer support, last year the TPU applied for and received $60,437 from the wage subsidy scheme.
— Nick (@StrayDogNZ) July 26, 2021
This February, Williams agreed they would pay the subsidy back over a 24 month period.
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Soon after they accepted the wage subsidy, the TPU spent nearly $12,000 on an advertisement allegedly exposing the Auckland Council staff who earn over $250k.
— Nick (@StrayDogNZ) July 26, 2021
The Council responded calling the list inaccurate and outdated as many of the names had already left.
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Hamilton Councillor Dave Macpherson discovered that over 3 years his Council had received 58 OIA requests from TPU costing $61,364 in staff time.
— Nick (@StrayDogNZ) July 26, 2021
Macpherson speculated that with nearly 70 councils receiving these "inane or irrelevant" requests, the cost could near 7 figures.
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It's not the first time OIA requests have gotten TPU into trouble.
— Nick (@StrayDogNZ) July 26, 2021
The lobby group were discovered to have been using false identities to make OIA requests including the name 'Raquel Ray.'
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'Raquel Ray' was a name that had previously been connected to Williams.
— Nick (@StrayDogNZ) July 26, 2021
The name was used to set up a website backing Judith Collins for the National Party leadership.
The password recovery account linked to Raquel Ray was Williams personal email.
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Like Collins, Jordan Williams was also the subject of Nicky Hager's Dirty Politics book, due to his relationship with WhaleOil blogger Cameron Slater.
— Nick (@StrayDogNZ) July 26, 2021
Williams provided Slater with private information that had been shared in confidence by Colin Craig's press secretary.
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Here are just two of the Taxpayers' Unions' social media posts that have made the news for being insensitive.
— Nick (@StrayDogNZ) July 26, 2021
The first for appearing to compare the trauma of the Christchurch terror attack with the Ute tax, the second for allegedly making fun of stroke victims.
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TPU co-founder Jordan Williams is also one of the founding council members of the Free Speech Union, set up the Auckland Ratepayers Alliance and appears to be connected to Democracy Action, a pressure group concerned with the amount of "consultation with Māori."
— Nick (@StrayDogNZ) July 26, 2021
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Despite his position on the council of the Free Speech Union, Lisa Te Morenga claims Williams attempted to get her fired from her work place at the University of Auckland over comments she made against him on Twitter.
— Nick (@StrayDogNZ) July 26, 2021
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In a (now deleted) tweet, Williams acknowledged he'd had support from Atlas Network, a US NPO that has received funding from Koch family foundations, tobacco company Philip Morris & ExxonMobil.
— Nick (@StrayDogNZ) July 26, 2021
(Thanks to @Biddy_Sue for this!)
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