Newstalk ZB
The Government’s $40 million Events Attraction Package is coming under fire from within the coalition. Act MP Todd Stephenson claims it is “starting to look less like an economic strategy and more like Louise Upston’s personal slush fund”. Upston, the Minister for Tourism and Hospitality, is standing by the funding package and said she absolutely rejects suggestions she’s operating any “personal fund”. The package, announced in September, is part of a wider $70 million Major Events and Tourism package aimed at securing large-scale events and bringing visitors to New Zealand. Funding has been secured for concerts including Linkin Park and Robbie Williams - as well as a clash between A-league outfit Auckland FC against current Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur (though relegation is not out of the picture for the latter). League fans will get to see New Zealand host its first-ever State of Origin match. Other events receiving funding include the World Surf League championship, Matariki celebrations, the World 3 x 3 cup from the Deaf International Basketball Federation, Visa Wellington on a Plate, and Beervana. Stephenson, Act’s Tourism and Hospitality spokesman, said the party supports events that bring people together and give local businesses a lift, but “that doesn’t mean writing blank cheques behind closed doors”. National MP Louise Upston. Upston said when some of these big events are looking at Australia, they just don’t look at coming here. “So we do need to compete harder than we have been in order to attract them. I absolutely reject suggestions by any MP that I’m operating any kind of personal fund to make that happen.” “The New Zealand Major Events team at MBIE worked hard with industry leaders and independent event experts to identify a long list of potential large-scale international event prospects for 2026 (and 2027 where scheduling required) that could form part of the package.” A proactively-released tranche of documents from the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment shows calculations that for every dollar spent on live performance, $3.20 in total is returned in benefits to the wider community. The documents also stated the events attraction package was not a contestable fund, as specific projects were identified to boost economic confidence and visitor experience - where work can begin no later than early 2026.Stephenson said people were “right to be sceptical” about the return on investment of $3.20 for every dollar spent on events. “Economists have been pushing back on these kinds of numbers for years. MBIE’s own earlier work found projections overstated by as much as 350%,” he said. The Act MP then said even taking that return on investment at face value, the same dollar could do more somewhere else - in education, policing, or medicines. The event fund has financially contributed towards bringing Robbie Williams back to New Zealand. “In my Medicines role, I often meet with patient groups. I can tell you, a taxpayer-funded Robbie Williams concert is cold comfort for someone who’s dying because Pharmac doesn’t have the budget to fund their needed medicine.”Minister Upston said the events have been considered for their capacity to attract large audiences and international visitors. She said an independent advisory panel developed a list of events which were subsequently invited to submit business cases. Advice was then provided to Upston by the panel - with the Government making the final call on which events the package supports. Stephenson suggested if events really do stack up, they should be able to stand on their own two feet in a contestable process, and again repeated his argument “taxpayers deserve better than a slush fund.” Upston said a cost benefit analysis was conducted as part of the assessment process, and MBIE would report on the impact of the events attraction package once events have been completed. “The Major Events and Tourism Package as a whole is designed to g...
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