What's the purpose of paying taxes? Are they a burden extracted from individuals, or a mechanism for collective care? Our research examines how the Taxpayers' Union constructs the purpose of taxation, and what that means for Aotearoa. tinyurl.com/WhoCountsANZ #NZPolitics #Aotearoa

Here's the trailer for NZ Wars: Stories of Waerenga-a-Hika, available this Saturday from 12pm. www.rnz.co.nz/video/nz-war...

NZ Wars: Stories of Waerenga-a-Hika

SATURDAY, 12PM. NZ Wars: Stories of Waerenga-a-Hika combines the accounts of iwi historians and Dr Vincent O'Malley to tell the story of Waerenga-a-Hika.

rnz.co.nz

Taxpayer citizenship narrows democratic belonging in Aotearoa, but critique alone isn't enough. In our final video, we argue for an alternative: a model of citizenship grounded in universal rights, collective responsibility, and the constitutional promises of Te Tiriti

The Taxpayers' Union doesn't just advocate for lower taxes. Our research found they actively construct a political identity, 'taxpayer citizenship', that promotes who deserves rights in Aotearoa. Here's what it's made of. 🔻 buff.ly/MIayuwQ #NZPolitics #Aotearoa #TaxpayerCitizenship

Actions speak louder than words. Our research found the NZTU is largely silent when it comes to Te Tiriti, but campaigns hard against every attempt to enact its promises. Any serious account of citizenship in Aotearoa has to start with Te Tiriti. Video 4 in our series. 🔻

Here's the strategy: The Taxpayers' Union finds one example that sounds wasteful, then presents it as the 'tip of the iceberg'. When this is highlighted over and over, all government spending starts to sound like waste. But who decides what counts as waste? tinyurl.com/WhoCountsANZ #NZPolitics

Wonder what never gets called 'wasetful' by the Taxpayers' Union? Billions in government spending get a free pass while research grants, mātauranga Māori, and local government get targeted. Our research shows the pattern. 🔻 buff.ly/MIayuwQ #nzpol #Aotearoa

In the third video in our series on the NZ Taxpayers' Union, 'Who Counts as a Taxpayer' we take a dive into how the NZTU talks about the public service, particularly the language of the 'bloated bureaucracy'. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTc7... #nzpol

Who Counts as a Taxpayer? Video 3- Slashing the "Bloated Bureaucracy"

YouTube video by Who Counts as a Taxpayer

youtube.com

The NZTU calls itself a 'union'. We analysed two years of their campaigns and found they reframe public servants not as delivering essential services, but as bureaucratic excess. Unions fight for workers; our research finds the NZTU fights against them. youtu.be/uTc7EbaoUg8?...

Who Counts as a Taxpayer? Video 3- Slashing the "Bloated Bureaucracy"

YouTube video by Who Counts as a Taxpayer

youtu.be

We studied the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union for two years and identified five key findings about how they construct citizenship in Aotearoa. Swipe to see what we found — and why it matters for democracy here. Full report: buff.ly/MIayuwQ #NZPolitics #Aotearoa #TeTiriti #TaxpayerCitizenship

In the second video of our 'Who Counts as a Taxpayer' series we look at the NZTU's PR strategy which calls out small elements of waste as the 'tip of the iceberg' of a 'culture of government waste', encouraging us to it as indicative of all government spending. www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnge...

Who Counts as a Taxpayer? Video 2-The Tip of the Iceberg

YouTube video by Who Counts as a Taxpayer

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Given how small Aotearoa is, everyone knows someone who's 'gone down the rabbithole' in recent years. At safetytoolkit.nz, we’ve done our best to summarise the issue as sensitively as possible, while keeping things within scope for what organisations need to know when they’re being targeted.

In our analysis of two years of NZTU material, we found the same pattern again and again: a single example of small-scale "waste," framed as proof of widespread misuse of public funds. It's a rhetorical move with real political consequences. Video 2 in our series.🔻 #NZPolitics #Aotearoa

This is important and timely work given the upcoming submission deadline on the "Definitions of a Man and Woman" Bill.

Max Soar@maxsoar.bsky.social · last mo.

Hey! @dbowatte.bsky.social and I have written here about how advocates of the Definitions Bill weaponise the language of science and 'biology' against trans people while having no basis in any actual science! tatoutatou.org/definitionso...

Many thanks to @sanjanah.bsky.social for intellectually engaging with our work and contextualising it with his own. Read our report where we delve into how the New Zealand Taxpayers Union uses ‘fiscal responsibility’ to assert a neoliberal, settler colonial agenda. tinyurl.com/WhoCountsANZ

Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa@sanjanah.bsky.social · last mo.

Wrote response, based on my own research on Taxpayers' Union since '21. From ‘taxpayer citizenship’ to political infrastructure: Thoughts on a new report framing the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union www.linkedin.com/pulse/from-t... (LinkedIn) sanjanah.wordpress.com/2026/06/30/f... (WordPress) #nzpol

Today my colleagues and I are releasing the first outputs from our research 'Who Counts as a Taxpayer? The Taxpayers' Union and Citizenship Rights in Aotearoa'. It's an in depth look at how the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union associates citizenship rights with paying tax www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFuQ...

Who Counts as a Taxpayer? Video 1

YouTube video by Who Counts as a Taxpayer

youtube.com

Are rights conditional on paying tax? Our new research studied the NZTU for two years and found a consistent pattern in who they say deserves rights in Aotearoa. First video in the series 🔻 @kylematthews.bsky.social #NZPolitics #Aotearoa youtu.be/CFuQGniJT7Y?...

Who Counts as a Taxpayer? Video 1

YouTube video by Who Counts as a Taxpayer

youtu.be

Latest from me - a disturbing shift in government reporting from being evidence based to being based on political rhetoric: open.substack.com/pub/drbex/p/...

The propaganda is going wild

It's not just the covid inquiry - it's in reporting and consultations too

open.substack.com

Please please please even if you can't call, recirculate these posts so who can make the call see it

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌@chanda.blacksky.app · 5mo ago

🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨 IMMIGRANTS TRAPPED ON NEW HAMPSHIRE TARMAC DURING BLIZZARD! 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨 An urgent request from Black Lives Matter New Hampshire, x-posted from: www.instagram.com/p/DVHIyaFiR-... Details in thread (1/5) #NHPolitics

Documenting the hate infrastructure of the Free Speech Union. It is an entire ecosystem of Neo Nazis and white supremacists. culture-centered.blogspot.com/2026/02/free...

The Free Speech Union's Hate Infrastructure: How "Debate" Becomes a Weapon

Mohan Dutta, Culture-centered approach, CARE, Massey University, Mohan Jyoti Dutta, Prof Mohan Dutta, Mohan J. Dutta, Communication for social change

culture-centered.blogspot.com

In order to dehumanize, you first must lose your own humanity.

Their cruelty knows no bounds. A 5 yo in a bunny hat. Used as bait.

MPR News@mprnews.org · 7mo ago

The Columbia Heights school district says ICE detained four of its students, including a 5-year-old boy, as "bait" to draw out family members.

Apropos of nothing

This is unfortunately true. Remain human enough to let your heart break ❤️‍🩹

Tressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Remembering today that having your heart broken is a necessary step on the path to becoming fully human. Whichever heartbreak is your first, it’s probably critical that a state break your heart so that you can develop a political imagination. If this is your first, I’m sorry and also welcome.

‘Noem earlier called the incident an “act of domestic terrorism” against ICE officers’. The state is weaponising the term terrorist against those who would hold them to account. It’s not about actions but the ability of those in power to define those actions. May the loss of Renee not be in vain.

US protests spread after killing of woman by ICE officer, while Trump administration doubles down

Minneapolis is on edge following the fatal shooting of a woman by a federal officer taking part in the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown, with protesters venting their outrage, the g...

stuff.co.nz

As He Whenua Taurikura closes its doors, this final episode distils years of research into a narrative about what extremism really threatens: not just physical safety, but the fundamental human need to belong and our ideas of peace. open.spotify.com/episode/3umc... #populism #GRT #islamophobia

Looking for other folks on here celebrating #kwanzaa I am really part of the diaspora celebrating all the way out here in New Zealand. Let’s connect!

Another example in the "AI is not a band-aid for capitalism it's just more capitalism" bucket

I’m going to need my friends on here to listen to this and have a conversation with me. Preferably over drinks.

How Fungi Are Breaking The Binary

An interdisciplinary group of scientists, researchers, and artists are using queerness as a lens to better understand the natural world, too. It’s a burgeoning field called queer ecology, which aims t

on.soundcloud.com

Welp, since the US has all in on ‘great replacement’ it’s an excellent time to revisit this episode.

Avery Smith@averysmith.bsky.social · last yr.

Replacement Conspiracy Theory has moved from the margins to the center socially and politically. On this episode of Unsettling Extremism, we explore what Replacement Conspiracy is and what it looks like in Aotearoa. hwt.ac.nz/rct_podcast/ Transcript buff.ly/QrU5tTt