GUEST BLOG: Bryan Bruce – Bye bye Team NZ!
Team New Zealand is a limited liability company.
It has four directors Grant Dalton being one of them.
According to the Companies Office Register he is also one of two listed shareholders.
It may be called Team New Zealand but the Americas Cup is one event in a professional sport where the players seek the highest returns for their skills eg. 2003 when Russell
Coutts and Brad Butterworth joined the Swiss -based challenger Alinghi.
And why not ?
Good on them for being terrific at their sport for which they have a passion!
But I have always been uncomfortable spending tax payer money on a professional sport when kids in our country are going hungry, living in substandard houses and when there is so much basic stuff we need to do for our tamariki.
267,000 of our children (think roughly the entire population of Hamilton and Dunedin) live in households earning less that 50% of the median household income after housing costs and a 167,000 of those kids are in homes where the family has less than household earnings of 40% of after housing costs.
Put another way, these families can’t pay basic bills like electricity and don’t have enough food to eat.
We have the second worst youth suicide rate in the developed world, with 14.9 deaths per 100,000 young people, only behind Lithuania with 18.2.
Research by Auckland City Mission, published in October, estimated that 10 percent of the population, almost 500,000 people, cannot afford to eat properly
We have an estimated 41,000 homeless people in our country
Grant Dalton may think $100 million is not enough to pay for his boat and his sailors but it’s about 400,000 hardship grants to families on the poverty line.
In my view professional sports people can look after themselves with sponsorships and TV deals and the like.
We need to look after our kids
And yes I know all the arguments about this event bringing money into our economy and generating jobs, but the modelling for that is dodgey at best and we all know that trickle down theory- where the money we give to Team NZ somehow manages to trickle down to poor kids lin South Auckland – is a crock.
So I for one don’t want to see another cent of public money go into this event.
If Grant Dalton wants to take his company Team New Zealand somewhere else then I say –
Bye!
Bryan Bruce is one of NZs most respected documentary makers and public intellectuals who has tirelessly exposed NZs neoliberal economic settings as the main cause for social issues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPm79YGIiyc
While I agree with you (and nearly everyone) that the money should be spent elsewhere what are the chances thay will happen? I mean past and present Govt’s have had there wicked neo liberal way with us with only the merest tinkering to fix anything. So no change to poverty, housing, health etc etc etc. They are not going to put this money towards any of these necessities are they? No. If that is the case it might be OK to help keep this event in NZ and at least get some warm fuzzies and a little rub off onto local business. I can’t see all of NZ problems being caused by Grant Dalton and Co.
Fair comment. But it is a symptom of the manipulation we have by the extremely well off. And it is sickening to watch.
Bye and can you return all the cash donated back to Auckland city ratepayers and tax payers.
Indeed!
Practically everything official is a lie. Very few jobs have been created by the money thrown into the Americas Cup feeding trough. And the jobs that have been created are meaningless. Also, it is the so-called elites (scumbags) who are responsible for most of the Meltdown of the Planet via all their air travel and ostentatious consumption.
I say Fuck the Americas Cup. Fuck the government for supporting it, And Fuck TVNZ for promoting it.
You say ‘bye’. I say fuck off and good riddance!
We can go back to using the Waitemata as a public playground for all citizens rich and poor.
100 million shared for nurses, mental health workers, state houses.
Good on you ! 100% agree.
Some years ago, as musicians we were asked to play for free at a charity event, to raise money for Team New Zealand (what a laugh that title is)- and notice that when convenient they leave off the Emirates tag) who had just got about $30million from the then government. Our response the was the same as our response now. Bye!
I hope now we won’t have to suffer the bleating media stirring up New Zealanders into false patriotism that the sheep of New Zealand so easily fall for and even left wing politicians having to pretend that they support this ridiculous rich boys’ circus.
…’this ridiculous rich boys’ circus’… The truth will set you free.
The Truth Will Set You Free
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:31-32
And that’s important because it is an issue practicality and of the heart. As is the display of opulence and excess we are expected to endorse while so many in our country are struggling in a so called first world nation , – nay dying- in that nation.
Yes, Wild Katipo, if Bryan’s speaking as a voice for our deprived children and the damaged downtrodden, were echoed by even 1O% of NZ Parliamentarians, then it could transform New Zealand society.
It shouldn’t be an ‘either’ ‘or’ situation pitted against rich boys’ toys; social justice should just be, and I think that the politicians do know that, and they are too insolent and ruthless to care.
Well said Mr Bruce.
Some years ago, as musicians we were asked to play for free at a charity event, to raise money for Team New Zealand (what a laugh that title is)- and notice that when convenient they leave off the Emirates tag) who had just got about $30million from the then government. Our response the was the same as our response now. Bye!
I hope now we won’t have to suffer the bleating media stirring up New Zealanders into false patriotism that the sheep of New Zealand so easily fall for and even left wing politicians having to pretend that they support this ridiculous rich boys’ circus.
I have long been in agreement with opinions expressed in the blog. The America’s Cup has always been the “sport of the elites”. I’ve respect for Dalton. He’s a member of the Niven family. Old Mr Niven created Niven Engineering in Auckland. I knew /was acquainted with many of the family – all of them very fine people. I say “Good Luck” to Team NZ, but it’s not the duty of the people of N.Z. to give their $$ to them. Besides, there are plenty of wealthy NZers who have the means to prop up Team N.Z. As taxpayers, we need to keep govt. focused on those truly in need.
Good balanced comment, as for folks like the Elder Mr Niven. Just because they are wealthy doesn’t mean to say they are the literal incarnation of Montgomery Burns from the Simpsons.
…’I say “Good Luck” to Team NZ, but it’s not the duty of the people of N.Z. to give their $$ to them’…
And therein lies the issue.
The article and the comments that follow really show the difference between the two sides of politics. The Left see money spent on the event as a bad idea as it should be spent on the poor. The Right would say spend the money on the event as it would make money for NZ so that there is money for the poor and have extra for other groups like nurses and teachers.
Your believe in the system dictates how you look at situations like this .