“The Government is unwilling and unable to say how many people it’s employing fulltime in the Jobs for Nature programme,” says ACT Primary Industries spokesperson Mark Cameron.
“This programme is costing taxpayers $1.2 billion dollars. The intent of the programme is good, but like most things with this Government the cost benefit analysis just doesn’t add up.
“It’s costing taxpayers $820 for every hour worked. That’s not value for money.
“The Government spin when it announced this programme was that it would employ 11,000 people.
“But most of the jobs are temporary or parttime. It does nothing to get New Zealanders into long-term sustainable employment.
“This is just another expensive shambles from the Labour Government. At a time when debt has ballooned it’s happy to throw around taxpayers’ money without a care for the value it gets, or the impact on future generations.
“It’s time to give up on this expensive programme and start spending taxpayers’ money more responsibly.”