How To Make A Coin Disappear

Governments use every trick in the book to blow taxpayers’ money.

- Bill Ralston

As a nation we really do sweat the small stuff. Take, for example, the recent mini-furore over Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern making one of our RNZAF 757 jets do an extra trip to and from the recent South Pacific Forum in Nauru for, well, baby reasons. The cost of the flight was reported to be about $80,000. Cue shock and horror from much of the media and a sizeable chunk of the grumbling public.

In fact, if she had not spent the $80,000, the money would have been spent anyway. For some reason, the air force feels it has to keep training and practising, and the jet would have been in the air during the time it took to fly the PM to Nauru and back anyway. Besides, there is a VIP travel budget allocated for it and, oh yes, she is the Prime Minister and they are entitled to use air force planes for travel.