It's timely to have another look at the hoary old subject of corporate welfare for transnational corporations (TNCs), a policy that has been enthusiastically pursued by a succession of business-friendly Governments, whether National or Labour. I'm not talking about the pandemic response wage subsidy, which was a vital part of New Zealand's successful response to the covid crisis in 2020 (it has featured again in the 2021 covid crisis and, like other aspects of that 2021 response, did not work as well as in 2020). That was, and remains, a necessary means of keeping the economy afloat and avoiding the truly catastrophic level of unemployment seen in other countries.

In fact, the 2020 wage subsidy was too generous, with all sorts of corporate shrewdies running to get a handout from the much-maligned Nanny State. It went to major corporates that laid off workers, made whopping profits and paid out big dividends to owners. Not only New Zealand capitalists like Briscoes but major TNCs like Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Asahi Beverages and Tesla.

And some of these TNCs definitely abused it, both in 2020 and 21. For example, eyewear TNC OPSM was caught out paying its NZ staff only 80% of their pay during Auckland's 2021 lockdown and cleaning TNC OCS was outed for its intention not to pay some of its workers at all. These are not small or poor companies. OPSM is owned by Italian eyewear TNC Luxottica, the world's largest eyewear company whose founder and Chief Executive, Leonardo Del Vecchio, has a reported net worth of $US25.8 billion.

Bluff Smelter Sets Gold Standard For Corporate Welfare

But corporate welfare for TNCs goes far beyond the emergency response to a global health crisis. It has been deeply embedded in the relationship between Government and TNCs for many decades. The most long running and totally egregious example is that of Rio Tinto's Bluff smelter. The smelter is the country's single biggest user of electricity, consuming nearly one sixth of the total, 24/7 for 50 years. It pays a top secret super cheap price that is not available for any other user and all it does is export electricity from NZ in the form of aluminium, while being subsidised by all other electricity users. The smelter is the textbook example of corporate welfare in New Zealand.

It has been receiving a massive taxpayer subsidy continuously for 50 years, in the form of the Manapouri Power Station built with public money for its exclusive use (and let's never forget that a number of men died building that); and the cheapest and most secret power price rate in the country bar none. Sometimes the corporate welfare has been a direct hand out of taxpayers' money.

In 2013 the Key National government handed it $30 million as a bribe to stop it carrying out its then most recent threat of shutting down and leaving the country. Rio Tinto has been making those threats and being mollified by the Government throughout its half century in NZ. Watchdog has been chronicling this for as long as we've been in existence.

In 2020 Rio Tinto announced that it would close the smelter in August 2021 (the first one of these tiresome threats to have an actual date attached to it). This set off the predictable stampede to mollify the angry giant. Lo and behold, in January 2021, it was announced that Rio Tinto and its power supplier, Meridian, had reached a new electricity agreement that will keep the smelter open until the end of 2024.

Think about that timing for a minute. 2024 pushes the "closure" out past one more election (2023), one more opportunity to threaten and cajole the Government into making more concessions to Rio Tinto, one more chance for NZ's biggest bludger to suck up all the corporate welfare on offer, one more chance to see if an even more malleable Government is elected which will provide even easier pickings.

"Rio Tinto managed to beat down the price it pays to power the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter by more than a third, from about 5.5 cents per kilowatt hour to about 3.5c/kWh, Forsyth Barr believes.... A price of 3.5kWh/hour would mean the smelter was paying only about 12% of the standard rate of 29/kWh that Meridian charges residential customers for power. Forsyth Barr forecast Rio Tinto would seek to extend the power contract in 18 to 30 months' time" (Stuff, 15/1/21, "Broker Believes Tiwai Smelter Beat Down Meridian On Power Price By 36%").

Meridian then signalled the next, and entirely predictable, step in this whole sad saga. Its Chief Executive Officer Neil Barclay "agreed it was 'entirely possible' the smelter would approach Meridian 'and want to extend... They are more than likely to want to engage at some point, particularly if aluminium prices hold up the way they are - it is a very profitable smelter now', he said".

"...Meridian's comments about the profitability of the smelter may raise questions over whether and why the Government might still be prepared to offer the smelter a separate discount on the transmission charges it pays to Transpower" (Stuff, 18/1/21, "'It's A Very Profitable Smelter Now', Meridian Boss Says After Price Beat-Down"). This pattern of threat and blackmail has been, and still is, Rio Tinto's modus operandi.

And, hold the front page! "Rio Tinto and senior Government Ministers have discussed changing the mining giant's plan to close the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter in 2024, documents released under the Official Information Act show. The smelter, which is majority owned by Rio Tinto, announced in January (2021) that it would continue operating until the end of 2024, after beating down Meridian Energy on the price it pays for electricity".

"But the documents released under the OIA make clear that the date for closing the smelter, which employs about 800 staff and contractors, is not 'final'. Rio Tinto's global head of aluminium, Ivan Vella, met with Finance Minister Grant Robertson, Energy Minister Megan Woods and Environment Minister David Parker in Wellington on May 6".

"An 'aide memoire' drafted by Environment Ministry officials stated there was a discussion at the meeting 'about changing the planned closure date from 2024'. 'Rio Tinto acknowledged a decision on final closure dates should come 'soon', but were not specific regarding the time frames', the officials' note said. Ministers asked the company to come back with more information".

"Days later, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern met with Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm, who subsequently wrote a contrite letter to Ardern, promising to rebuild a 'collaborative and positive' working relationship with the Government". Stuff, 8/10/21.

It's good to see that the Prime Minister is never too busy that she can't squeeze in a meeting with Rio Tinto's CEO. From Rio Tinto's point of view, it has had a very "collaborative and positive working relationship with the Government" for half a century. A very profitable one, too. I imagine that Rio Tinto executives struggle to keep a straight face when meeting New Zealand Ministers.

Each Household Pays Annual Extra $200 To Subsidise Smelter

The breath-taking extent of the subsidy was spelled out in an October 2021 Electricity Authority report, which was described as "candid". "The Authority estimated that households were paying an extra $200 a year for electricity on average because Meridian and Contact had an incentive to provide cheap electricity to the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter. The Authority's long-awaited review of the wholesale electricity market focussed heavily on the way the smelter's power deal might be distorting prices...".

(Energy Minister) "Woods said she 'like many New Zealanders' was disappointed that the initial findings of the Authority's review appeared to show households and businesses 'subsidising a multinational to the tune of $200 per household'. The Authority said it was concerned Meridian and Contact were in effect subsidising the smelter to the tune of $500 million over four years by selling it power at a cost of between 3 and 4 cents a kilowatt-hour that could have been more efficiently used elsewhere".

"'The cost of that subsidy was offset for them by the fact that demand from the smelter increased prices overall elsewhere by an estimated $850m a year. Generators are incentivised to subsidise the cost of electricity at the smelter through the Tiwai contracts. The cost of that support is more than offset by the higher prices paid by all other consumers for the increase in total demand for electricity', the Authority's Chief Executive said". Stuff, 27/10/21.

Hollywood's Real Life Heist Movie

But there are another bunch of TNCs and their Kiwi collaborators who can give Rio Tinto a good run for our money, hard as that may be to imagine, when it comes to corporate welfare. I am, of course, talking about the film industry. It is a real-life Hollywood heist movie (filmed on location in beautiful New Zealand).

2021 saw a major development in the open-ended pork barrel relationship between that industry and the Government, but it didn't come out of nowhere. So, first we need some background. The last time Watchdog devoted a lead article to an overview of transnational corporate welfare was in issue 134, January 2014. "Government Ensures Every Day Is Christmas For TNCs", Murray Horton.

"It's a very rare event when CAFCA find itself in agreement with Treasury but, on the subject of taxpayer handouts to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars to Hollywood studios, we most definitely are. Treasury thinks that the Government's December 2013 sudden announcement of a deal to give tax rebates and subsidies to James Cameron and Fox Studios in order for them to deign to make the 'Avatar' sequels in NZ is a waste of money".

"So do we - but we go further and oppose it also on political, as well as economic, grounds. It constitutes a race to the bottom, putting NZ into an unwinnable competition with numerous other countries and cities around the world that are also shouting 'hello sailor' to the Hollywood limousine cruising their streets. Cameron can't be accused of not having a sense of humour - the imaginary mineral that is lusted after in 'Avatar' is called unobtainium".

"But, in the real world, Cameron and the old sly Fox have found that other people's money, namely that belonging to NZ taxpayers, is very much obtainium, in large quantities, with no questions asked and no need to pay it back. In the words of the phrase that we all learned as kids: the quick brown Fox jumps over the lazy dog. All the lazy dog wants is its belly rubbed by some Hollywood celebrities. It has been suggested that Cameron is in a different category because he and his family live in New Zealand. True, but Fox certainly doesn't (neither does Warner Brothers, Sir Peter Jackson's studio)".

"Commentators have scratched their heads as to why Governments (whether National or Labour) fall over themselves to throw taxpayers' money at filmmakers and Hollywood studios, which are the biggest TNCs in the global entertainment industry. One reason is definitely the Kim Dotcom factor - the (Key) Government has cravenly done the bidding of the American entertainment TNCs and the US government in their attempts to shut down the annoying billionaire gadfly's Megaupload".

"They want to have Dotcom himself extradited to the US and doubtless jailed for the heinous crime of copyright violation. It has all gone horribly wrong for the Government at every stage of the process so far but that's a whole other story" (at the time of writing, nine years after his high-profile arrest, Kim Dotcom is still living in NZ and still fighting extradition to the US).

Fox & Warners: Hollywood "Glamour"

"The answer arrived at by those commentators is that it is because film is "glamorous". John Key is particularly susceptible to "glamour". By contrast, the likes of the Hillside railway workshops* in Dunedin are definitely not glamorous (but merely productive) - the Government closed down Hillside in 2013, with attendant mass unemployment, despite a concerted campaign by unions and the city of Dunedin to keep it open. The unglamorous Hillside workers didn't have Sir Peter Jackson and other movie industry heavy hitters lobbying the Government on their behalf. *Hillside railway workshops has been reopened by the Ardern Labour government. MH.

"Indeed, Jackson is not very keen on workers - as part of the 2010 deal to appease Warner Brothers to ensure that the giant American TNC would condescend to continue to film 'The Hobbit' in New Zealand, the Government not only gave them tens of millions of taxpayers' dollars but also, just for good measure, Key got the labour laws changed so that anyone working in the film industry is now classified as a self-employed contractor, not an employee, which makes things a lot easier for the film industry employer, who now has no responsibility for things such as tax, annual leave, sick leave, ACC levies, etc, etc. All of that becomes the responsibility of the worker".

"Both the 'Avatar' and 'The Hobbit' series are about imaginary worlds. But there's nothing imaginary about the textbook examples of modern-day corporate feudalism employed by the TNC movie studios and their creative front men Cameron and Jackson. The American studio bosses must be falling over themselves with laughter with the realisation that all they have to do to get their own way was to threaten to take their bat and ball and go elsewhere".

"This is a standard threat from TNCs, sometimes enacted, but much more often used as a bargaining ploy to extract concessions. The Bluff aluminium smelter is the most high-profile example. That is only 'glamorous' in the same way that 'The Godfather' series - another Hollywood blockbuster - made the Mafia 'glamorous'. Warner Brothers won the 2010 Roger Award for the Worst Transnational Corporation Operating in Aotearoa/NZ, and John Key and his Government won the Accomplice Award for their ignoble role in the whole Warner Brothers/'Hobbit' affair.

The judges wrote: "It has apparently given rise to a whole new men's fashion garment in Hollywood - Warners of Wellington trousers. They have an arrow printed on the seat, and the words 'kiss here'". The full 2010 Roger Award Judges' Report is available here. The judges also gave Peter Jackson a Special Quisling Award.

What Happened To The Notorious "Hobbit Law"?

This is the disgraceful law that the Key government passed in 2010 to grease up to Peter Jackson and Warner Brothers, the law that smashed any thought of NZ film industry workers being unionised and defined them as contractors, not employees. Well, Labour said it would deal with it once in power but - spoiler alert - it hasn't. In 2020 it came up with the Screen Industry Workers Bill (SIWB), which is still making its way through Parliament. It has some improvements but still emphasises the "flexibility" that the film industry demands from its work force

"Thanks to the Screen Industry Workers' Bill, you can now negotiate a higher set of standards for your workplace. That's a huge victory for people who work in film, and it's basically what the actors were campaigning for in 2010. Now for the problems that it doesn't solve. Just because the people who work at Weta Digital are allowed to make these demands - Weta Digital doesn't have to listen to them. If Weta Digital wants to just fire everyone and replace them all, they're still allowed to do that".

"After the SIWB is passed, the workers at Weta Digital will continue to not have the rights of an employee. You're still just a freelancer who is now allowed to team up with other freelancers. So, the Screen Industry Workers Bill is progress, but it still doesn't give people who are absolutely being treated as employees the rights of employees".

"Thanks to successive governments, Warner Brothers, and three rubbish movies, New Zealand still has the prime example of a shitty workplace at the centre of its film industry. A shiny demonstration of how not to treat your workers, carved out as an exception from typical employer expectations and subsidised by the taxpayer, is the centre of the film industry successive New Zealand governments have chosen to build".

"The film industry we have chosen to create in New Zealand is a heavily subsidised service industry for giant Hollywood corporations keeping 2,000 workers in Miramar employed making 'Alvin And The Chipmunks 4', and those workers aren't even dignified with the rights of an employee. And I, for one, think it's a good decision".

"After all, who'd want to invest in the future Taika Waititi or Jane Campion, when you could heavily subsidise a VFX (visual effects) house that undermines the New Zealand union movement just to save Disney a few bucks when they want to add a glint of light to Captain America’s shield. Good stuff, New Zealand. What a beautiful fairytale ending. Fade to black. Roll credits". Stuff, 9/9/21, White Man Behind A Desk.

Amazon Runs "Rings" Around Government

That brings us up to the present, which has seen a new behemoth TNC enter (and then abruptly depart) New Zealand. I'm talking about Amazon, owned by the world's richest man, Jeff Bezos. Now a whole book could be written about Amazon but the one that directly affects us here is its TV wing. It announced that it was going to film a "Lord Of The Rings" series in NZ, which would be the most expensive TV series ever made here. But to do so it was going to dip very deeply into NZ's extraordinarily generous film subsidy scheme.

"(In 2020), despite the mounting cost of Covid-19, $1 of every $20 of new Government spending in the Budget was set aside for film subsidies, which are uncapped. Film subsidies are linked to the cost of the production - for every $5 a producer spends in New Zealand they get $1 back. So, if a production is expensive, its subsidy will be bigger".

"A (Treasury) paper from 2019, released under the Official Information Act, looked at the cost of subsidising the ('Lord Of The Rings') TV series through the NZ Screen Production Grant, an effective subsidy of the cost of producing films in New Zealand. Treasury warned that some options for dealing with the high cost of the show could trash the Government's strong pre-Covid public finances, plunging its books into deficit and making a material difference to our treasured debt-to-GDP (gross domestic product) ratio".

"Instead of picking either of these options, Treasury recommended an option that wouldn't alter the deficit, or add to the debt pile. But this would only be achieved by making savings elsewhere. In other words, every dollar paid out to film producers would have to be taken from somewhere else. And those cuts have been severe. The grant scheme has run massively over the budget envisaged in just a few years. In the 2017 budget the scheme was given $55m a year for the years 2017-2021".

"But by 2019, the scheme already required topping up. An extra $155m was approved for the rest of that year. (In 2020) the Government approved a further $206m. To put that in perspective, the money paid out to a handful of Hollywood films in 2020 is only marginally more expensive than increasing benefits. Upping benefits by $25 a week for people on jobseeker and emergency benefits is estimated to cost $283.6m this year. Upping benefits for sole parent support cost just $104m in 2020 - half the amount set aside for film grants".

"The reason for this out-of-control cost is that New Zealand's film subsidy scheme is completely uncapped. That means if all of Hollywood decided to move to New Zealand, taxpayers would have to fork out billions. The scheme is very simple. For every $5 a producer spends in New Zealand they get $1 back. Some lucky films get an even bigger return with '5% uplift', that means that for every $4 they spend, producers get $1 back".

"Understandably, this has Treasury spooked. It's always classified the scheme as a 'significant fiscal risk', warning that the uncapped nature of the subsidy was a danger to public finances. With both 'Avatar' and 'The Lord Of The Rings' drawing on the subsidy at once, that 'significant fiscal risk' could be on the horizon. So, in September 2019, Treasury took the extraordinary step of writing out a briefing on the different ways the Government could book the 'sizeable grant payment it would owe the producers of 'Lord Of The Rings'".

"Treasury warned that the 2017 funding was 'likely to be exhausted' and warned that additional funding would be needed each year until 2024 - the end of the forecast period... In the end, the Government decided on Treasury's recommendation: Keeping the operating allowances fixed and making trade-offs with other Government spending to afford the film subsidy".

"Treasury warned that this would 'reduce room for additional spend in other areas' and 'require trade-offs' to be made. This would 'limit the Government's ability to fund other initiatives during the Budget process'. And trade-offs were made. Of the $3 billion operating allowance for 2020/21, $185m was set aside for film subsidies - equating to just more than $1 for every $20 in the operating allowance". Stuff, 7/12/20, Thomas Coughlan.

So, here we have the extraordinary situation of the New Zealand taxpayer being milked to pay billionaire transnational film and TV corporations to deign to film here, whilst diverting money from actually needy New Zealand beneficiaries in order to do so. CAFCA agrees with Treasury that this represents a "significant fiscal risk", but more so, that it is also politically and morally repugnant.

And Then, Suddenly, Amazon Was Gone

"Four months ago, the Government was heralding a big deal with Amazon Studios: five films, plus executives would come on a fact-finding mission to look for other opportunities in New Zealand. When the deal was announced in April (2021), Tourism Development Minister Stuart Nash claimed that 'The Lord Of The Rings' would be the 'largest television series ever made' in New Zealand".

"But now, Government has been blindsided. Amazon's film production and distribution arm yesterday announced that it would walk away from New Zealand. The Government was informed of the decision only the previous day, and was told merely that Amazon wanted to consolidate all its filming in the United Kingdom. Both the industry and the Government are now scrambling around to figure out if there were any other reasons for the decision".

"Nash said he was 'gutted, very disappointed' at Amazon's decision but insisted it had nothing to do with the studio's experience in New Zealand. 'There was never a cast iron promise that season two would be filmed, let alone [be] filmed here', Nash said. 'A studio would never commit to a second series without understanding how well the first series actually did'".

"In fact, Amazon had already publicly committed to a second series in late 2019, before the first season was even filmed. The first season, which was filmed in Auckland, is eligible for a 20% taxpayer-funded rebate from New Zealand. According to official records, Amazon had not claimed its rebate as of June 30. It had been promised an extra 5%, but does not intend to claim it, given the move to the UK".

"'This is basically a lot of very large multinationals consolidating all their filming onto one ... site in the UK,'' Nash said. 'Nothing whatsoever to do with their experience here, or the skills or competency or capacity of the New Zealand film industry in any way, shape, or form. That's what they told us'". Stuff, 14/8/21, Luke Malpass, Esther Taunton & Glen McConnell.

Uncapped Subsidy Is Sheer Folly

This shows the sheer folly of subsidising such an unreliable and skittish bunch of TNCs as the film and TV giants. They will play the Government (any government in the world) and taxpayers for suckers, then suddenly bugger off elsewhere when it suits them and/or they can get a better deal. Even worse, NZ's subsidy is uncapped. Madness.

North & South made this the subject of a lengthy cover story (October 2021, "We're Still Paying For The World Peter Jackson Created. $1 Billion And Counting. Are Huge Film Subsidies Worth It?", Madeleine Chapman). "For the past three years, the New Zealand government has pulled out all the stops to accommodate the biggest company in the world as it sought to make the most expensive television show in history. Convincing Amazon to film here required years of negotiations involving multiple Government entities and closed-door meetings with Ministers. One repeated sticking point was Amazon's reluctance to guarantee that the show would be exclusively made in New Zealand...."

"In early 2021 it was finally declared that New Zealand would remain the home of Middle Earth for a show expected to last five seasons. The Government would kick in the standard 20% rebate on local spending for big international productions, plus a 5% 'uplift' for projects with 'significant economic benefits'. In return, the Government secured the rights to use the series as a branding tool for years to come".

"The rewards, we were assured, were going to be huge: for film, of course, and tourism. But also, technology, manufacturing, potentially even space. That was the rationale for the very steep price tag. If a location scout for Amazon flew from Auckland to Queenstown for $200, Amazon would get $50 back from the New Zealand government. A coffee bought by a production runner in Muriwai costs $4, and Amazon would get $1 back".

"The directors (all international) and stars (80% international) worked here, so Amazon would be refunded 25% of their salaries. The first season alone was estimated by Economic Development Minister Stuart Nash to cost an eye-watering $650 million, which would have meant an equally teary contribution of around $162 million from the New Zealand taxpayer".

"Then, on August 13, a few weeks after shooting on the first season wrapped, Amazon abruptly announced that it would be moving production to the United Kingdom. Some local crew were notified by email 20 minutes beforehand; others found out through media reports. Amazon said it would no longer 'actively pursue' the 5% uplift but it will still receive the 20% rebate for what is expected to be the costliest season of the show by far: the huge first season budget, an Amazon executive said, was 'building the infrastructure of what will sustain the whole series'".

"Meanwhile New Zealand lost what Government officials saw as the key advantages of the deal: thousands of jobs and an exclusive lock on the Middle Earth brand. Even without the uplift, taxpayers are expected to funnel as much as $132 million to a company whose owner's net worth rivals New Zealand's GDP and who recently flung himself into space for fun".

"Under the agreement between Amazon and the Government, the company was required to give 12 months' written notice to the New Zealand Film Commission of any decision to relocate the series. Stuart Nash, who was overseeing the deal, was informed of Amazon's departure the night before the press release went out...".

"But what ultimately lures mega studios like Amazon to our shores is one of the most generous film subsidy schemes in the world, which grew out of benefits originally provided to 'Lord Of the Rings'...The largest local beneficiaries, by far, are (Peter) Jackson's companies, whose work on international productions resulted in $117.1 million being paid out of New Zealand Screen Production Grant (NZSPG) refunds between August 2015 and April 2018".

"Meanwhile, the major American studios that contract Weta or that film in New Zealand have received nearly $1 billion since 2010. The scheme is currently paying out around $200 million annually, which means that one in every $20 in New Zealand's national budget is going to international productions. The scheme is also uncapped, which Treasury has flagged as a 'significant fiscal risk', especially as behemoths like the 'Avatar' sequels gather momentum. Amazon may have taken the subsidy and run, but others will likely take its place...".

Film Subsidy Or Free Dental Care For All Kiwis?

"While projects like 'Lord Of The Rings' and 'Avatar' provide short term boosts to the economy and local film industry, there's still no proof of, or plan for, sustainability outside of NZSPG. With Government agencies and local councils operating according to the whims of giant global corporations, it's worth asking whether NZSPG is creating the kind of film industry that benefits New Zealand rather than overseas parties. At $200 million a year, it’s no small investment. By comparison, a 2018 Ministry of Health report calculated it would cost the Government $148 million per year to provide free dental care for all New Zealanders...".

"The true economic benefits, however, have proven virtually impossible to measure. An evaluation of NZSPG by the Sapere Research Group in 2018 concluded that for every dollar spent on international film grants, New Zealand received $2.35 in net benefit (the report also noted that 'the industry does not appear to be sustainable without the grant'). Subsequently, two independent reviews of the Sapere evaluation, commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), questioned the validity of its numbers and suggested that the direct economic benefits for New Zealand were likely to be minimal, possibly even a cost".

"In 2018, the then Minister for Economic Development, David Parker, teased a possible restructuring, perhaps a cap on the subsidies. Shortly afterwards, Jackson requested a meeting with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Parker at Parliament. Three weeks later it was announced that no cuts to the scheme would be made".

The North & South article also points out other ways in which the transnational film industry receives special treatment from the Government. "In May 2020, with New Zealand's border closed to all foreign citizens, only essential workers were allowed to operate outside their homes and only the most essential were granted admittance without a New Zealand passport or residency. That month, 56 film workers from the United States flew in in on a chartered plane".

"Among them were James Cameron and his crew, to continue the apparently vital task of filming 'Avatar 2'. They were categorised as 'other essential workers' on the grounds that they provided 'significant economic benefits'. The decision, signed off by then Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford, angered many whose loved ones and employees had been denied re-entry for months. And it highlighted, perhaps for the first time to many, the extent to which New Zealand has tied its identity and economy to the international film sector".

"Peter Doesn't Make New Zealand Films"

North & South quotes a 2014 speech from New Zealand film maker Geoff Murphy. "For a few golden years there we gave the country its own heroes and they loved it. However, it wasn't to last because this other fellow turned up. A fellow called Peter Jackson. And he stole the film industry off us...he became flavour of the month in Hollywood for something like 14 years, which is an extraordinarily difficult act".

"Peter doesn't make New Zealand films; he makes films for Warner Brothers. He makes commercial product for the international market. The films he makes have got very little to do with us culturally. But it won't last forever. And then perhaps he might come back to New Zealand and start making New Zealand films again. That would be good".

These Are The Beneficiaries Who Really Do Need Bashing

What would also be good would be the termination of this ridiculous uncapped film subsidy scheme for some of the world's biggest transnational corporations, owned by some of the world's richest men. I guarantee that a decent majority of New Zealanders would prefer that the Government spend the estimated $148 million per year to provide free dental care for all New Zealanders rather than the $200 million per year that it forks out to the transnational film industry.

That money is paid for the privilege of them deigning to film in this country (but only for a short time until a better deal comes along, as Amazon demonstrated in 2021), whilst exploiting their New Zealand non-employees, who were once so memorably described by one American film worker here as "Mexicans with cell phones". Time for some good old fashioned beneficiary bashing. But in this case the beneficiaries are the self-entitled mega rich. Time for the bludgers' banquet at our expense to be ended.