“Exposing Richardson, the TPU, and Willis’s Neoliberal Theatre” - 15 December 2025

Kia ora. I am here, taiaha in hand, to cut through the smoke and mirrors of what is shaping up to be the most cynical piece of political theatre in recent memory.

We are witnessing a staged battle between Ruth Richardson and Nicola Willis—a conflict that is less about economic truth and more about manufacturing consent for a new wave of violence against our whānau and public services.

My ring glows green not just for willpower, but for verifiable truth. And the truth here is hidden in plain sight:

buried under boxes of “Nicola’s Fudge,” hidden in network diagrams, and concealed within the institutional DNA of a fake “Union” that represents no workers—only the interests of capital and its foreign paymasters.

Let me trace the whakapapa of this money.

Let me expose the networks.

Let me lay bare what they are trying to hide.

1. Ruth Richardson’s Captured Credibility: The Atlas Network and the “Union” That Isn’t

Ruth Richardson presents herself as a concerned former Finance Minister, a voice of fiscal reason crying in the wilderness. This is a lie of omission.

She is Chair of the Taxpayers’ Union (TPU), and that organization is neither a union nor a grassroots movement. It is a captured instrument of a global network dedicated to dismantling public services and enriching the wealthy.

The Atlas Network Connection: Following the Money

The Taxpayers’ Union is a verified partner of the Atlas Network, a global consortium of over 500 right-wing think tanks headquartered in Washington D.C. and bankrolled by American and international billionaire networks. This is not speculation—it is documented on their own website, and confirmed by the Public Service Association.

What does Atlas do?

The Atlas Network explicitly describes itself as promoting

“individual liberty, property rights, limited government, and free markets.”

In plain English:

privatization, tax cuts for the rich, union-busting, and the evisceration of public services.

Atlas released a propaganda film in 2021 celebrating New Zealand’s “economic liberalization” under Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson herself.

The film, titled Trailblazers: The New Zealand Story, explicitly lauds the “rolling back of government subsidies” and presents Richardson’s 1991 welfare cuts as a model for the world. It even celebrates the fact that “many individual farmers were put out of business”—presenting human suffering as market efficiency.

This is who Richardson works for. This is the network she serves.

The Funding Game: “People-Powered” Is a Lie

The TPU claims to be “people-powered” and grassroots. This is false.

According to RNZ’s interview with Jordan Williams, the organization’s Executive Director admitted to receiving funding from Atlas Network partners, including travel grants and staff training. The TPU has also accepted money from the tobacco industry—specifically from British American Tobacco, which was listed as a member organization.

Think about that. An organization that claims to represent taxpayers has taken money from a tobacco corporation to undermine public health policy. The “Nicola’s Fudge” campaign is funded by people who profit from addiction and disease.

The “Union” Label: Linguistic Theft

The name “Taxpayers’ Union” is deliberately chosen to appropriate the language of collective worker power. But the TPU hates actual unions. They are currently attacking the Public Service Association as “fantasy land” dwellers for defending jobs and working conditions.

This is not a union. It is a lobby group for capital. It uses the word “Union” to deceive you.

2. The Fiscal “Crisis”: Where’s the Emergency?

Richardson screams that we face another 1991-style crisis, necessitating a “Mother of All Budgets” redux. Let’s look at the actual numbers, not the spin.

Yes, Spending is Up. But Why?

Richardson is correct on direction but dishonest on context.

• Core Crown Expenses: Forecast at 32.9% of GDP in 2025/26, up from 31.8% in Labour’s final year.
• The Structural Deficit: Treasury estimates 2.7% of GDP in structural deficit—meaning we spend more than we earn, permanently.

But here’s what Richardson won’t say:

This structural deficit exists partly because Nicola Willis chose to slash taxes by $14 billion while spending more. You cannot scream about fiscal crisis while simultaneously torching revenue. That is not economic management—that is fiscal arson dressed up as prudence.

The spending increase also reflects genuine costs:

an aging population requiring more healthcare and superannuation, and infrastructure that cannot be ignored. These are real budget pressures, not evidence of bureaucratic excess.

The Public Service “Explosion”: A Myth Designed for Cuts

The TPU claims a 40% explosion in bureaucrats under Labour. The numbers tell a different story.

According to the Public Service Commission:

• Public service FTEs peaked at 65,699 in December 2023
• By June 2025, they had fallen to 62,654
• By September 2025, they had stabilized at 63,162

Yes, the service grew under Labour. But the current “cuts” are trimming the edges of that growth—not slashing back to 2017 levels (when there were 47,251 FTEs). The narrative of an “out of control” bureaucracy is deliberately exaggerated to justify ideologically driven cuts to services that Māori, working people, and vulnerable communities depend on.

Core Crown Expenses as % of GDP: A Comparative View (Historical and Forecast)

Public Service Workforce Size: Peak vs. Current (2017-2025)

3. The “OBEGALx” Con: Redefining Failure

Willis has invented a new accounting measure, OBEGALx, to claim a surplus is coming in 2028/29. This is a shell game dressed in technical language.

The trick:

OBEGALx excludes certain costs (like ACC valuations) to make the books look better than they are.

The reality:

Under the traditional OBEGAL measure—the one used by every previous Finance Minister—there is no surplus forecast in the entire decade. By traditional metrics, we will still be in deficit by $3 billion in 2029.

This is not fiscal management. This is lying to whānau about your actual position.

The Secretary to the Treasury himself recently admitted to the Finance and Expenditure Committee that “there has been no fiscal consolidation under this government.” Not from Willis. Not from her predecessor Grant Robertson. No fiscal consolidation at all.

Projected Fiscal Balance: OBEGAL vs. OBEGALx (Forecast to 2029)

4. The Hidden Whakapapa of Harm: Who Pays?

The most dangerous—and most concealed—part of this theatre is the human cost.

Richardson’s 1991: Welfare Collapse and the Destruction of Equity

Richardson’s 1991 “Mother of All Budgets” was not an unavoidable response to crisis. It was a choice. A choice to attack the poor.

According to Wikipedia’s analysis, the 1991 Budget:

• Cut the unemployment benefit by $14 per week
• Cut the sickness benefit by $27.04 per week
• Cut family benefit by $25-$27 per week
• Abolished universal family benefit payments entirely
• Introduced “user pays” for hospitals and schools previously free to all

The distributional impact was devastating. A 2015 review found that “the income of welfare reliant households fell from 72% of the average national income to 58% in just three years.”

Māori were hit hardest. Unemployment in Māori communities skyrocketed. The social safety net was shredded. Intergenerational trauma was deepened.

This is the future Richardson is threatening when she warns of “inevitable” crisis. She is normalizing the idea that vulnerable people must pay for the economic mismanagement of the elite.

The $35 Billion “Savings”: A Death Sentence

Richardson talks about $35 billion in “sensible savings.” Where does that come from?

• From Health: Already underfunded and straining under pressure.
• From Education: Where Māori are already marginalized, with 52 FTEs cut from the Ministry of Education in the last year alone.
• From Oranga Tamariki: Where our babies are already at risk, with 307 FTEs cut in the past year.
• From the Future: By cutting investment in climate resilience and infrastructure that we will desperately need.

This is not fiscal responsibility. This is violence against the vulnerable, executed with spreadsheets instead of weapons.

5. The True Scandal: Willis Is Just as Bad

I will not let Nicola Willis off the hook. She is complicit.

Willis has:

• Slashed taxes by $14 billion while maintaining structural deficits. (This is indefensible.)
• Cut pay equity claims mid-process, denying $2.7 billion in legitimate wage increases for underpaid workers—mostly women and Māori.
• Rebranded the same deficit under a new accounting label (OBEGALx) to claim progress she hasn’t achieved.
• Allowed public services to atrophy under “efficiency dividends” that hollow out capacity without transparent debate.

Willis is executing a slower version of Richardson’s playbook:

starving the state through a thousand cuts, while claiming moderation and responsibility.

Both approaches serve the same masters. Both protect the wealthy. Both demand sacrifice from the vulnerable.

6. A Pox on Both Their Houses—And a Call to Resistance

This “debate” between Willis and Richardson is kabuki theatre. It is designed to:

1. Legitimize austerity by making it seem like a technical matter rather than a political choice.
2. Manufacture consent for cuts to public services.
3. Distract from the real question: Why are we broke while the wealthy get tax cuts?

Here is what they will not say:

• New Zealand’s problem is not “overspending.” It is inequality and underinvestment in productive capacity.
• A capital gains tax, a wealth tax, and higher taxes on corporate profits would solve the structural deficit without cutting services.
• The “fiscal crisis” is a manufactured narrative designed to justify a predetermined agenda: privatization, union-busting, and the transfer of wealth from working people to landlords and investors.

My Challenge to You:

Do not be distracted by the fudge. Do not be seduced by calls for “fiscal responsibility.” These are code words for violence.

1. Reject the Austerity Narrative. There is no “inevitable” crisis that requires us to starve our children, close our hospitals, or abandon our elders. There are choices—and those choices are being made by people in the service of people with money.
2. Expose the Networks. The TPU is not a grassroots movement. It is an instrument of the Atlas Network, a global machine for enriching the wealthy at the expense of everyone else. Call it out. Name it. Refuse to allow it to hide behind technical language and moral authority it does not possess.
3. Defend Our Services. Stand with the Public Service Association. Stand with our teachers. Stand with our nurses. Their fight is our fight. When they defend a nurse’s wage, they are defending your whānau’s right to healthcare. When they defend a teacher’s job, they are defending your children’s education.
4. Build Alternative Power. We have people power. We have mātauranga Māori. We have tikanga. We have the knowledge of how to live well together without needing billionaires to tell us how. Organize. Build. Create the alternative.

The “Middle Way” is a myth.

The “Right Way” is rangatiratanga—an economy that serves the people, honors Te Tiriti, and protects our whānau.

This is the mahi. This is the kaupapa.

Kia kaha.

Ivor Jones The Māori Green Lantern Fighting Misinformation And Disinformation From The Far Right

Research Process Disclosed: This analysis draws on 15+ verified sources including Treasury fiscal data, RNZ investigative journalism, Public Service Commission workforce statistics, Academic repositories, government policy documents, and direct institutional records. All citations are hyperlinked and URLs tested for accuracy as of December 15, 2025.