Taxpayers’ Union behind ‘civic pulse’ survey of councillors

Taxpayers' Union head Jordan Williams. Photo / Andrew Warner.

Towards the end of last week, local government representatives were emailed a survey from “Civic Pulse” asking them what they thought of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s announcement that the Government would look to cap councils’ ability to raise rates for non-essential spending.

Some councillors were slightly confused: Civic Pulse is not a well-known organisation in New Zealand. In fact, the Civic Pulse that sent those surveys only came into being on Thursday afternoon when the low-tax campaign group The Taxpayers’ Union registered the civicpulse.nz domain name.

Green Greater Wellington regional councillor Thomas Nash shared with the Herald his concern Civic Pulse did not declare its connection to the Taxpayers’ Union, saying the survey was “clearly misleading”.

“Come on, just be honest,” he said.

“Councillors and political candidates go to some lengths to identify ourselves with any material we produce and to see political actors actively hide their affiliation from material they circulate is actually quite revealing,” he said.

Taxpayers’ Union executive director Jordan Williams, whose Campaign Company was listed as the administrator of Civic Pulse, told the Herald the decision to keep the connection between Civic Pulse and the Taxpayers’ Union quiet was deliberate and designed to ensure survey results were accurate.

“We wanted to know what mayors and councillors really thought of the PM’s announcements at the LGNZ [Local Government NZ] conference, and whether they matched the views of LGNZ’s leaders,” Williams said.

“We didn’t disclose the Taxpayers’ Union connection, as we were concerned that it would inherently impact on the results. It is common for polling or survey organisations not to disclose the clients upfront. Nevertheless, we disclosed to anyone who asked,” he said.

The results are still coming in, but it appears the sector is roughly split 50/50 on some issues, and on others those who responded are actually in support of the Government’s proposal.

The email councillors were sent said, “We understand that there is currently political polling asking New Zealanders whether they ‘agree’ or ‘disagree’ with the Government’s new ‘back to basics’ approach to local government. We’ve been asked to poll community leaders like you on whether you support or oppose the Government’s new approach. We are inviting you (and all mayors and councillors) to participate in a short survey on the Government’s proposals”.

“Individual responses are totally confidential. The overall results will be publicly released at the end of the month.”

As of Monday, the results of the survey showed councillors were quite split on the Government’s announcement. The Government’s pledge to remove wellbeing provisions from the Local Government Act was supported by 46% of respondents and opposed by 47%.

The proposal for Cabinet to introduce performance benchmarks was supported by 57% of respondents and opposed by just 22%. The proposal to cap rates increases for non-core spending was supported by 44% of councillors and opposed by 45%.

Thomas Coughlan is Deputy Political Editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the press gallery since 2018.