It's been called a political slush fund, a billion bucks a year over the next three years to give a shot in the arm to the regions.
The custodian of the cash is Shane Jones, who has the responsibility of doling a dollop here and a sweetener there. It's no accident that this fund is in the hands of New Zealand First - and it was certainly no accident that Northland got the biggest handout last week: $17 million to help create jobs in the seat that Winston Peters lost last year (and where the Whangarei seat that Jones is after).
Few would argue that the regions could do with a hand-up but the danger here, with so much of our money at stake, is that it doesn't become a corporate welfare fund.
Now the idea of turning the country's rubbish into energy on the job-deprived West Coast sounds great so a company called Renew Energy was in for a slice of the action and was allocated $350,000 for a feasibility study to put its plan into action.
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