Following the Prime Minister’s announcement of a package to address the truancy crisis, the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on Mr. Hipkins to explain why last year as Education Minister he spent $1 million on a truancy crisis awareness campaign rather than spending it on addressing the problem itself.

Official Information Act requests lodged by the Taxpayers’ Union revealed that “around $1 million of baseline funding” was dedicated by the Ministry of Education to a campaign called 'All In For Learning' with $774,000 of that going to Parnell agency Stanley St. The campaign was in market for just over a month from 23 Aug – 30 Sept 2022.

One section of the OIA asked for "An explanation or summary as to how this campaign addresses the problem of declining attendance in New Zealand and in what ways this campaign improved attendance." The Ministry responded that the campaign “was not expected to have a direct, quantifiable, impact on attendance rates itself.”

Taxpayers' Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“Declining attendance rates were receiving media coverage throughout 2022. Kiwis didn't need a $1 million advertising campaign to tell them that New Zealand has a truancy problem.

“Inflation is high and so is the cost of living. Every dollar the Government spends needs to be justified. Spending such a large amount on a campaign that was not even intended to improve attendance rates is not justifiable and is frankly outrageous.

“The announcement of funding for new truancy officers will undoubtedly be welcome, but the PM might want to have quiet word with the former Minister of Education about whether the $1 million wasted on this campaign could have helped start to tackle this problem a lot earlier."
 

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