LAMB CUTS UP ROUGH

We have for quite some time tried to get Lamb Cut to blog. She must be bored. She commented on our post on a Southern Tourism venture. She is a bit of a policy twonk and a rabid advocate of all things rural. We think Alf Grumble and Home Paddock will appreciate Lamb Cuts words of wisdom. And we hope that she blogs some more.

Here is her post in full.

Lambcut wishes Southern Dive all the best in its private venture but has some concerns about the current governmental drive toward funding of tourism generally. Lambcut knows that in these troubling times the government wants to be more than a bit magnanimous toward good ideas and new business.

That’s all well and good but government has a history of squandering funds on fiscal pups. (Lambcut doesn’t think that Southern Dive is one of those but wants to rant about government spending on tourism in Southland).

The ratepayers of Southland contribute approximately 85% percent of Venture Southland’s operational income (VS is Southland’s economic development agency and it spends the vast bulk of its funding on tourism). Farming businesses contribute about 70% of the overall rate take in the Southland District. On that basis, farming businesses contribute the same proportion to the Local Authorities that fund Venture Southland.

Given farming’s disproportionately large contribution to Southland’s tourism funding, VS and government generally might do well to consider why farming businesses should contribute disproportionately large amounts to other businesses, such as tourism and hospitality.

Selective state promotion of industries such as tourism and hospitality (funded primarily by farmers, in Southland at least) diverts resources, investment and employees to those other industries, at agriculture’s expense.

Imprudent governmental jerkings and tweakings of the economy have, in recent history come to naught, except a pouring of people’s money down a fiscal black hole. Lambcut urges caution and fiscal prudence in the spending of ratepayer and taxpayer money. Unnecessary administrative costs and spending on woolly social process activities are a deviation from Local Authority’s and indeed government’s core functions and should not be allowed to burden taxpayers.