According to a story on Radio New Zealand’s website (yeah yeah), Lynda Topp is upset with the Government: “We need a government that says the arts is more important than a defence budget. Way more!” – Lynda Topp at the 2026 Aotearoa Music Awards. Leaving the Manawanui (don’t forget to go to the toilet before the ship sinks) Incident for another blog post, no Lynda,you’re wrong.
And when eN-Zedders talk about he Government, they must understand that the Government is elected by the people for the people – at election time, ‘the people have spoken’.
No, Lynda, giving money to people who like to sing or dance or dab paint or shape clay is not why I go to work, earn a salary, pay 50% of it in tax. I don;t mind paying tax to help pay for public and merit goods like roads, school, hospitals, medicines… I do not approve of my taxes being given to people to dabble in their chosen hobbies – such as playing the guitar or playing footy. Every dollar given to the Aotearoa Music awards was a dollar that could’ve been given to Pharmac or to the Save the Manawanui campaign.
And before we look tos ee which Minister to challenge about giving money to the Aotearoa Music Awards, we have to look a bit closer. The Government does fund the Awards, but they maybe don’t even know. Four of the Awards sponsors are beneficiaries of Government (don’t forget, this means taxpayer) funding: Radio New Zealand, The Maori Language Commission, New Zealand on Air, and Te Māngai Pāho…
Instead of being grateful for the taxpayer handing over cash to be given to people to play guitars and sing and bang on the drums and paint and write… many of these ‘artists’ spent their Awards evening slagging off the Government (the taxpayers)… the slag offs ranged from snipes about the Traety Priciples Bill, to the Fast Track Approvals for mining near Sam Neill’s backyard…
Most eN-Zedders don’t expect other taxpayers to buy their gold clubs or their fishing rods or their knitting needles, so what’s the deal with this bunch of self-important, entitled bunch of artistes? What goes on inside their heads that makes them think that their hobby should be paid for by taxpayers and my cake baking should not be?
Narcissistic? Selfish? Greedy?
What makes Lynda Topp think that giving taxpayer money to singers is a better use of our money than paying for a naval ship (that stays up on top of the water because the crew know how to sue the auto-pilot on the bridge) or more money to Pharmac?
eN-Zed 