Hager’s next book

This Tuesday Nicky Hager is releasing a new book.

No details have been given yet but I suspect that it will investigate Taxpayer’s Union and other Astroturf organisations.

And the TPU (or should that be TP Ltd) is worried.

A book about the TPU has been rumoured for a while.

Back in 2023 the TPU put this press release out which said:

The Taxpayers’ Union has heard from sources that Nicky Hager is working on a book which is focused at the Taxpayers’ Union. We are aware of him approaching former members of staff asking them to breach confidences.

Chairman of the Taxpayers’ Union, Laurie Kubiak said:

“With elections often being the political equivalent of the ‘silly-season’, we wanted to make sure no one can be left with false impressions about who funds the Taxpayers’ Union and what we are about.

“Hager has in the past claimed he did not put allegations to the subjects of his books on the basis that they might injunct him. We won’t do so. Like any other journalist, Mr Hager he has the opportunity to approach us for comment – in fact, we’re happy to be interviewed by him so he can put any allegations to us.

“Nicky Hager has previously accused groups and individuals of having a secret agenda. The Taxpayers’ Union has an agenda, but it isn’t secret! We stand for lower taxes, less waste, and more accountability.

“Hager is very good at collecting disparate facts and then weaving them to suit an interpretation using selective and partial use of those facts. For example, in a previous book, Mr Hager used emails 11 months apart to suggest a sinister motive, even though the emails were totally unrelated.

“It is no surprise the Taxpayers’ Union is Mr Hager’s latest target. He is coming for us because we are successful. We are successful because we have hundreds of thousands of subscribed supporters, and more than 23,000 donors. There is a very sad history of hacks and theft of data from centre-right groups in New Zealand. It seems that if you are successful in advocating centre-right ideas you tend to get hacked by Nicky Hager’s friends. 

The statement then essentially gives up the ghost by admitting that it has links to the Atlas Network, Groundswell and Hobson’s Pledge.

But its funding is a mystery. It does not disclose the details of donors. It claims that it is the recipient of a large number of donations from many sources. But there can be lots and lots of small donations and one big donation and what TP Ltd says is still true.

If you want to learn more about Atlas and its operations in Aotearoa can I offer my post from January 2024. I stand by every word of it.

And interestingly this morning Q&A invited TP Ltd’s Jordan Williams onto the show nominally to talk about the ideal tax take policy TP Ltd had just released.

He said that TP Ltd incorporated as a company because it was afraid of being bombarded with information requests. Under section 80 of the Incorporated Societies Act 2022 a member is permitted to ask for information held by the society and there are limited grounds for refusing a request.

My jaw dropped when I heard his explanation. TP Ltd has bombarded local goverment with multiple information requests.

More likely it has registered as a company because it was close to qualifying for a requirement for its accounts to be audited.

Williams was finally asked if he thought that TP Ltd would be the subject of Hager’s book. He fudged his answer.

I look forward to buying Hager’s book.

Dirty Politics in 2014 created a huge splash and if it was not from Bomber Bradbury’s and Kim Dotcom’s disastrous “Moment of Truth” meeting, which was disastrous for the left and made us look messy, there may have been a change of Government.

The Hollow Men, released in 2006, resulted in the demise of National leader Don Brash. And Seeds of Distrust released in 2002 made Labour’s re-election prospects much more difficult. Each book had a major effect on politics.

If I can I will put up a live feed of the launch.

And stand by. This could get interesting.