Taxpayer funded rugby celebrations

The Herald reports:

The Ministry of Maori Development is putting up $200,000 of taxpayers’ money to help pay for the Rugby Union’s centenary celebration of Maori rugby. …

Former All Black Billy Bush, who also captained the Maori team, said it smacked of cheapness that the union, which received millions from corporate sponsors, could not foot the bill for the centenary celebrations.

This is basically corporate welfare. It just happens to be TPK money in this case. It just shows that if you have taxpayer money available, corporates will find ways to grab it.

I don’t mind the contribution to the RWC as that has huge tourism benefits. But I can think of many more worthy causes for TPK, than subsidising the NZRFU.