Ratepayers paying for promotion of sex parties

1 February 2018

The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance is asking questions about ATEED’s sponsorship of Pride Festival events like KIWIFIST 2018.

The R16 event is part of Pride’s February 2-18 festival. It is described on the ATEED-sponsored website as ‘New Zealand’s biggest arse-play event’, and advises attendees to ‘BYO toys and lubes’ for ‘a full-on, five-hour-plus, gathering of gay and bi men into fisting and arse-play big-time’.

Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesperson Jo Holmes says, “Not all ratepayers will be happy that their money is being used to promote KIWIFIST.”

“The Ratepayers’ Alliance does not believe ratepayers should be subsiding sex parties, regardless of the sexual orientation of those involved.”

“I'm certainly not someone who would have concern with Pride, however I have concerns personally as a member of the gay community with the direction Pride is going with its events, and as a spokesperson for ratepayers, I can see no justification at all for ATEED to be sponsoring an event like KIWIFIST.”

“Sex parties do not benefit the general ratepayer.”

“When we approached ATEED, they refused to say how much money Pride has received for the Festival and the promotion of its events. They instead insisted we go through the slow and bureaucratic LGOIMA process. This is an appalling disregard for transparency, clearly motivated by concern from ATEED’s PR team.”

“How can ATEED defend this spending, when they claim poverty, and even introduced a hotel tax last year, apparently for the very event promotion budget this money was allocated from?”

“Phil Goff pledged he’d stop the Council wasting money on non-core Council business. Sex parties are not core Council business.”

ENDS

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