It has taken almost two years for the Government’s Green Investment Fund to finally announce some investment, but it has still spent millions of taxpayer dollars, National’s Environment spokesperson Scott Simpson says.

It has been 562 days since the Prime Minister announced the $100 million Green Investment Fund and only now are we seeing its first investment.

“Taxpayer money is being spent on fancy shindigs, big salaries for bureaucrats and overseas junkets. But barely anything has actually been invested in creating jobs or enhancing the environment.

“Despite there being no tangible investment from the fund until now, taxpayers’ money has still been spent with absolutely no return for the past two years.

“The fund has operating costs of $5 million a year, but is only expected to return $3 million annually. It’s bizarre that a fund expected to lose $2 million a year is considered a good ‘investment’ of taxpayers money’ by this Government.

“This is yet another case of the Government promising big and failing to deliver, with New Zealand taxpayers having to fund it all.”