1
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Around $154 million of public money.

2
00:00:03,671 --> 00:00:07,802
The Crown owns exactly half of AgriZeroNZ.

3
00:00:07,732 --> 00:00:10,038
And Parliament has never seen its books.

4
00:00:10,088 --> 00:00:13,806
Parliament gets one performance measure: at least three ventures a year.

5
00:00:13,856 --> 00:00:19,311
In 2022, Treasury recommended the Public Finance Act's accountability regime.

6
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Ministers disagreed.

7
00:00:20,828 --> 00:00:25,220
Treasury warned it couldn't confirm the substitute offered the same protection.

8
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The substitute? The Crown may require statements. They may go to Parliament. They're not binding.

9
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Has it ever been used? Treasury says the power has not been exercised.

10
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The Minister hasn't even sought advice.

11
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Two governments, Labour then National-led. Neither has used it.

12
00:00:41,148 --> 00:00:47,085
Meanwhile, the Crown reads the books every quarter. Thirty-three documents. None published.

13
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The public gets a summary that has not been audited.

14
00:00:50,048 --> 00:00:55,492
Then the money moved: into a limited partnership, for tax optimisation for private sector partners.

15
00:00:55,492 --> 00:01:00,176
By law, limited partner details are confidential. The OIA doesn't apply.

16
00:01:00,226 --> 00:01:08,507
The Minister says the agreement has no such clauses. His own briefing says the protections were fully incorporated. Both can't be true.

17
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Luxon pointed to the opaque AgriZero programme as a reason he's committed to Net Zero.

18
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[Christopher Luxon] We have some incredible inventions and technologies coming. We've put $450 million into this AgriZero stuff. And we just need one of those things to come off.

19
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The country is expected to trust a programme that can hide its own financials.

20
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A scheme which the government appears reluctant to investigate.

21
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Four years. A power the Crown has never once used. Somebody should ask why.