NZ Herald. By Paul Lewis:
It will be fascinating to see whether the event or events Team New Zealand might bring to Auckland under the banner of the America's Cup are enough to plunge the Government's hand back into the pocket of taxpayer funding.
Funny thing, public reaction. Politicians and marketers have known this for aeons, of course. We really are a fickle, two-faced, short-sighted bunch. Earlier this year, when Emirates Team New Zealand received $5 million to kick-start their next America's Cup campaign, a burst of letter writing, internet troll-ery and talkback angst occurred – tortured souls wringing their hands over the fact taxpayers' money was being used for sport. Sport! The very idea. How soon we forget how Team New Zealand lit up this country.
How soon we also forget Dean Barker's assurance that the $36m that went to the 2013 campaign was repaid even before the team left for San Francisco – through PAYE and GST. If you include Luna Rossa's tax bill while they trained here, it jumped to $55m – credible, measurable things.
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