$156k of science funding for a Kumara patch!

The Taxpayers Union released:

Remember last year when we blew the whistle on the $4 million of taxpayer money being spent on recording, remixing, and playing whale music to kauri trees to (apparently) ‘soothe and cure’ kauri dieback? …

The purpose of this project is to observe and record the deep cultural and spiritual significance that cultural practices connected with the natural world hold for tāngata Māori.  Specifically, the project involves recording the revitalisation of the Māra Tautāne in a hapū of Tūhoe, located in Ruātoki, in the northern Te Urewera. […] 

The project also elevates the importance of the role of wāhine [woman] in the preservation and maintenance of cultural practices associated with māra [the garden]. […] 

The Māra Tautāne acts as a symbolic icon to enable a connection between the spiritual world and the physical world.  It is a symbol of Māori connectedness and inseparability from the natural world. 

This project got $156k. This is science funding, not social studies or anthropology funding.

The outcomes we paid for were a story book, a 20 minute video and the below kumari patch.

Amazing.