Today I have written to the State Services Commissioner asking whether he intends to inquire into the leaking of information about the Law Commission’s report into alcohol laws and policy, which was offically released today.
To recap on what happened last week, on Thursday a post appeared on Kiwiblog where David Farrar breathlessly informed readers that he had the scoop on the recommendations from the Law Commission. Now we know that the government and the State Services Commissioner take a very dim view of leaks from the public service. Just a month or so back they launched inquiries into the leaking of information on mining of Schedule four lands and public sector mergers. One would think that this also represents a significant unauthorised release of public information. That is unless it is not unauthorised of course?
Anyway, this will be a fairly easy investigation of course. Because in his eagerness DPF has told us
Details of the report have leaked out, and I can exclusively (emphasis added) reveal some of these
The Commissioner just needs to give David a call, and I am sure his enthusiasm for upholding the conventions of good government will see him spill the beans.
My only concern here is that the government and the State Services Commissioner seemed a lot less interested in the leaking of Budget information than the other inquiries.
But a leak is a leak. Of course DPF could clear the whole thing about right now by telling us where the leak came from?
Posted in State Services Commission, Inquiry and David Farrar. |
Just home from attending a performance of The Battalion. It is being performed in the hall at St Bernards School in Brooklyn, Wellington by the Te Rakau Hua o te Wao Tapu Trust. It is on until Friday this week, and if you are in Wellington you should try to get along. It is stunning. Tickets can be ordered from bookings@stbernards.school.nz.
This is the trust set up by, among others, Jim Moriarty to work with “at risk” youth. It is a residential facility taking boys 12-17 with some very difficult backgrounds. They use theatre, music, dance and tikanga Maori to improve their life chances.
The performance put on by those young men is something quite brilliant to behold. It is professional, passionate, touching and enormously athletic. It is also a chance to see Moriarty perform again, and he is the force around which his young charges orbit. The play, written by Helen Pearse-Otene, for the trust has been around since 2006 and focuses on pair of brothers from a ‘one cow’ town who head off to war, and all that that brings.
Not only is this a great piece of theatre, it is a chance to see how much difference a programme of direct early intervention can make when it is backed by people with the passion and the vision behind Te Rakau.
Posted in Social Development, Music, Youth and Arts. |
As she often does Tapu Misa hits the nail on the head in her column in the Herald this morning (as noted by Tracey in the comments on an earlier post.)
Tapu notes
The idea that business does it better and more cheaply is an article of faith for many proponents of privatisation.The cynical among us remember that before bailouts became fashionable in the rest of the world, we had our own taxpayer rescues: Air New Zealand, BNZ, TransRail.
The ‘left’ are often criticised by the ‘right’ about a public is good, private is bad philosophy, but the reverse is equally common. I mentioned this last week in the context of private prisons. Despite evidence that private prisons have not delivered in terms of savings, both here and overseas, the mantra still seems to be that the private sector must be able to do it better.
Tapu’s article finishes
The public service has its faults, but while the line between public and corporate interests may have become blurred, important differences remain. As a former comptroller of the US, David Walker noted in 2007: “There’s something civil servants have that the private sector doesn’t. And that is the duty of loyalty to the greater good – the duty of loyalty to the collective best interest of all rather than the interests of a few. Companies have duties of loyalty to their shareholders, not the country.”
This is the key, especially when it comes to core issues like health, education, prisons and the like. Where the government is funding, they should be provided for the well-being and safety of the many, not for the profit of the few.
Posted in Privitisation, Law & Order and Public Services. |
Our thoughts are with the family and friends of those who have lost their lives and been injured in the crash of the RNZAF Iroquois helicopter this morning. For those who have not seen the news the helicopter was on its way from Ohakea to participate in a fly-by at the Wellington ANZAC service this morning. Three of the four people on board have died. I have just come back from a couple of RSAs and there is a great deal of sadness over this news. As Phil Goff has said
ANZAC Day is a day of sadness and poignancy for New Zealand and for this crash to occur today adds to this feeling,”
May they rest in peace, and may the survivor make a full and speedy recovery.
Posted in Defence. |
Tomorrow, Australians and New Zealanders will join in honouring the sacrifice of those who have served their country. As I said earlier I will be there. As in New Zealand, in Australia the day has been growing in significance in recent years, and turnouts at events grow every year.
On Monday, New Zealanders will return to work, while Australians will have the day off. Australia “Mondayises” ANZAC Day as a holiday when the actual day falls on a weekend. New Zealand does not do that, nor does it do it for Waitangi Day. They are the only holidays that are either not set on a weekday or are not ‘Mondayised’.
I am interested in your views on whether New Zealand should move to Mondayise Waitangi Day and/or ANZAC Day? The argument against this usually focuses on the cost to business and the weakening of the significance of the day if the holiday is taken on another day. There are also issues for those who are weekend workers who are disadvantaged by Mondayising.
On the pro side, we have relatively few holidays compared with other countries, and the non-Mondayising means that in a number of years workers will only get 9 or 10 of the legislated public holidays. It would also make for a more consistent approach in terms of the Christmas/New Year period. The cost to business would not be enormous given that the day off already happens most years.
For me (personally I hasten to add) I think that the best of both worlds is possible. The significance of the days has now grown to the point that I am sure the commemorations will continue to occur on the 25th of April and 6th of February. If the holiday is Mondayised that will restore to hard working New Zealanders their entitlement of 11 holidays.
Having said that I am still grappling with the issue of weekend workers being disadvantaged, and the changing nature of work patterns, that might sway me to find other ways of ensuring a holiday entitlement is consistent for all.
Anyway, let me know what you think.
Posted in Security, Peace and History. |
