Today on Radio NZ, Health Minister Tony Ryall’s razor gang for the health sector was discussed. One of its proponents argued there was bound to be bureaucrats to cut, problem is there is insufficient measurement of productivity. He said Stats NZ should invest in measuring health sector productivity better… Hmm, seems to me he is saying there are currently insufficient bureaucrats to adequately measure what is happening and more are needed to make the system less wasteful.
Meanwhile, Education Minister Anne Tolley is crying that the truancy stats are not comprehensive enough (not that this stopped her from increasing the fines for truancy under urgency last year). Well, stats don’t grow on trees, Anne. Seems to me that if you want stats put together, you’re going to have to employ the bureaucrats to do the job.
After years of trying to demonise public servants as lazy, do-nothing drains on the public purse, National is now finding out that if you want to make good policy leading to better front-line services you need good information. And to do that you need a well-resourced public service.
[Also, Anne, you’re Minister of Education now. So, try to cut out sentences like this one: “Every child that’s not in school is one child too many”. “Every” child that’s not in school is not one child; you mean ‘each’ child.]
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