Recentralisation? A whole lotta nothing

Written By: - Date published: 11:16 am, March 7th, 2010 - 5 comments
Categories: national/act government, public services - Tags:

During the neoliberal revolution, the 4th Labour Government and the Nats decided to break up the big ministries into lots of little ministries and autonomous agencies. The idea was that the ministries were like big lumbering dinosaurs that suffered inefficiencies of scale. Smaller bodies would be more nimble, better able to adapt and change, and more efficient (the other idea was that splitting off certain functions was the first step to corporatisation and then privatisation).

Now, the Nats have turned their previous arguments on their head. All these small bodies are inefficient and annoying – ie. they generate too much work for lazy ministers. If they are all coalesced back into the big ministries, everything will be more efficient and savings will be made (tax cuts!).

Of course, the promised savings didn’t eventuate during decentralisation and they won’t during recentralisation. This isn’t the first time the New Zealand public service has been put through this cycle and the result is always the same. Big restructuring costs (read: the Nats’ mates pocketing large sums in consultants’ fees), disruptions to public services, and little if anything in the way of measurable savings.

This is meant to look like the government doing something but what are they really doing of any importance? The fact is that after recentralisation the government will still be doing the same stuff as it was before, just with a simpler organisational chart and fewer HR staff. It’s not going to save a fortune and it’s not going to change anything. All it will mean is a fewer reports for lazy ministers to pretend to read.

On a side note, there’s a rule that we try to adhere to very strongly about not comparing Rightwingers to certain German Rightwingers who had a thing for jackboots and some pretty extreme views on race. But I tell you what, the Government’s not making it easy for us – we’ve got a Minister of Police who seems to believe in unfettered power for the State and thinks the solution to every problem is to lock someone up, a government MP proposing eugenics, and, now, talk of a Minister of Information.

I know, I know they won’t be running state censorship and propaganda, just the National Library and National Archieves plus LINZ and Stats maybe. But I would have thought any right-minded government would have rejected the title ‘Minister of Information’ out of hand.

5 comments on “Recentralisation? A whole lotta nothing ”

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  1. Draco T Bastard 1
    7 March 2010 at 11:36 am

    Quoting Article:

    The paper said that among the possible changes was a new “Ministry of Information,” which would fold National Library and National Archives into the Internal Affairs Department.

    So, we’re to get our very own Ministry of Truth?

    • Marty G 1.1
      7 March 2010 at 11:59 am

      yeah, I’m unclear from the article whether DIA would be included in Minitrue. If it was, you think they would have phrased the sentence differently.

      • Draco T Bastard 1.1.1
        7 March 2010 at 1:09 pm

        By my reading of that sentence we’d end up with the DIA which would include the National Library and the National Archives. The DIA would then become the Ministry of Truth.

  2. Descendant Of Smith 2
    7 March 2010 at 11:49 am

    No doubt centralisation will also mean centralised control from Wellington as well for all government agencies. This tends to happen when government departments are used for political purposes and not just for delivering services. The ability of local staff to respond in a positive way to local communities becomes undermined with a one approach fits all mentality.

    I’ve had a bit of a hunt for the Hunn report that looked at this issue once before in WINZ. Can find a reference to this in The Jobs Newsletter (I miss this from my old regular reading pattern).

    I’m not sure if anyone can find a better link to this report but I suspect it might be worth re-reading..

  3. rainman 3
    7 March 2010 at 12:51 pm

    “Centralize whatever is decentralized. Flatten whatever is vertical. Diversify whatever is concentrated and divest everything that is not ‘core’ to the business.”

    Sounds familiar. Sadly, it’s Dilbert on Management Consultants.