The Government is leaking like a leaky thing

Written By: - Date published: 10:39 am, December 9th, 2023 - 15 comments
Categories: act, national, nz first, Parliament, same old national - Tags:

Another day and another leak.

And this time it calls into question the Government’s commitment to informed decision making.

From Thomas Coughlan at the Herald:

The new Government has been rocked by the leaking of another confidential paper to the Herald – the second to spill in just five days.

This paper, from Treasury, said the Government has quietly suspended Regulatory Impact Analyses (RIA) for some proposals in its 100-day plan, meaning they will not go through the proper process before becoming law.

The former Government also briefly suspended RIA during the pandemic.

The paper said the Cabinet agreed that proposals that “solely repeal legislation” and “not seeking approval for new policy” will have the requirement for a Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS – another name for an RIA) “suspended”.

This means that projects, including the potential repeal of Fair Pay Agreements, or the legislation underpinning the Government’s Smokefree legislation, will not get the traditional level of regulatory scrutiny.

…

The decision to suspend RIS means some of the the promises to repeal the former Government’s agenda will face almost no scrutiny, given the new Government intends to repeal some things, like FPAs, under urgency.

RIS requirements are staying for “new proposals” in the 100-day plan, however they are having their formal quality assurance requirement scrapped.

I guess they were burned after the first leak showed that Brooke Van Velden was not only totally indifferent to the effects of reversing the Fair Wage policy on women, Māori and Pasifika, she was also shown to ignore official advice and she was also caught out telling porkies.

What does a Government do?  Make sure that it has a robust response to pubic service criticisms of proposed policy changes?  Or how about not even get the advice in the first place.

The Government is claiming that it is working at pace and has no time for such pesky reviews to take place.  But the pace is of its own making.  And some of the changes could be made at a more careful pace.

For instance the change to the Smoke Free legislation can and should be taken at a more leisurely pace so that the implications and effects can be properly understood.  The only possible reason to ram it through is get the tax take quicker.  More lung cancer to fund tax cuts for landlords.

And the Fair Pay legislation could also be put through a proper process.  So that the people of New Zealand can then understand that a Government that says it is intent on addressing cost of living pressures is actually undermining a policy that will improve the plight of skilled but underpaid workers.

But as shown by this recent leak these do not worry the current Government.  It prefers to engage in doctrinaire attacks on good policies at the behest of its funders.

15 comments on “The Government is leaking like a leaky thing ”

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  1. Anne 1
    9 December 2023 at 11:07 am

    … the change to the Smoke Free legislation can and should be taken at a more leisurely pace so that the implications and effects can be properly understood. The only possible reason to ram it through is get the tax take quicker. (My bold)

    And there is the crux of the whole caboodle. They are desperate to cobble together the money for the tax cuts because they know if they don't succeed in double quick time the voters – who voted for them on the presumption they were going to get a tax-cut – will be very displeased indeed.

    Their claim "Labour did it too" does not hold water because the former government was battling a pandemic and needed the tools to act quickly in their quest to save lives. The only lives being saved out of this mess is their own political lives.

  2. Incognito 2
    9 December 2023 at 11:34 am

    It might be a hard job to criticise pubic service.

  3. Patricia Bremner 3
    9 December 2023 at 11:45 am

    Democracy being damaged by power and greed. What mechanisms are there to prevent such blatant over riding of Parliament?

  4. adam 4
    9 December 2023 at 12:12 pm

    Ideological shitfuckery is in the house.

    How pure can this lot get, next they will tell us the moon is cheese, up is down, you're the racist, and capitalism is still the economic system.

  5. Ad 5
    9 December 2023 at 12:25 pm

    I think I need to do a post just on the loss of Regulatory Impact Statements.

  6. roblogic 6
    9 December 2023 at 9:32 pm

    This government absolutely reeks of desperation … to line their own pockets then parachute out when global capitalism begins to choke on its own fumes, probably sometime next year

  7. Thinker 7
    10 December 2023 at 7:36 am

    Sigh,

    I wish they would, but I don't think these leaks will do the government too much damage.

    Dyed in the wool lefties are already unimpressed by the government of the day. Dyed in the wool right whingers (scuse the deliberate typo) will loyally follow the coalition to hell and back.

    The only current PR benefit from the leaks and the effect of the leaks would be to swinging voters who by nature aren't really deeply interested in politics and probably have their minds on Christmas.

    Hopefully, they will be a signal to the media of where the government's vulnerability lies and where the low hanging fruit of exposes lie and let's hope the leaker can stay in place to keep this government honest (a bit more).

  8. Ian 8
    10 December 2023 at 10:58 pm

    I think you guys need to go away on holiday for 6 months,or more and all will be a lot better when you come back home. If all you have got is a leaking soon to be ex public servant ,you may as well go home.

    The media you refer to are already scrambling to avoid bankruptcy both financially and morally.

    • JeremyB 8.1
      11 December 2023 at 11:44 am

      Yes Dear.

    • Patricia Bremner 8.2
      11 December 2023 at 11:46 am

      Ian, I looked up your contributions…you are a member of Act from your few sentences. You supported the Krurigers bad behaviour on the farm, if memory serves me, and talked of communism. You take a jump, go to your right wing blog.

  9. Patricia Bremner 9
    11 December 2023 at 12:49 am

    Willis Department will provide the next leak imo. She needs to learn to sing "there's a hole in my bucket.."devil

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