There’s a new member in the ‘sphere, a cheeky little blog called Twisted Hive that appears to be a member of what you might call the Labour Ulterior, that great mass of Labour people who are unhappy with and feel excluded by the way things have been managed lately. This post, though, is about Steven Joyce’s white whale.
One of my favourite headlines of all time came from the satirical Onion.
Set in the near future, the bold front page headline reads: “All Corporations Merged Into OmniCorp“
Is our Tory government turning that satire into reality? With all the recent public service mergers and the ‘whole of government approach’, could we conceivably pick up the Dom Post in 2014 and read “All departments merged into Treasury”?
We’re halfway there already.
Steven Joyce’s new Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (Mobie) has been dubbed the Moby Dick of central Wellington – the great white building beached on Bowen Street. And it’s big alright. Replacing numerous agencies like the Ministry of Economic Development, the Department of Labour, the Department of Immigration, the Department of Building and Housing, the Ministry of Tourism, and the Ministry of Science and Innovation.
I’d like to know how Moby Dick with it’s 3200 employees could ever have any kind of sane focus.
Imagine the interaction with the public:
I’m a cutting edge scientist and am curious about funding options. Hey – I’ll just go see those friendly folk at the Ministry of Scienc… . Lost in Moby Dick.
I’m a tourism operator and am going to talk to some guys in government who know and understand the industry …. Lost in Moby Dick.
I’m a new businessman and I’m wondering what my obligations are under the Employment Relat….. argh! I’m being swallowed whole by a giant whale.
It’s just not credible that a Ministry with 3000 people and a single Chief Executive will cover off all the bases that use to be done by five or six departments. Not only have we lost public sector leaders who were dedicated to work with different sectors, Moby Dick will see the loss of important relationships between industries and government.
Isn’t the government supposed to be opposed to building bureaucracy? Well they’ve just created a lumbering monster. A white whale that’ll swallow anyone whole who dares approach.
Who’s our Captain Ahab?
Check out more from TwistedHive, here
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress