Why are the National ministers so afraid of each other?

Written By: - Date published: 8:16 am, October 6th, 2010 - 10 comments
Categories: national, national/act government, Parliament, Politics - Tags:

Ministerial staffers who have worked under the National and Labour governments of recent years have begun commenting on some of the differences between each.

Apparently, one key difference has been that National ministers refuse to hire staff from other ministerial offices to avoid being labelled by their ministerial colleagues as staff-poachers.

For anybody who worked for the Labour government, this is unfathomable. Staff – either political staff or bureaucrats – would frequently shift between offices as they rose through the ranks of government.

All ministerial staff under Labour operated under the assumption that they were operating within the New Zealand government team. But not so under National, it seems.

This confirms everything that people suspect about National. Far from operating as a team, they are so factionalised and internally hostile that the ministers are eager to defame, discredit and disadvantage their colleagues.

But what exactly is it that makes the ministers so afraid of each other?

10 comments on “Why are the National ministers so afraid of each other? ”

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  1. ianmac 1
    6 October 2010 at 10:14 am

    Commentators say that a very small team decides daily strategy. Each Minister is responsible for their own portfolio. Good that can be but it also leads to isolation and discomfit right down through the ranks. Lack of coordination can lead to fractions and factions. Cracking?

  2. BLiP 2
    6 October 2010 at 10:24 am

    I’m not surprised. John Key has confused the job of Prime Minister of Aotearoa with the CEO of NZ Inc., and this behaviour displayed by the National Ltd™ ministers is repeated in corporate head quarters all over the world.

    First, there is the top-down insistence in compartmentalisation where senior managers are given “supah sekrit” tasks and objectives. The confidential nature of the behind-the-scenes machinations are secured by various means, one of which is to ensure that staff from one section do not filter over into other sections where they might not only blab but also be in a position to join the dots. Second, it is quite common in management these days to foster an environment of fear and competition so as to increase the performance level of managers. Everyone makes mistakes but no one likes it when others get to know about them. Keep your mistakes to yourself by giving other senior managers the “nod’n’wink” that so-and-so is looking for another job because they aren’t really up to the current task and you’re kindly giving them an opportunity to save face by applying out – thus crippling the chance of the staff member moving into another position where they might tell tales and give the other senior manager information which could subsequently be used against them. It all comes across as collegial but is far from it.

  3. Sean 3
    6 October 2010 at 10:46 am

    Why are the National ministers so afraid of each other?

    They know each other.

    • Richard 3.1
      6 October 2010 at 11:03 am

      Exactly.

      And they’ve observed from ACT what happens if the party members know each other…someone gets stabbed.

  4. ghostwhowalksnz 4
    6 October 2010 at 11:19 am

    Isnt there all that stuff about (the other) Carter when he had his pre selection for a safe electorate seat overturned by the party hierachy. To much funny business?

  5. Rharn 5
    6 October 2010 at 11:35 am

    Not surprising there is little ‘co-operation’ between the various departments. The idea of being a team player where co-operation is to be fostered for the betterment of all, is to National ‘ideological unsound.’

  6. Trevor Mallard 6
    6 October 2010 at 12:48 pm

    This is very interesting. I think over nine years five or six of my staff came from other offices and a similar number number went to other (mainly PM’s) offices. This doesn’t count staff who were secondees from Departments or agencies and who shifted with portfolio changes. Probably about a dozen changed in that way to or from my office.

    • Bored 6.1
      6 October 2010 at 1:02 pm

      Trev, It may be about time your beloved Leader became a little frightened of going into the offices of his fellow Labour MPs…it could actually be a wise move for him to not come out of one, then after next election there would definitely be a few more doors with Labour occupants.

  7. Colonial Viper 7
    6 October 2010 at 12:57 pm

    All it would take are NAT’s poll numbers to start consistently, even if slightly, slipping and the whole thing will turn on itself.

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