Shuffling deck chairs will not improve services

Shuffling deck chairs will not improve services


The merger of a number of small government agencies will do nothing to improve the quality of services for New Zealanders, Labour’s State Services spokesperson Grant Robertson said today.

"There is nothing in these mergers that will see New Zealanders receiving better public services or that will create further growth,” Grant Robertson said.

“The mergers will cost a significant amount in transaction costs and lost productivity, and seem to have no basis other than ideology.

"Pushing the Food Safety Authority back into MAF runs the risk of compromising our food safety standards. There is not much that is more important for our exporters than a robust food safety regime.

“In 2007 Labour undertook an independent review that recommended the separation of the two agencies as being in line with world's best practice. National's turning back the clock does not seem to be based on any evidence at all, but rather an unthinking desire to reduce the number of government agencies.

”The independence of Archives and the National Library is under threat from these announcements. Archives and the National Library have independent roles to ensure that we have open and transparent government. These will be compromised by being subsumed into a larger department.

“Cabinet papers note that the Chief Executive of the National Library opposes the merger into the Department of Internal Affairs. This is because she knows it will reduce the quality of services that can be provided.

“The paper also notes that the transaction costs of this move will be $2.5 million but the savings could be as little as $1 million annually.

"Labour supports efforts to better coordinate services and find efficiencies. However these mergers will do very little towards that end, and will create enormous upheaval and a number of job losses.

“National has done nothing to consult with Kiwis who use these services, and is intent on ramming through changes that will do nothing to improve them.”

ENDS