29 November 2012

PM Wants a ‘Dictatorship’ Over the State Services Commissioner

New Zealand First is accusing the Government of making changes to legislation to give the Prime Minister John Key complete dictatorship over the State Services commissioner.

Associate Finance spokesperson Andrew Williams says clause 6 (j) in the State Sector and Public Finance Reform Bill states that the commissioner must ‘exercise such other functions with respect to administration and management of the Public Service as the Prime Minister from time to time directs’.

“This clause gives the Prime Minister complete power to dictate to the State Services Commissioner what he wants to see happen.

“It establishes a very dangerous precedent in a Westminster democracy, and is not unlike regimes of the Cold War era.

“The Prime Minister would get carte blanche power to manipulate the state services sector.”

Mr Williams says New Zealand First opposes the Government’s Reform Bill which will not just hand ultimate power to the Prime Minister but also could hollow out the State Services sector.

“If this Bill is passed into law we will end up with a bureaucracy which is simply not controlling the functions of New Zealand, placing our nation at greater risk.

“You just have to look at the devastating effects of cutbacks in state services with the Pike River Mine disaster, the Rena sinking, leaky homes, and the biosecurity breaches with kiwifruit. The list goes on and on.

“With this Bill effectively providing for the unbridled whims of Dictator Key the National Government will continue to run the State Services sector into the ground,” says Mr Williams.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On Failures Of Care For Those With Mental Disabilities

Hard to imagine a more disturbing insight into the treatment of the vulnerable than the Health Ministry report on Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau. The Ministry has found that the country’s only kaupapa Maori intellectual disability residential care provider has been “seriously dysfunctional.”

The ministry says the business has failed to recruit and retain quality staff – and says the kaimahi (caregivers) that have been employed are seriously unsuitable for the job, lacking basic knowledge. But Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau doesn’t get all the blame. The report says there’s a significant gap under disability laws to ensure there’s oversight by qualified clinical professionals. More>>