1 June 2007

May the farce be with you: another month full of bark but no bite

Signs that the powers-that-be are sleepwalking to defeat at the real polls next year go hand-inhand with the muddling performance of New Zealand’s public sector, according to watchdog group Pugnacious. Press secretaries at Parliament, never a long-lived breed, are already describing their tenures across the phone as “short-term”, which aptly describes the thinking that surrounds most government agencies and the economic activity they are undoubtedly party to.

On the assessment of Pugnacious, May’s no-name Budget (the “Kiwi Shaver”?) didn’t, for the most part, provide any solid jabs into the paunch of the public service’s sluggish orthodoxy of incremental short-term programmes and ‘projects’.

The accompanying public service round of annual Statements of Intent are meant to have some bark if not bite to help counter the cycles of government. Ask the average punter outside of Wellington’s mind-numbing Terrace what an SOI is and the scratching of heads would provide a wave of static energy.

“Statements” issued to date in 2007 typically provide neither bark nor bite as they pass unnoticed to the point where they should, according to Pugnacious, be renamed ‘Statements of Increment’ or be held up to a much higher level of public scrutiny and accountability and rated for signs of intellect, imagination and insight as against insularity, incoherence and in many cases ignorance of anything that might actually be happening outside of Wellington. Pugnacious will be working towards an alternative SOI in 2007 that will be doing its bit to make special note whenever any public ‘actor’ is falling down on the job or whenever a genuine ‘statement of invention’ emerges that demonstrates a rare commodity in New Zealand, an awareness of the horizon (a near-term for which in Maori is “pae huakai”).

On the Pugnacious list for the best and worst acts in May, across the spectrum including media performance in all its shades:

_ Woof, woof: The Race Relations Commissioner for their monthly acknowledgement of positive contributions citing 12 out-standing examples under the banner of “On the Bright Side : Paenga Hihiko” – Pugnacious says turn it into a blog – NOW!

_ Shame: The embattled Department of Corrections escapes any scrutiny for the numbers of inmates who actually receive alcohol and drug rehab from the “inside” out. Opening token Drug Treatment Units doesn’t cut the mustard.

_ Glimmer on the horizon: The naming of the Youth Press Gallery for July’s Youth Parliament – just need the currently bloated and un-pugnacious Press Gallery hacks to step aside for a month.

_ Media-ocracy: Scoop for footing it with the multi-nats of the increasingly staid online media. Finlay Macdonald for his column on New Zealand’s “endless moral panic” (God, yes!) – almost as good as Public Address.

_ Ironic Quote (IQ) of the month: Mike Moore, “If Kiwis couldn't escape to Australia all hell would break loose here.”

If you have your own pick, or a bone to pick with the decision-making performance of the ‘public service’, email pugnacity2@gmail.com

ENDS

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