Speaker: David Fisher: The OIA arms race
137 Responses
First ←Older Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 Newer→ Last
-
Jack Harrison, in reply to
That sounds like a fucking mess. The free market loves a rort.
-
Jack Harrison, in reply to
ASB are a bank. Why do they have a community trust?
-
FletcherB, in reply to
ASB has not always been a privately held business, it used to be one of the regional "Trust Banks".
http://www.asbcommunitytrust.org.nz/about-us
ASB Community Trust distributes grants to the not-for-profit sector throughout Auckland and Northland each year.
Founded on the sale of its shares in the ASB bank, the Trust has distributed more than $800 million since being formed in 1988.
-
Steve Barnes, in reply to
ASB has not always been a privately held business
Someone, no doubt, will correct me if I am wrong but wasn't having an account at a trust bank a proviso for getting a mortgage years back, a bit like the old British "Building Societies"?
-
Kumara Republic, in reply to
ASB has not always been a privately held business, it used to be one of the regional “Trust Banks”.
And the regional savings banks in the rest of the country, bar Taranaki, sold up and out to Westpac.
-
Angela Hart, in reply to
Leaving Taranaki Savings Bank, TSB, the only New Zealand owned bank in the country until KiwiBank was established.
-
Kumara Republic, in reply to
Leaving Taranaki Savings Bank, TSB, the only New Zealand owned bank in the country until KiwiBank was established.
On that note, I'd say a Kiwibank of electricity might be less cumbersome to set up than the "Pharmac of electricity" that is the NZPower proposal.
-
Stephen R, in reply to
On that note, I'd say a Kiwibank of electricity might be less cumbersome to set up than the "Pharmac of electricity" that is the NZPower proposal.
Christchurch used to have a fairly vertically integrated power supply, owning lines, power and generation (I think) and any profits were used to reduce rates bills.
National in the 90s de-regulated while at the same time regulating to make it so that the CCC couldn't own companies at all those levels (so they had to sell some, and the price of power in Christchurch doubled) in the name of competition.
This is despite Max Bradford promising me to my face that the price of power would go down.
I'm still a bit miffed about that, but the point is that we'd probably need to alter the whole sector before that would be a goer.
-
FletcherB, in reply to
On that note, I’d say a Kiwibank of electricity might be less cumbersome to set up than the “Pharmac of electricity” that is the NZPower proposal.
You mean a government owned power company to compete with the private ones? Like all the ones we just sold off? That weren’t all that good at competing with each-other in the first place?
It's not that it cant work.... but the owners (Govt) have to want it to work...
-
And another core government agency cynically playing games with release timing.
Asked whether State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie met with Sutton yesterday, a spokesman said the question would be considered as an Official Information Act request, meaning the answer would likely be delayed by four weeks.
Sources said the commission was planning to make an announcement on Sutton early next week, timed to coincide with the Labour leadership vote.
How much of that culture is coming from their new Minister?
-
Ian Dalziel, in reply to
(give ’em an inch) the game is afoot…
Sources said the commission was planning to make an announcement on Sutton early next week, timed to coincide with the Labour leadership vote.
Snap! I was gonna comment on that too…
Maybe Labour could bring their announcement forward (or delay it) – if it is chess they are playing…
hard to fathom their thinking, are they assuming their announcement about Sutton’s alleged larrikin behaviour not befitting a CEO, will swamp the new Labour leadership announcement or vice versa?Either way it is bloody cynical behaviour – much the same as the media’s blanket coverage of Phillip Smith’s escape and capture has smothered coverage of many more pressing stories – and they aren’t really even digging into the systemic failures and lax attitudes of the Corrections and Immigration ministries (and the six years National has had control of these portfolios), mostly the media seem to be just trying to make him out to be some crime king or whimpering naif, they oscillate… and vacillate pointlessly.
Meanwhile the US wakes up (well the Christian extreme anyway) to the implications of the TPPA, being negotiated in secret in their name…
-
Sacha, in reply to
will swamp the new Labour leadership announcement or vice versa
the latter
-
Ian Dalziel, in reply to
the latter
The 'Sutton considers his future' story has now been updated:
'Roger Sutton sex claim taken seriously'Rennie said he received the investigation report on Friday and was communicating his response to the relevant parties.
"The outcome of this process will be made public as early as possible next week," Rennie said. Sources have claimed the release was being timed to coincide with the Labour leadership vote.
Over recent weeks, the commission has used the protection of the Official Information Act to refuse to answer questions. As late as Friday afternoon the communications team said that questions of whether Rennie met Sutton that day were going to be treated as Official Information Act requests.
Although the act requires the commission to provide answers to requests as soon as "reasonably practicable", a series of questions with yes or no answers have been unanswered for several weeks.
State Services Minister Paula Bennett has expressed confidence in Rennie. -
Joe Wylie, in reply to
The ‘Sutton considers his future’ story
Oh those Quirky Roger Facts.
Whatever the outcome, I think we can assume that the Press has finally seen the futility of pouring whatever nonsense Sutton’s minders issue them with into the void of his personality bypass.Back when Sutton took to wearing a Kray Brothers-ish broad pinstriped suit, no doubt on the advice of those same minders, someone posted in the Press’s online comments “Young wild pigs have stripes. This guy isn’t wild, he’s Gerry’s stooge.”
-
Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Stripe tease artiste...
“Young wild pigs have stripes.
This guy isn’t wild,
he’s Gerry’s stooge.”Yes we kunekune!
-
Andrea Vance breaks ranks again by describing the process of spin.
Step 4: Deploy the prime minister
Only he can simultaneously reassure the media the Government is pulling out all the stops, while suggesting to the public this is really all a silly old storm in a tea cup. This usually involves an All Blacks metaphor.
If luck goes your way, he'll make a poor taste joke and take all the heat for 24 hours.
-
Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
Andrea Vance breaks ranks again by describing the process of spin.
Nice, and good on the Greens for proving that John Key treats Government as his plaything Also showing how long it took for the Greens to get their OIA request (while Key is out of the Country talking up how fantastic he is)
-
Angela Hart, in reply to
yup, standard time for any OIA request is 20 days minimum, unless you get the VIP treatment accorded to friends of the National Party.
-
Alfie, in reply to
Whatever the outcome, I think we can assume that the Press has finally seen the futility of pouring whatever nonsense Sutton’s minders issue them with into the void of his personality bypass.
I think that the Sutton case will be used in PR training courses for years to come as an example of just how to handle a sex scandal. By front-footing with their own, carefully crafted public mea culpa statement, the support team has effectively established "the facts" of the case in the court of public perception.
Pushing the 'Sweetie' comment combined with 'just an innocent hug' virtually guarantees a wave of support from "The world is far too PC" brigade. Without the victim's side of the story, journalists are constrained in what they can report. Thus the plethora of 'poor old tussle-haired Roger' reports in the MSM. They even wheeled out his mother-in-law to confirm that he's a good bloke, FFS.
Combine that with a confidential settlement which includes a watertight non-disclosure cause and it's job done! A textbook example of reputational protection.
I wonder how the victim feels about this public trivialisation of her complaint?
-
Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
I wonder how the victim feels about this public trivialisation of her complaint?
Well I for one would have been happy for the person to share and s/he didn’t have to take a settlement of their arrangement. Bring it on,I say. Plus we got the wife on Campbell live up here . I didn’t see a mother in law. The wife looked pretty bewildered.
Yes it was a swift announced departure (although some time off) and he did accept he was wrong and he did say why he was wrong, which made me more suspicious that his strings were pulled . I must admit, I have called people sweetie because I think they are . I don’t intend to stop because it has been deemed wrong in the workplace and I would prefer to be called sweetie than any number of condescending bullying words I can think of not worthy of print. Has public service really become a textbook of what one can say and are people so scared that they don’t pull offence up immediately ? I’m glad I’m not there.
Did Sutton get on with Brownlee? A swift departure announcement like that always has me suspicious of National pulling the strings to kill 2 birds with 1 stone.So really, what is the timing of all this about?
-
Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Re the Sutton affair - Listening to Gary McCormick and that Cone woman on the panel (RNZ) yesterday was a gruelling exercise in curbing radio defenestration - Gary seemed to think he, and all men, were the victim FFS...
Today's take is that it was the inappropriate jokesIn his first interview Sutton said he had been an idiot, a juvenile who had gone too far too often. Always with the jokes.
He had not behaved like a public service chief executive. They were cut from a less colourful cloth.- one hopes John Key might learn from this...
-
Ian Dalziel, in reply to
A swift departure announcement like that always has me suspicious of National pulling the strings to kill 2 birds with 1 stone.
+1
-
Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
one hopes John Key might learn from this…
Fat chance of that. He'd have to stop touching all those people when posing for selfies. And think of all those kisses he'd have to curb. The babies too, with the condescending pats. He is already wrong on so many levels he'd have to implode.
-
I'm assuming everyone knows Andrew Little is the new Labour Leader?
-
Yep. My interest in the Labour Party just died a little further.
I may be being unfair. I don't know much about Andrew Little. But nothing he's said has inspired me so far.
Post your response…
This topic is closed.