Posts by Katharine Moody
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A scathing review of it;
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For a rainy summer day (if we ever get one!), Te Papa's Lego exhibition is a must see.
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Hard News: The new medical cannabis law…, in reply to Alfie,
Agree, it's practically useless as is. And just what is NZ First's objection - surely their older persons membership would be supportive of prescription natural pain relief that actually works where opioids often don't? There are a virtual flood of diseased hip joints out there in patients too old to perform yet another surgery on.
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Hard News: Public Address Word of the…, in reply to Euan Mason,
Wadeable
Never heard before as a measure of water quality - so in that regard it is unique to NZ - and could only have come from a previous winner, that being 'Planet Key'.
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Legal Beagle: Questions, but no answers,…, in reply to David Clemens,
Agree - this is a great little site;
Run by volunteers - expanding and improving it under a government initiative (but retaining it as the politically neutral/volunteer run operation) would be great.
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Legal Beagle: Questions, but no answers,…, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,
Yes, I appreciate that is your perspective, Graeme but I think the form/volume of these 'fishing' questions (be they put by whatever person from whatever party in whatever term past or present) are what is unreasonable. Questions put need to be on matters of substance for the inquiry to be genuine. I think it's fair enough that if you ask a vague/obscure question - you get a vague/obscure answer.
If fishing for something specific based on a certain whisper or suspicion - rather than ask, 'what appointments did the Minister have between 8-9 am or 9-10 am on a particular day'... better to ask whether there has been a meeting with a particular individual and/or organisation within the last 1-2 weeks.
I think that's the point the National ministerial responses are making above and those made by the new government Minister's more recently.
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Legal Beagle: Questions, but no answers,…, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,
Medical appointments are not ministerial.
I agree. But if you require the diaries of Ministers' ministerial appointments to be automatically provided - what you'll get is a daily account of time with gaps and redactions everywhere - and then the gaps/redactions will become the subject of speculation/criticism.
Here's some examples of how National dealt with the same type of questioning from WP in the last term;
Hon Judith Collins (Minister of Police (Includes responsibility for Serious Fraud Office)) replied: As Minister of Police I have a large number of meetings in Wellington and around New Zealand. I do not believe it is a good use of staff time to itemise my meetings or engagements, nor attempt to list the names of every person I met over the course of a month. If the member is interested in a specific issue or organisations then I might be able to provide more detailed information.
Hon Simon Bridges (Associate Minister of Justice) replied: I hold or attend a large number of meetings, visits, events, and speaking engagements – both formal and informal – each month in my capacity as Minister. I am not prepared to ask my staff to bring together this information, including withholding any confidential or private information, in order to answer to such a broad question. If the Member wishes to narrow his question, I am happy to reconsider.
Hon Paula Bennett (Associate Minister of Finance) replied: In September 2016, as part of my ministerial work I have had a number of meetings, however it would take considerable staff time to search diary records and I do not think this is a good use of staff time.
Hon Paula Bennett (Associate Minister of Tourism) replied: As the Member may appreciate, I meet with a large number of groups and individuals during my normal course of business, so this information cannot be gathered without substantial collation or resource. I am not prepared to have my staff spend the time and resources that would be required to answer it.
Hon Bill English (Minister of Finance) replied: As Minister of Finance I have a large number of meetings in Wellington and around New Zealand. I do not believe it is a good use of staff time to itemise my meetings or engagements, nor attempt to list the names of every person I met over the course of a month. If the member is interested in a specific issue or organisations then I might be able to provide more detailed information.
Hon Steven Joyce (Minister for Economic Development) replied: I hold a large number of meetings both formally and informally each month with a wide range of people and discuss a wide range of topics. I do not consider it reasonable use of official’s time to provide the Member with a comprehensive list of all such meetings, nor is it feasible as the information requested is often not specifically captured by my records. If the Member could be more specific about a particular area of interest I would be happy to consider his request.
Hon Maggie Barry (Minister for Seniors) replied: I meet with a range of individuals and groups and I do not believe it is a good use of staff time to itemise my meetings or engagements. If the member is interested in a specific issue or organisation, I may be able to provide more detailed information.
Rt Hon John Key (Prime Minister) replied: As Prime Minister I have a large number of meetings in Wellington and around New Zealand. In September I also attended the East Asia Summit, the Pacific Islands Forum and attended the UNGA and UN Security Council meeting in New York. I do not believe it is a good use of staff time to itemise my meetings or engagements, not attempt to list the names of every person I met over the course of a month. If the member is interested in a specific issue or organisations then I might be able to provide more detailed information.
Hon Jo Goodhew (Associate Minister for Primary Industries) replied: As Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector I have a large number of meetings in Wellington and around New Zealand. In September I also attended the Social Enterprise World Forum in Hong Kong. I do not believe it is a good use of staff time to itemise my meetings or engagements, nor attempt to list the names of every person I met over the course of a month. If the member is interested in a specific issue or organisations then I might be able to provide more detailed information.
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Clare Curran has recently been appointed Minister for Open Government. She should take the opportunity to propose to Cabinet the automatic release of ministerial schedules.
Although the sentiment regarding open governance is right - the practical application is fraught with exceptions. Diarised medical appointments, meetings with ones personal lawyers over say, a property transaction, etc. etc. Then you also get members of the public/businesses seeking an appointment with the Minister who want that appointment, if granted, to remain confidential. And then there are other commercially sensitive meetings for those Ministers with SOE and/or quangos within their portfolios.
My experience would suggest that around 30% of a Minister's diarised appointments might be reasonably withheld under the OIA - so I imagine if you amended the Cabinet Manual with respect to the automatic release of Ministerial diaries, one would need to apply OIA standards prior to release. And then, a Minister with a great deal of withheld timeslots ends up coming under suspicion - when in fact they might be having routine cancer treatment.
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From your article, this is extremely disheartening;
We won’t be able to find out more from the two surveys: funding for them (largely from the Police budget) was cancelled recently. Wilkins admits he finds that frustrating… “We were too successful. You end up reporting something that people don’t want to hear.”
Hopefully with the new government that will change dramatically – as they (I hope) will be far more willing to admit we have a crisis and want to quantify/measure progress in addressing it.
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Hard News: And so it begins ..., in reply to Bart Janssen,
If it wasn’t terrifying it would be fascinating.
In 1940, Mannheim wrote a piece called, Man and society in an age of reconstruction, in which he developed a typology of how institutions of governance interact with civil society to define social order. I think a lot about the situation in the US in respect of where they are going within this framework.
