In the last week the National government’s ideological approach has been heavily criticised by the very organisations that should be the beneficiaries of the it’s proposed policy changes. Lowered regulation in housing construction On Monday Radio New Zealand reported that the government is planning to allow builder self certification and that “New Zealand had “moved […]
Needed: a public survey on social attitudes
I’ve just come back from living in England for six months last year. During the time I was there they had the referendum on Scottish independence. It was generally a pleasure to witness the quality of debate in print and broadcast media. Now we know the result of the referendum and while it wasn’t a […]
Airways Lite coming soon to airspace near you.
Ed Sims, the Chief Executive of State Owned Enterprise (SOE) Airways Corporation, was interviewed on the business section of Radio New Zealand’s Morning Report programme in 9 September (2014) and revealed the thinking at the centre of the government’s policy on public ownership. Airways Corporation provides New Zealand’s Air Traffic Control services but only 40% […]
New Zealand’s industries have low productivity. Let’s help by privatising the public sector.
Printable version The Productivity Commission has been asked by the Government to review the Social Services Sector. Their brief is broad including social development, the education sector including schools, polytechnics and universities as well as hospitals and the wider health sector. The Commission’s role is to look at the policy, regulations and legislation that hamper […]
Are you happy with a ‘market for social services’ in New Zealand?
Image from the Productivity Commission’s issues paper. Printable version The Productivity Commission has been instructed by the government to work on delivering advice on legal and policy changes to support “More Effective Social Services”. The issues paper is open for submissions with a closing date of 2 December. The paper focuses on social services as […]
Speech to the clean politics rally Parliament 10 September
Several people at the rally asked me to publish this speech. Here it is Tena koutou e hoa ma Ko Jan Rivers toku ingoa We held a conference at St Andrews on the Terrace on Aug 1 and 2. The topic was democracy, ethics and the public good. But the Public Good is really much […]
Is the quality of our democracy an election issue?
A well-attended conference in Wellington at the weekend heard and discussed a number of presentations which raised questions about the current quality of our democracy. The conference was hosted by the St Andrews Trust for the Study of Religion and Society and Public Good and the aspirations of many organisations and the approaches they are […]
Speakers announced – Democracy, ethics and the public good
The 2014 Geering Event (Details as at 24 July 2014) St Andrews on the Terrace Wellington Friday evening 1 August – 7.00 – 9.00 public seminar Friday evening’s speakers Rev. Dr Jim Cunningham is the interim Minister at St Andrews and the chair of the St Andrews Trust for the Study of Religion and Society. […]
Historic Places Trust changes demonstrate the devaluing of public institutions.
On Friday NZ Historic Places Trust members received a letter telling them that NZHPT is to be renamed Heritage New Zealand from Monday April 14 even before the legislation which authorises the name change passes through Parliament. This represents appallingly poor process. The Bill has progressed extremely slowly since it was introduced to Parliament 2 […]
Corporate style boards in public institutions have passed their sell by date
Corporate style boards in public institutions have passed their sell by date Jan Rivers, Convenor of public good (publicgood.org.nz), today asked for documents under the Official Information Act so that public good could make public the evidence that the Minister for Tertiary Education, Steven Joyce, used to help him decide that university and wananga boards […]
Press Release: Wanted – A Public Service Users Bill for New Zealand.
Public Good calls on New Zealand’s political parties to consider the development of a Public Service Users Bill to provide for improved and more democratic management of New Zealand’s public sector. The recent referendum on asset sales demonstrated that fully two thirds of New Zealanders believe that the energy companies and our national airline should […]
Privatisations and the Public Finance Act
Does the partial sale of Meridian Energy comply with the government’s fiscal principles, as laid down in the Public Finance Act? Now that the number of investors in Meridian Energy has been revealed at a disappointing 62,000 and the share price at launch has been set at the lowest end of the proposed value it […]
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