KEY POINTS:
Are you pleased with what you're getting for the extra $6000 a year the Government is spending on your behalf? Since Labour came into power in 1999, it has increased core Crown spending by 82 per cent, from $34 billion to $62 billion, an increase which works out at $6000 per person. That is faster than the economy has grown.
I wish there was a way of working out how much of that has gone into marketing initiatives and advertising campaigns.
Take a look at the plethora of government agencies involved in trying to improve our draughty old houses. Smarter Homes is owned by the Department of Building and Housing. It was created in a joint initiative primarily by between the department, the Ministry for the Environment, Consumer NZ, Beacon Pathway and URS.
But it seems to be doing the same thing as ConsumerBuild, a site which has also been developed by the Department of Building and Housing and Consumer NZ.
Both of these government sites seem to be duplicating work done by level.org.nz, which was set up by the Building Research Authority, a private industry organisation. Talk about "joined-up government". Never mind that school principals say there is not enough money to provide a basic education - there always seems to be something in the coffers for yet another marketing campaign.
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News travels quickly in the Auckland suburb of Devonport. An email arrived in my inbox:
"Hi Deborah, Just wondering if you have some way of naming and shaming the evil multinational oil giant that is ripping out a Devonport institution heartlessly. On the 27 June, Caltex are withdrawing their petrol supply from Tainui Motors in Vauxhall Road because they are 'too small'. The Tainui staff are lovely and helpful ... even the personal service at the pump will be lost. The petrol station is the last in Devonport and I would like to save it!"
Like most news tips, this is not quite the full story - although the bit about the personal service is certainly true. But Vic Martin, the proprietor, says the pressure to close is not because the station is too small but because he is actually too busy and needs deliveries more frequently and Caltex is not happy about that. "The big boys have big tanks but we're just a little backroad service station."
He needs three deliveries a week. Caltex wants guarantees on deliveries and also wants him to retank at a cost of $400,000, which he can't afford.
Caltex's PR chook, Sharon Buckland, says Caltex supplies many smaller operations in rural areas so the size of the station is not an issue - although she did mention in an incredulous manner that Martin doesn't even have a computer.
She doesn't understand that is part of Tainui Motors' charm. Buying petrol is a distress purchase and service stations are not known for their allure.
But when I moved to Devonport I was smitten with Tainui Motors. It is like the service station time forgot - a gas station with personality where you don't even have to pump your own gas. I should have realised it couldn't last. Vic Martin told me he was investigating "a couple of other options" to stay open.
