Red tape rules
The Rules Reduction Taskforce is starting to hold meetings to hear complaints about loopy rules and excessive red tape. The cynical will note that every government sets out on such exercises, but little seems to come of them. Somehow, it's hard to see the latest version breaking the mould.
Refreshing trip
Foreign Minister Murray McCully travels to China this weekend to "refresh" the relationship. This means ensuring the seven-year-old trade deal remains up to date and is as good as any other China has signed. To underline the importance of the relationship, the Government is spending $40 million on a new Beijing embassy, which will be NZ's largest mission abroad.
Reporting in
Treasury officials are busy little beavers at the moment. Not only have they been working on the May 21 Budget, but several meaty reports are on the way. The latest public sector Administrative and Support Services Benchmarking Report should be out in the next month or so, as Treasury aims to get the NZ public sector into the upper quartile of performance, against comparable organisations, by 2022. The NZ Infrastructure Plan is due in August, and will underpin capital spending decisions. As part of this, new guidelines on how to manage assets and new investments are being worked on, to take effect in July. A new Investor Confidence Rating is also being developed. On Budget Day, Treasury will also unveil revamped fiscal strategy models. The new long-term fiscal model is to be used in Treasury's next set of very long-term projections, which must be presented to Parliament before July 2017, at the latest. It's all enough to keep economy geeks happy for months.
Breaking news
Journalists travelling with the Prime Minister managed to get into lunch at Dubai's seven star Burj Al Arab, a venue which has turned away NZ politicians and officials who did not failed to meet dress standards. Despite this, they are most unhappy with him for telling a local newspaper what he did not tell them - that some New Zealand troops were in Dubai, on their way to Iraq. The Kiwis regard Key's move as unforgivable, especially after ministers said there would be no public comment on troop movements, and Key said he didn't see the subject as newsworthy.
Merger move
The departmental mega-merger which created the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has now resulted in most staff moving into the previously vacant Defence Headquarters in Stout St. Talk among the real estate sector in Wellington is that the building conversion cost $60 million. All those "synergies" and "efficiencies" don't come cheap.
