The Insider: When good times go bad

The percentage of the population who received compensation or rehabilitation services also increased, from 29 to 30 per cent.

One of the strange things about economic growth is that it also brings an increase in accidents. Statistics show there were 1.8 million new claims to ACC in 2013-14, a 4.7 per cent increase on 2012-13. The percentage of the population who received compensation or rehabilitation services also increased, from 29 to 30 per cent. It is not simply that there are more people in jobs as the increases are across the board, including sport and recreational injuries. Perhaps people just have more money to get out and do risky things, or maybe there is a correlation between good times and recklessness. Officials at ACC are working away, trying to understand the phenomenon.

MORE THAN JUST CHEWING GUM

Labour's former Finance Minister Michael Cullen

It might seem a little early to start talking about what the Government might do with any Budget surpluses, but ministers and officials are already talking about small-scale tax cuts. Despite the many calls on the money - most notably, repaying debt - the talk is about inflation-indexing income tax thresholds. With inflation low, this wouldn't cost much, but it would prevent fiscal drag pulling people into higher tax brackets. Act's David Seymour is particularly keen on this, and Finance Minister Bill English has not dismissed the idea. But if Seymour's predecessors and National MPs had not been so mean to Labour's former Finance Minister Michael Cullen, all this would have been in place years ago. When Cullen moved to index tax thresholds, he was widely mocked for offering "chewing gum" cuts because they offered so little per week. Cullen, who could be petulant as well as brilliant, spat the dummy and cut the cuts. At the time, indexing might have not have offered much per week, but now, almost 10 years on, it would be making a significant difference.

FIGHTING OUR DARK STATISTICS
The review of CYF being led by Paula Rebstock will have some people fearing a cost-cutting exercise because of her rather fearsome reputation. But while ministers are not keen on spending more, they are more focused on turning around some horrifying, and non-improving, statistics. For instance, the small percentage of children unfortunate enough to find themselves in need of state care represent more than half of youth suicides and have an elevated chance of being imprisoned in adulthood.

DO LESS WORK - BY ORDER
Japan's civil servants are facing a crackdown - sort of. From October, Health ministry staff will be banned from working later than 10pm, reports the Financial Times. This edict follows a failed attempt to rein in the overzealous bureaucrats by turning off the lights. Japanese employees last year took only half their holiday allowances.

SOE PROFITS PROBLEMATIC

The 1990s National Government forced TVNZ to sell what would have been a successful stake in Sky TV, then got political cold feet about privatising the SOE.

Some officials are growing increasingly pessimistic about the outlook for some state owned enterprises and Crown owned companies. TVNZ is a case in point. The 1990s National Government forced it to sell what would have been a successful stake in Sky TV, then got political cold feet about privatising the SOE. In attempts to catch up, TVNZ invested about $30 million in Igloo and Hybrid Television, but has since given up on those ventures. Now it is investing in online platforms and becoming a video content provider as the market becomes increasingly diverse and competitive.

BULLIES IN THE UNCIVIL SERVICE
One of the outcomes of Roger Sutton's resignation, and the way the State Services Commission handled it - beside the SSC's reputation falling even lower - was the formation of a public sector group to come up with ideas for tackling workplace harassment. Surveys show the public service reports much higher levels of on-the-job bullying than the private sector. Officials are now putting the finishing touches on a report proposing "practical tools" to combat harassment at work.