Editorial Tuesday March 10, 2015

Peter Jackson, editor, The Northland Age

First do no harm

IT WOULD be nice if politicians and took a leaf out of Hippocrates' book, and resolved to first do no harm. Too often policies, supposedly devised by politicians and enacted by bureaucrats, do very real harm, nine times out of 10 for no better reason than ease of administration.

Why administration is such a challenge in a country that doesn't even amount to a respectable city on a global scale is something of a mystery to the uninitiated. In this the age of the computer, and given the veritable army that is employed by the government to act upon its instructions, one might have thought the bureaucracy would be more willing to use a scalpel than a slash hook, but that does not seem to be so.

The latest case in point has been highlighted by the Kaikohe Business Association, which is standing up to the Minister and Ministry of Social Development over its preferred supplier system for lending money to beneficiaries who need to buy household whiteware. The association has quite reasonably pointed out, to no effect so far, that this policy is hurting retailers in the town, potentially to the point where some will close their doors.

The irony in that situation seems to have escaped the ministry. It is using the taxes paid by these retailers, and by the people they employ, to unfairly, in the association's view, favour competition that they are unable to defend themselves against. The association has pointed out that in the worst-case scenario the people who once made their livings selling whiteware in their local towns will no longer be able to support themselves or their employees, and will themselves become beneficiaries.

That probably isn't the ministry's intention, but it is not an inconceivable outcome. And quite frankly, even if the ministry didn't have the wit to think of that possibility when it devised this preferred supplier scheme it should have the brains to recognise that there is an issue when it is pointed out to them. Oh that common sense should be so common.

The scheme's appeal to the ministry isn't difficult to understand. Beneficiaries who need a loan from the taxpayer to buy a washing machine, fridge or stove now have no choice but to deal with one outlet, the ministry's preferred supplier, who, funnily enough, does not have a shop in Kaikohe. Anyone who has the wherewithal to buy what they need without a taxpayer loan can shop where they like.

The ministry paints this as doing the beneficiary a favour by providing the best deal, with no mention of how much easier it makes life for the bureaucrat. It says the old system had been cumbersome and time-consuming (not sure why; Kaikohe does have a WINZ office), allowed the ministry little "visibility" of the item purchased, its quality or price - surely a new fridge is a new fridge, and the ministry could cap the price if it wanted to, but remember we're talking about loans, not grants, so the taxpayer wasn't missing out - and that the new system ensures that the buyer gets a new, quality product that will last for many years.

Good to see that bureaucrats haven't lost the ability to be patronising and offensive. Do Kaikohe's whiteware retailers sell junk? Do they see a beneficiary and think, 'Aha! Here's another one we can rip off?' Probably not, given that a dud washing machine will likely result in an obscene visit from an irate customer.

The possibility that the preferred supplier has access to goods of a better quality than does the average retail shop stretches things a bit even by government standards.

But there's more. The preferred supplier system apparently includes free delivery and installation - there's an innovation retailers should consider. They'll take away the packaging and even dispose of the old appliance, if there is one. More innovative thinking of the first order. And it provides a 24/7 customer care help desk (which the average retailer doesn't, but their supplier might), a two-year warranty (staggering stuff) and a full after-sales repair service. Where do these people get their inspiration?

If that's the best these people can do to defend a system that is grossly unfair, not only to retailers but their entire communities, then one could surmise that they are not overburdened with common sense or imagination. None of those benefits to the purchaser are beyond the reach of a local retailer. Apart perhaps from the 24/7 customer care help desk they sound like standard practice, even in communities that are too small and too remote for the ministry to care about.

And talking about the 24/7 customer care help desk, what earthly benefit does that provide when the washing machine blows up at 1am on a Sunday? Does the 24/7 customer care help desk order a local repairman out of bed to go and fix it? Unlikely. Does it dispatch someone from Auckland? Even less likely. Chances are it won't do anything until Monday morning. That might even be a poorer service than that offered by the local retailer.

Even if there was some sensible rationale behind this scheme, which there doesn't seem to be, the ministry must surely be aware of how fragile many small towns' economies are. But perhaps they're not aware. Perhaps someone needs to tell them that in small towns around New Zealand, selling a couple of fridges a month could make the difference between a business staying open and shutting its doors. Perhaps someone needs to tell them that brilliant ideas that might work in cities can devastate small communities, places where taxpayers often receive bugger all for the taxes they pay, and don't deserve a kick in the guts from people who are more interested in administrative simplicity than fairness.

And whiteware might just be the start. The ministry reckons that's just the first commodity to benefit from this preferred supplier model. The same arrangement has been reached with optometrists and opticians in some urban areas, and dollars to doughnuts there will be more.

Politicians will tell you - they certainly will in Northland over the next couple of weeks - that small businesses are the backbone of our domestic economy. They talk about the role small towns have to play in the country's prosperity too, and how governments can help them. And all the time they preside over ministries that show no empathy for small towns, and seemingly have no understanding of how their policies can and often do hurt the people they purport to admire and support.

Every one of these retailers who can't compete against the state has a local MP, but that probably doesn't help much either. And whatever the by-election candidates might say between now and March 28 probably won't be worth hearing.

Whoever wins Northland is hardly likely to fly to Wellington on March 29 and start talking some sense into the Minister of Social Development. Whose social development are we talking about? Those who are beneficiaries, or those who are about to become beneficiaries because the government's put them out of business?

The first priority for those who have the ability to make decisions affecting our lives should be to ensure that no collateral damage is done, but when they fail in that we are not obliged to suffer in silence.

All power to the Kaikohe Business Association. A lot of people stand to benefit if they win, and a lot of people should be lining up beside them.