Barry Soper: Does it take a village to run this Government?

You could be forgiven for thinking it takes a village to run this Government. At the end of it, it'll have to be the most well-informed, risk-averse administration of all time.

Almost daily reviews, inquiries and committees are announced to inform the ministers of how this should be done and how that should be avoided.

Just to make sure they get things right for the big kahuna, the Climate Change Commission which will be put in place next year, they've just appointed a committee of half a dozen to ask the public what they want out of it.

They'll be looking at things like whether agriculture should be included in the Emissions Trading Scheme, but with belching ruminants identified as significant greenhouse gas emitters, how could they not? And besides Jacinda Ardern in her nuclear moment in Paris told her new generational mate, President Emmanuel Macron, that they'll work together on agriculture and climate change.

Of course France knows all about spies so Macron would no doubt understand why the watchdog of our spooks has appointed a so-called Security Reference Group of 11 to keep her up to scratch with whether she's getting things right.

It's a couple of members of the group who've brought the trilby and trenchcoat conspirators out of the closet. Last week they announced a $2 million investigation into Nicky Hagar's Hit and Run book on an SAS raid in Afghanistan, this week they've appointed him to give the Inspector-General of the spies Cheryl Gwyn advice on whether she's heading in the right direction.

Hagar's on record as saying the Security Intelligence Service should be disbanded, the days of reds under the bed are long gone.

And another on the spy's group has clashed swords in the past with Gwyn herself when she was the Deputy Solicitor-General. Civil liberties lawyer Deborah Manning defended the Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui when he was being pursued by the last Labour Government over unsubstantiated terrorism allegations made by the SIS.

The group met for the first time last week but were only announced this week. And Gwyn assures us the information flow will only be one way, from them to her, so our state secrets are safe.

And the Inspector-General was at pains to point out they're not replacing her Advisory Panel which has actually been non-existent for the past couple of years.

So now she'll at least have some company and she won't have to get the taxpayers' cheque book out for this one. They're being paid in sandwiches, tea, coffee and a plate of fruit.