KEY POINTS:
On occasion, politicians need to be seen to be tackling an issue that is irritating a large slice of the populace. When the solution is far from simple or likely to be a long-term exercise, they are happy to embrace a contrivance. Take, for example, the Minister for Auckland Issues.
The intended message when the role was established in 1999 was that the Government was on to the city's myriad problems. The reality was that the portfolio's function was impossibly vague; something about ensuring Auckland had a strong advocate in the Government and nurturing solid relations with local-body leaders.
The upshot was that nobody was about to argue when the role was quietly discarded in this week's Cabinet reshuffle.
Judith Tizard, the one and only Minister for Auckland Issues, would doubtless claim she achieved much in the likes of roading and housing. But any developments would surely have occurred without her twopenn'orth. Indeed, during the controversy over the waterfront stadium, the biggest in Auckland for many a year, she went missing in action.
Among her lame declarations were the view that the debate in the media was silly, and that this was not an issue on which she chose to commit herself. Ms Tizard did remark, accurately enough, that the Government's case for a waterfront stadium was being led by Rugby World Cup Minister Trevor Mallard. Taking a wider view, she might also have noted that the Prime Minister, an Auckland MP, had a firm grasp on the city's problems and was driving the Government's response.
That did not stop her portfolio becoming a favoured target in Parliament for the likes of Bill English and Rodney Hide. Contrived roles are, of course, easy to ridicule. Yet politicians continue to find them impossible to resist. A minister for political correctness eradication, anyone?