The Insider

Reviews rule

If ministers are embarrassed by how many inquiries and reviews they are undertaking, they show no sign of it. Hardly a day goes by without some new probe being announced, and there doesn’t appear to be much left in the government or economy which isn’t being looked into. Everyone, including Labour MPs, used to make fun of the Greens for having a bad case of “reviewitis” when in Opposition, but now it’s become a habit in the Government ranks. Reviews can sometimes be good, but they can also act as a brake. In particular, the electricity sector is being told it must start investing in new generation, but that wouldn’t make sense until the rules are known, and some reviews now under way will take a long time to complete. Then there will be another wait before someone makes a decision. Then there is always the danger of another review.

Back to the land

The incoming Government scrapped Ma¯ori land law reform, and with it a new bureaucracy set to administer the planned law. Replacement legislation is yet to be sighted, but this does not mean problems in the administration of Ma¯ori freehold land have gone away. The value in the land remains locked up, and the favoured plan for releasing it is, inevitably, a law change and a new bureaucracy. The cost is so far estimated to be around $150 million over the next five years, but there is plenty of disagreement over who will run the process.

Spending on track

Officials have been working on a review of KiwiRail’s structure and funding. One thing is becoming clear — it’s going to be costly. Between 2010 and 2018, governments poured $2.1 billion into the freight rail system and it’s still hungry for cash. All three parties in the Government are big fans of expanding rail, but officials fear they may not like being told how much it will cost, and that expansion will mean ongoing subsidies for the foreseeable future.

Lawyers at the ready

To say the oil and gas sector is annoyed with the Government is a mild understatement. Their lawyers have been sharpening their knives and, like many, are relishing the release of papers around the decision to stop new oil and gas exploration permits. Among the papers is likely to be advice on the legality of the move, which many observers are convinced was a breach of the Crown Minerals Act. The papers are also said to show that ministers declined getting advice on the impact of the move, and just wanted to know how to implement it. Legal action is unlikely to do anything but force the Government to have another think about the decision, and then probably come to the same conclusion. But with amendments to the Crown Minerals Act being considered, it is even possible the Government could make some changes retrospective, just to remove any chance of an upset. A possible sweetener for the industry will be giving a legislative guarantee that existing permits will be honoured and allowed to be developed if any commercial energy prospects are discovered.

Inquiring mind

One joke going around the Beehive is that the Government needs a review to find out why it is running out of people to conduct reviews. One of the latest reviewers is Heather Simpson (left), who’ll be looking into the health system. The former right-hand woman to Helen Clark and current adviser to Jacinda Ardern has been criticised by some, who believe she will drive a partisan ideological process. Those saying that have probably never met Simpson, who has a mind like a steel trap and a ruthless streak of pragmatism and frankness. Simpson also does not suffer fools lightly.

Tests fail the test

The realisation that there was little or no basis for the moral panic over meth contamination of rental housing will slowly turn into one of accountability. It could be another case of “follow the money” to get to the bottom of it. Then there is the expansion of compulsory drug testing into some workplaces where it was never necessary, to test for a problem which wasn’t a problem. In both cases, the question is whether those who stood to benefit financially from the testing regime were too close to those who influenced the policy.