I enjoy a regular correspondence with Rodney Hide’s Auckland Transition Agency each letter prefaced with the phrase “Under the Official Information Act…”. The ATA is the special group of public servants whose job it is to set up the Auckland super city. I’ve been critical of their secretive ways but when they do release information they do it in style.
And now their secret is out. The Aucklander has revealed the ATA is writing its letters on replica goatskin parchment which costs $118 for a ream of 500 sheets – up to 17 times the cost of normal paper.
Why not real goatskin parchment? That’s what I want to know. Tight-wads!
According to The Aucklander the ATA’s paper is Grecian tan rather than shades such as marble white or faint Corinthian green.
I am surprised they don’t go the whole hog and hand deliver their letters on a gold cushion with tassels.
As for the Auckland ratepayers, a majority of whom believe their rates will go up under the super city, I am sure Lord Hide of Epsom would happily let them eat cake.
If the ATA can get away with this extravagance with public money under Hide’s protection, just imagine what those CCO tsars will be up to. I guess, being business titans, they will need to be kept in a manner to which they have become accustomed, starting with a covered carpark for the Bentley.
Supersized mess!
Phil, instead of copying and pasting the article from the Aucklander, why not find out the reason please?
I am reminded of a glossy production that used to land on our desks from the new General Manager (who replaced the Director General) of the Government Service where I was employed during the Rogernomic years. It was full of cheer -leader type garbage, and someone worked out that it cost around $8000 per edition to produce and mail out to the 500 odd employees around the country. It was a colossal waste of money, and served no purpose other than to massage the tender egos of the nouveau management who had bugger-all knowledge of the department they were running. We chucked them into File 13 – the waste paper baskets.
I see similarities between the culture of idiocy that plagued government departments (remember WINZ under Christine Rankin?) in the 80s and 90s, and the current Super City. Some of the same type of people in charge too.
Well done Phil, hopefully all your work on keeping Supercity issues in public view will be rewarded. What a bunch of wasteful blowhards. ‘Hideny’ seems to be the tory proxy for all the stuff they really believe in.
Yeah you do a great job Phil!
!
Good on you Phil, you are working hard to hold these people to account and your supporters up and down the country are noticing.
Hi jennifer, Anne and Truewheel
And Loota
Hey Prime Minister dude
Anne @12:07
I went through the same rubbish (MOE), also through each and every name change. Colossal waste of money. Without exception, new appointed managers were from the private sector and as you describe, not one of them had any prior involvement with our industry. Interestingly, not many of them stayed very long after doing the dirty work.
The same thing is happening with the super city set up, they will have an exceptionally large budget to play with as evidenced by $118 for 500 sheets of paper. And thats just the stuff we hear about! Obscene.
“Interestingly, not many of them stayed very long after doing the dirty work.”
That’s right Anasazi. They were the hatchet men and in Winz’s case, the hatchet woman. They spliced the department’s up to the point they could no longer operate effectively, and then spent the ’savings’ on themselves and their egos before shooting through. And that is exactly what is going to happen to the Super City. You can see it coming.
They sound this country has a bad case of Tall Poppy syndrome. It not hard to see why with crap like this!
To be honest I think this country need to ramp Tall Poppy Syndrome even higher so it can take these fairies down a peg.
Over sized egos,small balls and no brains.
No doubt on what written of then replica goatskin parchment is airy-trendy-management jargon.
I feel sorry for Auckland(ers) becuase this is only tip of the iceberg. It only going to get more wastes and sillier! This just show you how silly Hide plan is!
The private sector is nowhere near productive as it imagines itself to be. They say the evil government is wasteful, so is the silly private sector. Expect they get away with it… This is why NZ has a low wage, unproductive economy.
@ Sweetd, perhaps the goat skin paper was used in the executive washroom? It would fit the profile.
@Anne –
sniff sniff 
@jennifer LOL
Hide isn’t qualified to be in charge of dog catching at the current Auckland City Council let alone in charge of the whole shebangabang…
On the other hand maybe he should be in charge of dog catching, dog’s breakfasts seem to be a speciality…
And a word of warning… watch the rhetoric when the Super City finally comes into play. It might sound impressive, but peek underneath and there may be nothing much there. Yes, a bit like the NACT Govt.
Example:
Following on from my 12:07pm comment, at one point in the early 1990s staff (via the glossy) were encouraged to “fight them on the beaches and in the trenches” (I kid you not.) We read it in total bemusement because no-one had a clue who we were supposed to be fighting!
Oh GOd, what WILL the “re branding” cost, and will Boag’s firm get the contracts???
Corporate largess knows not of boundaries until brought to task. What you don’t see will still hurt.