The Insider: Digital gets the finger

Photo / NZME.

Digital enthusiasts pushing for a move to online voting are getting short shrift from ministers. The Electoral Commission had been considering the idea, with a view to implementing some form of online voting for the 2017 election. However it would need a large funding increase and changes to legislation, which are not going to happen. Some observers think a digital option might make it easier for some people to vote; others argue it has made little difference in places where it has been used. Fears of voter identification, fraud and coercion outweigh any benefits in the minds of ministers and, just perhaps, increasing turnout among some demographics is not their top priority.

ALL EYES

With all the debate about espionage, and who spies on whom and why, it seems many have forgotten a certain house in Hill St, opposite Parliament and with a fine view of the Beehive. It was snapped up by the Chinese embassy years ago and immediately sprouted all sorts of aerials, satellite dishes and other apparatus. Obviously nothing going on there, then.

GOING GLOBAL

Ministers are getting closer to signing up to the World Trade Organisation's Global Procurement Agreement, which in theory opens up international government procurement markets estimated to be worth more than US$1.7 trillion a year. New Zealand has been an observer to the GPA since 2008, and in October the WTO Committee on Government Procurement agreed to this country's accession to the agreement. There are doubts about whether other members play by the rules, but then again, any negative impact from New Zealand businesses losing to international competition seems minimal, as we have so few import protections anyway.

COSTLY JUSTICE

Those around the courts have for some time noted a rise in the number of people representing themselves in civil cases. Ministry of Justice officials say they have not looked at whether this could have anything to do with the financial threshold for legal aid being frozen at $22,366 gross annual income since 2006. This has been handy for the Government's coffers, with civil legal aid costs falling from $60 million to $49.4 million since 2010. Officials have observed that perhaps the internet has made it easier for people to take matters into their own hands, which may be one reason for the increase in self-representation. More likely, the courts are increasingly unaffordable for anyone but the wealthy.

BYE, BARRIE

A Wellington Club gathering this week marked the retirement of Barrie Saunders. Former editor of the

National Business Review

and adviser to Bill Rowling, for the past 20 years he has been a key part of the Saunders Unsworth lobbying firm. Their briefing books on MPs are legendary for their depth and humour.

Barrie Saunders of Saunders Unsworth.

BOARD BALANCE

The 25 Percent Group has applauded the progress of New Zealand companies towards more gender diversity on boards. Andrew Barclay, convenor of the 25 Percent Group and chief executive of Goldman Sachs NZ, praised progress in female participation on large listed company boards, where the numbers now stand at 55 women out of a total 278 board seats - or 20 per cent. Goldman Sachs is not listed in this country, but its global parent is listed in New York. There it has a 14-member board with two women; it has 10 executive officers, of whom one is a woman; and a wider management committee of 36, including five women.

ANALYSE THIS

Economics-speak, from this week's ANZ Market Focus report: "We're mindful of global-centric tensions but still believe the collection of small microeconomic-fostered initiatives mean the New Zealand economy has greater insulation against global risks and challenges than normal." Couldn't agree more.

OVER A BARREL

Northland isn't the only electorate where good old pork-barrel politics are alive and well. In Britain, the sitting MP for the marginal electorate of Bath has won 250,000 in Government funding, to research the pressing issue of aggressive seagulls. Asked to explain why, the Financial Times reports, Her Majesty's Treasury said there had been "reports of seagulls stealing people's kebabs".