Mike Hosking: Supposed conflicts of interest in the limelight

Opinion

COMMENT: Has Bryce Edwards been in the Victoria University cup of tea room, sealed off from the real world, for too long?

He is alarmed that former Labour Party President Mike Williams has done some work for Lime scooters.

Bryce says the fact Williams is working for Lime should, and I quote, "alarm anyone with an interest in defending democracy, and good political process in New Zealand". Well I am interested in good process and defending democracy - but I am not remotely alarmed.

But this is because, Bryce goes on, it shows key political figures in New Zealand politics have conflicts of interest, and these simply aren't known to the public. So what are the conflicts of interest? The fact, years ago, he was the president of the Labour Party ? The fact he was an NZTA board member? The fact he was on the Auckland Transport board?

I would've thought if he was still in those roles you have a conflict of interest. But he isn't, and hasn't been for years.

So when does a so-called 'conflict of interest' start and stop? Does the fact you might know some people in the field mean you have a conflict of interest for life? That once you've worked in a field that's you done in that field forever?

Bryce has been reading too many conspiracy theories, he's too wrapped up in the cloistered world of academia, and its many weird and wonder fantastical theories about how life is supposed to be operating versus how it really operates.

There are Mike Williams type figures all over business and politics - and always have been. Politicians who go to the private sector, do they have a conflict of interest?

Former prime ministers on boards, from Jim Bolger, to Sir Michael Cullen, to Dame Jenny Shipley, to Sir John Key - do they have a conflict of interest?

Former government press secretaries who move into the corporate world with their contacts and knowledge - do they have a conflict of interest?

What we really need to be worried about is the quality of decision-making. No matter who rings who, who sets up meetings with whoever, the real issue is: are the decisions good, honest and sensible? Did Lime get a licence because Mike Williams does work for them?

Even if the answer was yes (which it isn't) the fault would lie with the idiot who made the decision, not Williams for doing his job. If we are going to freak out like Bryce every time someone who once had an influential job somewhere moves onto something else we are going to be a in a permanent state of panic.

Because this is a country of 4.7 million people we are a village and within business and political circles most people know most of the other people. And don't forget, we can be reassured that all the studies say we are one of the most clean, clear, and uncorrupted economies in the world.

So settle down Bryce, you sound like you have a sieve on your head, and you think the aliens are coming.