Perhaps the most concerning facet of the Government's latest ministerial embarrassment was a comment yesterday from a former Labour Party president, Mike Williams. He told Newstalk ZB the incident reflected a lack of training for those appointed ministers. "I think it's probably lack of supports," he said. "Ministerial Services don't
Editorial: Two ministers down suggests ill-preparation
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These problems do not encourage confidence in the calibre of people in the present government. Like most governments it has a presentable Prime Minister, a capable Finance Minister and a number of others who perform comfortably on the public stage.
But there are others whose names are never heard and it can only be wondered how many of them are struggling with the requirements of ministerial work.
Curran twice failed to properly record and report meetings with people in her areas of responsibility. It sounds like Whaitiri has failed at the very least to maintain the standards of professionalism and decorum needed in a ministerial office.
Training is the suggested panacea for just about every workplace problem these days but political parties and Parliament are the training grounds for ministers of the Crown. A young person working for a political party receives plenty of opportunities to learn how to deal with people and disagreement and if they become a candidate for Parliament they will lead an electorate team.
If successful they will be given staffed offices at Parliament and in the electorate. National's Todd Barclay failed at that level in the previous term. It is all the training a person with ministerial potential should need.