The Insider: Roll out the red tape

Meanwhile, the same officials are looking at banking services, planning to issue a request for proposals on who does the banking for the Government and departments.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of Wellingtonians make a living providing consultancy services to government departments. Some work for large firms, others are sole traders with expertise that fills gaps in the public service. Collectively, they have delivered a solid rebuff to plans to set up an "all of government" contracting system for consultancy services. This would establish a closed shop of consultants that departments could use. For now, procurement officials in the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment have backed down and restricted the consultancy areas being considered to a few in which large companies dominate - accountancy, for example. The bid to save money is commendable, but some are starting to wonder if the process might only add cost and red tape. Officials say the system of contracting consultants is so complicated they might need a new IT platform to ensure an "effective, methodological approach to pre-qualification and capture of quality and performance metrics". It has all the signs of adding red tape and bureaucratic mumbo jumbo, to carry on as usual.

Meanwhile, the same officials are looking at banking services, planning to issue a request for proposals on who does the banking for the Government and departments. Government banking services have not been tendered for more than 20 years, and the primary contract governing the Crown's banking arrangements is the 2004 agreement with Westpac. Many will be watching with interest to see what the tender process turns up, if it ever gets thatfar.

Diss-location

Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM) hates everything about Trans-Tasman Resources' application to mine ironsands off the coast of Patea, right down to the venue for hearings on the proposal. These began this week, at the Marist St Pat's Rugby Clubrooms in the Wellington suburb of Hataitai. KASM's submission included this complaint: "This venue is a rugby clubrooms up a steep, narrow access road, a long way from public transport, and anyone walking here would get soaked on a wet day. It is in essence inaccessible for older people without cars. KASM asks the EPA to bear this in mind with respect to submitters and to cater to requests from submitters accordingly."KEY'S AUSSIE MATE Although it's hardly surprising that the Australian Financial Review is a John Key fan, an editorial this week was positively gushing. According to the AFR, our PM is "a role model for incoming conservative government leaders". New Zealand is a role model, too, "for economic reform, which other Australasian governments should be paying more attention to". Labour, however, "has retreated to the dead end of the 1970s".

Bank on it

The banking business has obviously been kind to ANZ chief executive Mike Smith. Australian media reports say Smith paid more than A$10 million ($10.7 million) to buy the historic Spray Farm winery and homestead, a seven-bedroom home with 64ha of land on the Bellarine Peninsula, just south of Melbourne. The purchase shouldn't be too big a stretch - including bonuses, Smith was paid A$10.4 million last year, and he recently sold A$17.3 million worth of ANZ shares.

Picture this

It's not that long ago that MPs were banned from taking mobile phones into the parliamentary debating chamber. But as technology has expanded and gadgets merged, the rules have been relaxed. It is still forbidden to take calls, but texting and twittering is rife. The Insider may be old-fashioned, but the latest trend of MPs taking photos of other MPs in the chamber and publishing them on Twitter is a step too far.

Nice try ...

You could almost hear the laughter from the Beehive when Vodafone brazenly declared the Government should drop its plan to install fibre-based broadband in Wellington and Christchurch. The telco, already offside with ministers for supporting the anti-copper tax campaign, suggested that the HFC (hybrid-fibre coaxial) cable it owns in the two cities could be used to give faster broadband - saving money in the process. Why customers in those places would be happy with an old cable, while everyone else gets fancy new fibre, remains unanswered. Although the submission received short shrift from Communications Minister Amy Adams, ideas from Vodafone chief executive Russell Stanners that deserved more attention - such as increasing speeds across fibre and allowing unbundling of fibre services before 2019 - fell by the wayside.