By EUGENE BINGHAM
The search for power in Government leads to a small room on the ninth floor of the Beehive.
Modestly furnished, it is dominated by a round table too large for the space. Through the door is Prime Minister Helen Clark's private office, but it is this anteroom she has favoured for the crucial meetings of her first 100 days.
It was here on January 5, 11 and 20 that a select group of ministers gathered under her gaze to deal with the first difficulty of their reign - Peter Doone.
On the very night the Government was elected, the Police Commissioner made the most costly misjudgment of his career when he spoke to a rookie constable who stopped a car driven by the police chief's partner.
A dissection of the Doone affair provides an insight into the Coalition's decision-making process. Papers released under the Official Information Act show that a tight core of ministers and trusted officials were the key movers.
Throughout it all, Helen Clark was the pivot around which everything else turned, reading the police and Police Complaints Authority reports into the saga before New Year's Eve and recognising the seriousness of the situation.
She appointed Attorney-General Margaret Wilson to take ministerial responsibility and brought in her top two lieutenants, Alliance leader Jim Anderton and Finance Minister Michael Cullen.
Margaret Wilson was left to do most of the legwork, writing up thorough briefing papers and communicating with Mr Doone's lawyer.
Three times she reported progress to the other ministers as well as a group of officials, including the chief executive of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Dr Mark Prebble.
The cabinet signed off the decision, but it was the preparation work in the anteroom that led to the resolution - and the forced retirement of Mr Doone.
This is the typical modus operandi: precise planning followed by a clean execution. Monday cabinet meetings are short, with any tinkering on detail usually occurring in the 13 cabinet committees on Wednesday and Thursday or in informal meetings between ministers.
It has been like that from the start. Take the Coalition negotiation process.
For a week after the election, Helen Clark and Mr Anderton met in the parliamentary complex, allegedly nailing down details of the agreement between the parties. In truth, it was more like a series of stage-managed media events.
Most of the work had gone on beforehand between their closest officials, Labour's Heather Simpson and the Alliance's Andrew Ladley.
Such meticulous groundwork enabled the new Government to be seen hitting the ground running and smoothed the way for quick action on a series of pre-election pledges.
Within a month, serious changes were under way. The student loan scheme was amended and the minimum wage was raised from $7 to $7.55 an hour.
During the first week of Parliament - a week before Christmas - tax hikes and changes to workplace accident insurance were introduced under urgency.
Swift decisions have also been made to begin dealing with problems for Maori, stop the sale of state houses, halt the police review, establish Mr Anderton's Ministry of Economic Development, increase superannuation, and, this week, introduce the Employment Relations Bill.
Each major decision is overseen by Helen Clark, Mr Anderton, Dr Cullen - and Heather Simpson, Helen Clark's main source of political guidance. Heather Simpson's value is her sharpness at identifying unseen fishhooks and danger spots ahead.
Another filter through which major policy decisions must go is the high-powered policy advisory group. At any one time, the group has about 12 of some of the best brains in the country, a mix of public and private-sector secondments.
They work on the eighth floor of the Beehive in the Prime Minister's Department, drawing together other ministries' advice and giving Helen Clark a breakdown at 9.30 am each Monday before cabinet.
The backing of her staff, and a confidence in her own ability, built up by 18 years in Parliament, have given her the assurance to play such a dominating role.
She has headed straight for centre stage, leading issues such as the F-16 saga.
And in a hawk-like manner she directed the TVNZ-Hawkesby saga, swooping relentlessly on the hapless board until Rosanne Meo resigned as chairwoman.
Broadcasting Minister Marian Hobbs was left to deal with the day-to-day issues - beginning the process of rewriting TVNZ's statement of corporate intent - but it was Helen Clark who pounded the board from above with a public barrage.
Timberlands West Coast was another state-owned enterprise to feel the heat. Doomed from day one by the Government's policy against native logging, it gave Helen Clark a golden opportunity when a senior manager, Kit Richards, was busted sending an anti-Government e-mail.
Revelations this week that Mr Richards has been taken back on contract will only shorten Timberlands' lifespan.
Work and Income New Zealand boss Christine Rankin presents a more difficult and unresolved problem.
Social Services Minister Steve Maharey has been privately rebuked by Helen Clark for his handling of Mrs Rankin. On one hand, the Prime Minister thought he was too nice to Mrs Rankin after their initial meeting; on the other, his public comments over the student loans fiasco can only have improved her prospects of a huge payout in a personal grievance.
Mrs Rankin will not suffer the Meo-Richards-type blast. Instead, she will be circled by landmines. The review into the operation of her department is the bomb with the most explosive potential.
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