Heather Roy's Diary

Cabinet Re-Shuffle More Like Musical Chairs

This week's news was dominated by Prime Minister Helen Clark's Cabinet re-shuffle - a re-shuffle so conservative that it bordered on timid.

Of the 20 Ministers in Cabinet, there are only three new faces - replacements for Mark Burton (who went before he was pushed), and Steve Maharey (who has stepped down to take up a position as Vice-Chancellor at Massey University).

Largely, however, the re-shuffle consists of the same old faces - just in different seats; it should be noted that, in a token punishment for his brawling, Trevor Mallard received the least possible demotion required to remove him from the front bench - losing Sport, but gaining Labour and Environment.

The two surprises in the re-shuffle were Chris Carter and David Cunliffe, who received Education, and Health respectively.

In his maiden speech, Mr Cunliffe claimed to be a socialist who can count - let's hope he manages to count all those who have been sent back to their GP with no assessment or treatment from the health waiting lists...something his predecessors King and Hodgson were unable to achieve.

Political commentators have generally been tame pets and commented about the relative merits of various Ministers - yet probably the most striking thing about the new line-up is its size. This re-shuffle would have provided the Prime Minister with an opportunity to downsize her burgeoning executive - perhaps taking advice from the Finance Minister about tightening belts, living within one's means and decreasing spending to control inflation. Alas, however, it was not to be.

Mike Moore commented on radio that New Zealand has the biggest Cabinet in proportion to Members of Parliament in the world, with the exception of Tonga and the Cook Islands. Cabinet meetings consist of 20 MPs sitting around the table - a large number that excludes Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters. A further eight Ministers are outside Cabinet, giving us an executive of 28.

No Prime Minister before Helen Clark has required such a large number of Ministers, and responsibilities have been spread thin to get to this inflated number - for example, Darren Hughes is now Minister of Statistics.

As there are only 49 Labour MPs - not counting Taito Philip Field - the extent of the Prime Minister's powers of patronage become apparent. And, while Ministers far outnumber ordinary MPs in Labour's Caucus, it doesn't end there: there's also the Speaker, two assistant speakers, one whip, six Select Committee Chairs and four deputy Chairs - all receiving top-ups to the basic MP salary. By my reckoning there are only 10 Labour MPs on basic salary.

The costs are, of course, considerable. A Cabinet Minister earns $225,000 per year, and a Minister outside Cabinet earns $190,000. However salaries are just the beginning: each MP has a secretary and an electorate agent. If the MP is a constituency MP then there are two electorate agents. The MP has access to research staff paid out of the Party Leader's fund. Once we talk about Ministerial budgets, the sky is the limit. A Minister or Associate Minister has a private secretary for each portfolio (seconded from that Ministry), and a senior private secretary or Ministerial advisor. More senior Ministers with heavier portfolios have additional staff - for example, Jim Anderton (as Minister of Agriculture, Biosecurity, Fisheries, Forestry, Associate Minister of Health, Tertiary Education and Minister responsible for the Public Trust) has 15 staff: two communications advisors, a health affairs private secretary, a health private secretary, a senior private secretary, a tertiary education advisor, a fisheries private secretary, two MAF private secretaries, a press secretary, a Ministerial secretary, a speech writer, two primary industries advisors and an administration assistant. Winston Peters has 11 staff, and Peter Dunne has seven.

This year's budget for Ministerial Services is $37.3 million - $1.3 million each, over and above what they receive as an ordinary MP. This doesn't account for those Ministerial staff seconded from the various Ministries. The largesse of the executive creates enormous opportunities for patronage and Labour uses it to provide a State-funded system to employ party hacks. This produces a political 'caste' removed from the realities of daily life. As Socialists, our government should know that even Chairman Mao thought that aspiring party activists should first learn the ways of the workers and peasants.

Pennies Needed For Wellington Hospital

Any Wellingtonian falling ill in future and needing the services of the new Wellington Hospital could be forgiven for doing their utmost to get their money's worth - especially given that many would have helped pay for it not once, but twice.

One might have assumed that the $346 million in taxpayers' money that Capital & Coast DHB budgeted for the project would have been more than enough to fill all requirements - alas, it would appear not.

This week the Dominion Post reported that a new charitable trust - the Wellington Hospitals and Health Foundation - had sent letters to 15,000 households in the Wellington Region asking for donations with which to purchase furniture for the new hospital.

The reported aim is to seek cash from a total of 130,000 households, and the money will go towards plugging those gaps that the Government can't afford. Wellingtonians are being asked to pay a second time and donate on top of their taxes to help furnish the hospital.

This is no way to run a health service. Christchurch has its Charity Hospital, Wellington has the charity plate out. The private sector manages to build and run hospitals without begging, but learning that lesson would require an open mind - something this Labour Government doesn't have.

ENDS

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