Getting our affairs in order

Insights Newsletter
7 October, 2016

Perched in the high vantage of a think tank it is easy to spot a politician who by accident stumbles on a major problem in our society simply by opining on one or other of the issues of the day. 

Most recently it was the turn of ACT Party Leader David Seymour to perform this accidental but vital service to society. It occurred when he said that New Zealand no longer needed a Minister for Women, and instead proposed a Minister for Gender.

Much quibbling in the press ensued. But amidst this furore - and unbeknownst to Mr Seymour - the note that he struck true is that of affairs, or more pointedly the lack thereof. 

You see there used to be a Ministry for Women’s Affairs, with a minister in charge of said affairs. Now the Honourable Louise Upston is just the Minister for Women. This government has let state oversight lapse, and now women are free to conduct their own affairs without the explicit guidance of officials in Wellington. When did this happen? No one seems to know, which is even more alarming. It is privatisation (of stealth) by stealth I tell you.

And if you think this kind of hollowing out of state control is only limited to women, you are sadly mistaken. It seems the Ethnic Communities, Maori and Pacific People portfolios have all lost the mandate over affairs. Affairs will now be allowed to happen in these communities willy-nilly.

Were I an official working in Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Internal Affairs or Veterans’ Affairs, I would be very worried about the alarming direction of this trend. For all we know Foreign Affairs could be reduced to just Foreign, freeing thousands of Kiwis on their OE to have unregulated affairs in other countries, to say nothing of business travellers. 

Then again, perhaps this is a trend that should not be resisted, but steered into. There are all manner of affairs that could be improved by removing government’s influence. The Spanish, who have been without an active government for the past 10-months, seem to be thriving.

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