We don’t need more ministries

Radio NZ reports:

The new Labour-led government is dismantling the mega-ministry, splitting it into three parts covering forestry, fisheries and agriculture respectively.

This is a bad move, and one ironically done by National in the 1990s. National went for more smaller focused agencies but it really just lead to huge duplication of costs as each agency had their own HR, IT divisions etc. Clark’s Government correctly reversed this and started to put them back together.

I’d continue with that and be looking to merge more agencies, rather than split them up.

She singled out fisheries, saying it had faced “dysfunction” under MPI’s watch.

Greenpeace has repeatedly accused the ministry of being in thrall to the fishing industry and turning a blind eye to illegal activity.

Greenpeace NZ director Russel Norman said he hoped the change in approach would help turn that around.

“Everybody knows that the regulation of fisheries does need special attention.”

But Dr Norman, who was a former Green Party co-leader, warned it would be a massive task.

“No one should underestimate the ability of the fishing industry to influence the regulation,” he said.

“They’ve been at it for decades and decades, so they are very well experienced at any attempts to reform it.”

If that is the concern, the solution is likely to make it worse. The industry is likely to be far more influential with a stand alone fisheries ministry than with c combined Primary Industries Ministry.