On The Platform Radio show last week, I unleashed on the topic of the lack of integrity and nepotism and corruption in New Zealand. It works differently here from other countries. For example, one of my mates from Argentina who founded the field of the "economics of corruption" described how wage setting by unions frequently works there: the union boss negotiates with the company boss behind closed doors. In exchange for taking a reduced wage demand, the company boss gives a suitcase of cash to the union boss. Simple as that. In NZ, it turns out we are way more sophisticated.
Here it works differently: you do a favour for someone, like help them get promoted, help them onto a Board, help them into a big government position, regardless of personal merit. Then you wait - maybe even years, for them to return the favour. Its, "You scratch my back - I scratch yours". And its rampant. Its also hard - next to impossible - to prosecute. Its difficult to ever prove that a favour was done - especially a long time ago - that is now being repaid. And the repayment does not come in the form of a suitcase of cash - but it can often be worth a lot more in NZ.
Awhile ago I was told by one of the highest officials in Wellington that should this Blog keep doing articles critiquing NZ's rulers, there'd be no Board jobs; no high up appointments, for me. This Blog article - all true - though not flattering to Finance Minister Willis - run in the Herald - finished me off, they said. Forget being on the Reserve Bank Board, or big advisory committee. They go to people who suck up. Who cares whether one's work in monetary economics was discussed & cited as being influential by America's last Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, as well as former Chairs of the US Federal Reserve? It's irrelevant in NZ. But its not just government jobs, its corporate jobs. Our boards are full of mates, of people there because favours are being returned, who know each other from way back.
I don't personally care; already have a decent job, and am not bitter about it, since I value free speech more than government attempts to silence critics with threats to shut them out. But for all you budding writers and students who want a good career in NZ, here is some advice. Go write things like Fran O'Sullivan (who I know a bit) in today's Herald - since then you will get invited everywhere and put onto everything. I mean, Fran, this is just such a great line: "At a recent event held under the Chatham House rule, business leaders were treated to an inside view on how influential Wellington players view the PM. It's fair to say there has been a revolution at the heart of Government. Luxon has been focused on the cost of living, fiscal issues and now economic growth. As one player related, they had not seen before a Government with such energy and drive and a clear sense of mission".
Gosh, a revolution? I must have slept through it. You'd never know NZ has become one of the world's most expensive countries to live in due to rampant monopoly power; a GDP growth rate ranking us 181st out of 190 nations; that we're in one of the deepest recessions since the early 1990s when its hard to find a single other country in recession - aside from those in civil war; and NZ has a cash fiscal deficit that's one of the largest recorded over past decades, with no plan to address the structural deficits due to an ageing population. Not to mention how the Coalition got the country to spend its energy last year debating the Treaty but all for no purpose - because the PM vetoed ACT's bill - yet has no proposal of his own. That non-resolved-debate has been a zero productivity one. And lets not forgot that despite Luxon being Minister for National Security & Intelligence, he told journalists that he had no clue what was going on between Rarotonga & China. Everyone else does: its game, set and match to China. Checkmate. You were outsmarted, Chris. Maybe I really am dumb - should have always taken my mother's advice, "If its not nice, don't say it".
Awhile ago I was told by one of the highest officials in Wellington that should this Blog keep doing articles critiquing NZ's rulers, there'd be no Board jobs; no high up appointments, for me. This Blog article - all true - though not flattering to Finance Minister Willis - run in the Herald - finished me off, they said. Forget being on the Reserve Bank Board, or big advisory committee. They go to people who suck up. Who cares whether one's work in monetary economics was discussed & cited as being influential by America's last Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, as well as former Chairs of the US Federal Reserve? It's irrelevant in NZ. But its not just government jobs, its corporate jobs. Our boards are full of mates, of people there because favours are being returned, who know each other from way back.
I don't personally care; already have a decent job, and am not bitter about it, since I value free speech more than government attempts to silence critics with threats to shut them out. But for all you budding writers and students who want a good career in NZ, here is some advice. Go write things like Fran O'Sullivan (who I know a bit) in today's Herald - since then you will get invited everywhere and put onto everything. I mean, Fran, this is just such a great line: "At a recent event held under the Chatham House rule, business leaders were treated to an inside view on how influential Wellington players view the PM. It's fair to say there has been a revolution at the heart of Government. Luxon has been focused on the cost of living, fiscal issues and now economic growth. As one player related, they had not seen before a Government with such energy and drive and a clear sense of mission".
Gosh, a revolution? I must have slept through it. You'd never know NZ has become one of the world's most expensive countries to live in due to rampant monopoly power; a GDP growth rate ranking us 181st out of 190 nations; that we're in one of the deepest recessions since the early 1990s when its hard to find a single other country in recession - aside from those in civil war; and NZ has a cash fiscal deficit that's one of the largest recorded over past decades, with no plan to address the structural deficits due to an ageing population. Not to mention how the Coalition got the country to spend its energy last year debating the Treaty but all for no purpose - because the PM vetoed ACT's bill - yet has no proposal of his own. That non-resolved-debate has been a zero productivity one. And lets not forgot that despite Luxon being Minister for National Security & Intelligence, he told journalists that he had no clue what was going on between Rarotonga & China. Everyone else does: its game, set and match to China. Checkmate. You were outsmarted, Chris. Maybe I really am dumb - should have always taken my mother's advice, "If its not nice, don't say it".
Professor Robert MacCulloch holds the Matthew S. Abel Chair of Macroeconomics at Auckland University. He has previously worked at the Reserve Bank, Oxford University, and the London School of Economics. He runs the blog Down to Earth Kiwi from where this article was sourced.
4 comments:
I have always been perplexed how NZ ranks so well for supposed non corruption. The small population ensures councils, govt departments, consultants, engineers contractors etc are all interconnected. I am sure many arrangements are "understood" without need for discussion and without attracting comment from other parties. Then all the required maori (paid) "consultation" and govt and council clauses favouring maori management and maori contractors are a form of legalised corruption, even before the te ao corruption associated the actual work. As Michael Laws explains, conventional colonist style scrutiny is evaded.
"Energy and drive" that's so far come to naught", and who arrogantly dismissed the right for the public to be heard before he'd even heard their arguments on an issue that is costing the country's productivity dearly. Did he abstain from voting on the interest write-offs given to landlord's, even though he is one? And what about those Councillors that identify as Maori and yet voted for a Maori Ward in their region? And then you have the likes of Chris Findlayson, being Treaty Negotiations Minister after acting for various Iwi on such claims, and then changing the foreshore & seabed legislation, and now back acting for Iwi on other claims against the Crown? And then we have the likes of John Tamihere... but enough. Oh yes, corruption and conflicts of interest certainly are alive and well.
I’d add that it’s not merely ‘you scratch my back; I’ll scratch yours.’ It is certainly that, but also mixed with a fear (or hatred) of the individuals who make it on their own by simple merit. There’s little delight in individual excellence. What weird is that the NZ public does appreciate excellence. Yet somehow that doesn’t transfer broadly into employment or into ministries. Our values somehow get subverted. Mediocrity and patronage carry the day. I’ve always blamed it on the influence of the NZ Communist Party and its youth groups. Maybe I’m wrong, but the people I know who are/were affiliated at some point, seem to be the ones who bully and belittle the stars while also running the patronage-of-mediocrity schemes.
Pugh asked very pertinent global warming questions and got fired
Willis handled the ferry issue poorly and was promoted
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