In March, State Services Minister Tony Ryall vowed to fire some of the
321 government department spin-doctors and to get an idea of just how
much they are costing the general public ONE News looked at six of the
bigger departments which racked up a bill of nearly $7.3 million.
[...]
But Ryall says 30 jobs have gone and more will go.
"There's been this huge growth over the last nine years of the number of
PR and communication staff. We've put a cap on it and in the last nine
months the number's dropped by 10," says Ryall.
Me personally, I think communications staff are vital for a Government,
communicating to the people just what the government does is a task unto
itself, but, if you're going to rpomise something and not deliver, then
you're heading down the "Rodney Hide" path ;)
*grin*
Interesting that there is not much news about at the moment
Only if you ignore the government falling to pieces, MP, ACT, National,
who /has/ lived up to their promises?
Excellant - we don't care as long as Labour are no longer the gummit
It may only be 10 as stated in the article which arn't many. But it is a
step in the right direction and EVERY trip starts with a one step. Do you
know how hard it is to get rid of excess public servants through any means
except atrition. Obviously not.
Pooh
Journalists can do that. The reason for "communications staff" isn't to
communicate, it's to prevent communication. It is to feed the news that
the government wants released, with the emphasis they desire and sliding
mutely over the parts they want kept in the dark. Communications staff
are placed between the news media and the possibility that left to
themselves MPs might inadvertently give a straight answer to a straight
question.
> but, if you're going to rpomise something and not deliver, then
> you're heading down the "Rodney Hide" path ;)
A L P
How do you think things like the government websites are built, by journos?
Much more likely, the ten have left for oz, like the rest of skilled New
Zealand ;)