November 2006

The NZ Her­ald has a good edi­to­r­ial about the pen­chant of the Gov­ern­ment to med­dle, espe­cially in the case of Telecom.

[quote]“Over the past few months, the Gov­ern­ment has made lit­tle secret of its irri­ta­tion with some reg­u­la­tory agen­cies. Min­is­ters have, at the drop of a hat, denounced and dis­carded deci­sions reached inde­pen­dently and with the ben­e­fit of expert knowl­edge. Now, the ulti­mate expres­sion of that dis­sat­is­fac­tion has been deliv­ered in the Telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions Amend­ment Bill. Tak­ing charge of Telecom’s split into three divi­sions will be the Min­is­ter of Com­mu­ni­ca­tions, not, as might have been expected, the Telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions Com­mis­sioner. This, noted Parliament’s finance and expen­di­ture select com­mit­tee, would give the min­is­ter a “high degree of con­trol” over the process.”

and this comment

“Min­is­ters’ pen­chant for med­dling has under­mined con­fi­dence in the reg­u­la­tory frame­work, and cre­ated con­sid­er­able con­fu­sion. At least, there will be no bewil­der­ment over the split­ting up of Tele­com. The cloak of Gov­ern­ment com­plai­sance has been removed. So, too, how­ever, is the prospect of vital deci­sions being made for all the right reasons.“[/quote]

Indeed.