An interim CEO has been appointed to lead the Ministry of Regulation. It’s one of a number of roles filled or soon to be filled as a seachange continues in Wellington, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.
Ministry of Regulation to be one of four central agencies
Featuring an image of Act leader and minister of regulation David Seymour atop a horse (from an Act video in 2022), Newsroom’s Emma Hatton reports that the Ministry of Regulation has left the starting gate. The ministry and accompanying Regulatory Standards legislation (slated to be passed by the end of the year) were key planks in Act’s election campaign and part of its coalition agreement with National. Introduced at the party’s conference in June last year, it was billed as three-pronged: the new act, the ministry and enforcement to ensure “bad law” was cut out of the system. As Hatton writes, the ministry will be one of four “central agencies” alongside Treasury, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Public Service Commission.
Interim CEO appointed
Grainne Moss, formerly CEO of Oranga Tamariki, and private residential aged care provider, Bupa, has been appointed interim chief executive. As Hatton notes, Moss’s departure from Bupa was sudden, and her time at Oranga Tamariki was shortlived. The new ministry will be partly funded by the disestablishment of the Productivity Commission, which closed at the end of February. The Herald’s Kate MacNamara reports (paywalled) that it will have three times the staff of the Commission and is “likely to be considerably more well-funded”. MacNamara suggests that the “optics” are likely to be uncomfortable amid the election promises of less government spending and the pressure on the public service to save money.
Bridges appointed as transport chair
Simon Bridges has been appointed Chair of Waka Kotahi, the New Zealand Transport Agency. Bridges was transport minister between 2014 and 2017. The 2015/2016 government policy statement on land transport, which Bridges fronted, prioritised “economic growth and productivity, road safety, and value for money.” The new draft government policy statement on land transport released last week names four key strategic priorities: economic growth and productivity, safety, value for money and increased maintenance and resilience.
Vacancies in key roles allow new government to make mark
As Jem Traylen reports for BusinessDesk (paywalled), key roles are currently vacant in two of the four “central agencies” named above. A chief is being sought for the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the role of public service commissioner is also vacant after Peter Hughes finished at the end of February. Top job vacancies also exist at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and for Defence Force. Peter Boshier is also stepping down as Chief Ombudsman for no reason, it seems, other than a very old law that dictates any Ombudsman must step down once that have “attained the age of 72”.
Finally, in truly coincidental departure-related news, after two years as editor of The Bulletin, I will step down from this extraordinary role in the next couple of months. In happy news, I am sticking around as Head of Audience at The Spinoff and will also be writing for the site. I will properly sign off in due course but applications are now open for the role of editor of The Bulletin.