A big blow to faith in them came this week with the Waikato Medical School decision.
Later in the week, reports emerged about the tobacco industry targeting New Zealand First and Winston Peters.
This isn’t the place to go into the details behind the Waikato decision. The ODT and others have outlined the machinations.
Former University of Otago politics lecturer Bryce Edwards, now director of the new Integrity Institute, summed it up: ‘‘The government’s decision ... is not, at its core, a decision about health policy. It is a decision about political power, influence, and the erosion of good process. This project serves as a textbook case study of policy capture, where the interests of a well-connected institution, amplified by high-powered lobbyists, have overridden expert advice, fiscal prudence, and superior alternatives.’’
Cynicism is further compounded because the government had still not released a business case that almost everyone doubts by late on Friday afternoon.
This is a well-rehearsed delay tactic. The politicians wait until much of the heat has dissipated from the issue. The boat has sailed on the details of dodgy figures, assumptions and premises.
The cited $233million price tag for the new medical school is ludicrously low. When costs inevitably rise, taxpayers will be left to foot the bill.
Waikato University will struggle to meet even its supposed $150m contribution — let alone more.
So much of what goes on across the political spectrum destroys hope and trust. This behaviour opens the door wide for a vile, dangerous beast like Donald Trump or the foolish shoot-both-your-own-feet Brexit referendum result.
No wonder Civis plaintively cries, ‘‘A plague on all your houses’’.
★★★
Dunedinite Geoff Simons dobbed in dubious cones and nonsensical speed limits in an email a few weeks back.
Geoff agrees we don’t want to endanger workers. But for several weeks, near the Highgate end of busy Kenmure Rd, this string of cones was in place. The speed limit for about 500m was 30kmh.
Geoff — like everyone else — soon ignored the 30kmh limit. Who wouldn’t, when the cones didn’t even extend as far as a parked car, and there was no activity for weeks?
By the time workers return to such sites, motorists have ingrained the habit of ignoring those earlier, unnecessary speed signs.
★★★
Hardly a cone was in sight when Geoff visited France for two months during the Rugby World Cup in 2023.
The few he spotted were on motorways and spread a lot further apart than here. Surprising, really, given France’s reputation for bureaucracy.
For example, French law traditionally requires those in organised sports events to provide a medical certificate confirming they’re fit to participate. Athletics has further recent requirements.
The Parkrun organisation abandoned hopes for French events, concluding the obligations and risks were impossible for a volunteer group.
Geoff also captured the above scene, sans cones — one which would not be replicated in New Zealand.
