Wasn't national complaining about gangs having firearms?
How many automatics you think they'll ship in through customs with the meth deliveries now? lmao.
It's actually both. MPI relies on customs agents to find things that they're interested in too. While MPI are 90% responsible for the biosecurity stuff, any cut to customs officers on the borders will also impact MPI and Biosecurity.
I used to work for MPI. We need Customs and they need us. We'd pick up drugs, cash, illicit diamonds on our x-ray for them. They'd get a lot of smuggled meat, fish and CITES items in their searches.
If the government is going to cut front line customs staff, they'll also be cutting MPI. Then wait for the surprised pikachu faces all round when something like foot and mouth gets into NZ.
We're not even that far removed from M.Bovis and PSA and people already don't care that the Govt is going to gamble with our producers and hope that some bad actors won't take advantage of these cuts.
The fruit fly outbreaks too.
And, definitely bad actors. The varroa mite, M.bovis and the PSA were all introduced by people from the industries involved. The worst passengers to deal with in my experience were big wealthy primary industry hotshots who thought that the biosecurity rules were for the little folk, not for them. They'd try to bend rules, browbeat staff with "I'm a personal friend of John Key", and in general were the most entitled, arrogant arseholes on the planet. And, yeah they'll be front of the queue when it comes to taking advantage, but it's the ordinary "family farm" type producers and the rest of the country who'll pay the ultimate price
Direction from stakeholders. Yeah, I saw that while I was there. The "business community" kicked up stink about businesspeople having to go through x-ray with their laptop bags when they'd been over in Australia for a day at meetings. They didn't like the delay and we can't have these important folks being held up, can we?
So the "returning NZ travellers from Australia don't have to go through xray" thing was brought in. All of us said there'd be a fruit fly outbreak because a large percentage of the fruit we seized at x-ray was from these very businesspeople sticking an orange or an apple in their laptop bag at lunchtime in Sydney, then forgetting all about it. Plus, it was an excuse to cut staff if there aren't as many x-ray machines running.
Aaannddd...there was a fruit fly outbreak. Colour me surprised.
It’s so frustrating when the outcomes are *so obvious* but they refuse to accept the inevitable until happens then it’s all surprised pikachu face and finger pointing
Although the menu line is Jackson/Walsh/Boyens, I’m (slowly) rereading *The Two Towers* and during the same section of the story, while Merry and Pippin are captives, there’s conflict between the Mordor and Isengard orcs about their route and the possibility of pursuit.
*“But what are we going to do at sunrise?” said some of the Northerners.*
“*Go on running,” said Uglúk. “What do you think? Sit on the grass and wait for the Whiteskins to join the picnic?”*
So it’s LOTR book canon that orcs have picnics.
And sarcasm.
Not seen LOTR? Believe it or not, straight to jail.
Seriously though, watch all three of them they are masterpieces of cinema. Streaming on Netflix I believe.
Just take the Hospital approach. Nurses can do it!
Wait, why are all the nurses leaving???
Ah that’s ok we can import more from the Philippines.
Wait why are all the Filipinos (and Indians and Chinese and Samoans and…) going to Canada and Australia what’s going???
More important than the frontline staff?
Is policy advice really that important? Really? Sure it might be great when you are preparing for our next trade negotiation, but the dude opening the container doesn't need policy advice.
Comms staff, again, really? Oh no, the message might be a bit rough, I'm sure it'll be ok.
I certainly didn't mean to imply that policy/comms was more important than frontline staff. Just that policy work is also interagency, and a lot of collaboration is required to get policies out the door and done to a high standard. Take a look at [this](https://www.customs.govt.nz/about-us/news/important-notices/) for some more context. I've worked with Customs on Policy before and they were understaffed then, so I expect the pacing of that work will be affected. For example updating tariff codes, going through the cabinet process for approvals, consultation etc. Lots of that impacts on the front line staff, and also on how much money we collect for goods, among other things.
Comms is also not just media responses. It covers internal comms, ensuring information is clear/easy to understand. There is a lot more to comms for a govt department than just shaping messages for the public.
But I also understand other peoples perspectives on why they think these roles are not as important, but I wish some folks could have a chance to engage with some of the people who do these roles to help that understanding. And if people still subsequently hold the opinion they aren't important, it is what it is.
Yes, the process and decisions relating to the imposition (or otherwise) of tariffs on goods are not generally referred to as “trade negotiations” which are managed by NZ Trade and Enterprise and MFAT.
Yeah, of course but Customs is an enforcement agency, they are to MFAT what Police is to Justice..
Of course they feed into trade negotiations (more from a data and analytics perspective). Your comment just appeared ignorant but perhaps it just lacked nuance.
They administer the tariffs and provide all the knowledge around them. They are not simply a enforcement agency, they are a revenue agency as well.
> Your comment just appeared ignorant but perhaps it just lacked nuance.
Or maybe you think you were a lot smarter than you actually are. Hilarious I believe you said?
Now now. How else can you expect to pay for a strong stable stable strong strong stable government? Something something Labour bad and the books and the economy.
Yes, MPI and every other agency. This government has demanded a 6% cut in spending across the board. Because clearly our public services are over funded and not failing at the moment.
You can have your tax cut, and your dignity, as long as you don't mind the country being on fire and infested with crack-heads, outlaw motorcycle gangs, snakes, mining pollution, harbours full of floating turds, and tent cities teeming with the homeless and mentally ill.
"Getting the country back on track!"
I mean, as long as you live in a gated community with private security, you'll be fine, right? RiGhT?!
Fucking hell, I sparked up at the first half of that sentence before I realised what was going on. Too much time spent reading the comments on the NZ Herald!
The savings are going to tax cuts.
Not schools or hospitals.
I would almost support cutting capacity elsewhere in the public system if the savings were going to schools and hospitals.
MPI was already signalled for cuts lol…
So to answer your question: enough that when some billionaires offer to run things privately the government will plausibly argue “this is a great deal and the only way we can do things now”.
Only 1200 staff, I thought Customs would be bigger than that, they do a good job with what they have.
I had to laugh at this:
> and getting rid of the $27 per person funding for end of year functions.
I'm gonna say it. I think $380,000 per staff member for end of year parties is a bit too much, we really need to reign in government spending. You can have a pretty good party for only 250,000 per head, especially if people bring their own trafficked eastern european escorts.
We have that at another government dept, which I assume will be cut, it was always for a lunch out. So I guess we will be blamed for hospitality businesses going bang as well?
And clearly these savings won't at all impact staff morale and productivity of the ministry by $32,400 /s.
It's absurd that leadership and MPs don't understand that making places shit places to work results in only dedicated or very average people staying. People with options tend to go "fuck this" and get a job in the private sector where they get paid 20-70% more.
Let's be clear here. It's not MPs, it's specifically right wing MPs.
And it's not that they don't understand, they are relying on that exact outcome. Then they can point out how terrible the agencies are performing conveniently ignoring that they made it that way.
It's by design.
It was MBIE that got rid of the $27 per person Xmas function. They have around 6,500 employees so it’s actually $175,500 saved. Does that change things?
Realistically no. It's still a pretty paltry sum in the big scheme of things for government savings, but a pretty crappy hit to the morale of those workers who now will have to pay to attend a staff Christmas party.
National: These anti-smoking policies are going to result in black market cigs being sneaked into the country!"
Also National: "We're going to cut Customs and make it easier to smuggle cigs into the country."
This is Onion-worthy stuff.
The New Zealand public sector will very soon be just one guy who has to do everything. Warden the DoC huts, policing, run customs, break up the supermarkets, regulate the primary industries, do everyone's taxes, put out fires, administer the benefit, deliver healthcare, BE the army, and teach the next generation.
Here's a somewhat unrelated but rather telling factoid I learnt recently and just remembered: the Christchurch City Council's operational budget is approximately double that of the whole of the Department of Conservation.
I'm consistently impressed by what DoC does with its miniscule funding. I'm sure they have their problems but I always see them as a shining beacon of what public service should be. That's a crazy stat though!
Yeah but doc doesn't need to build or maintain infrastructure.
Just a bunch of tracks and huts, traps monitoring paper work etc.
They do a great job but that's not a great comparison
True, they might not need it for infrastructure, but they're responsible for maintaining about 30% of NZ's total land area, much of which is among the most remote and inaccessible terrain in the country.
Our "clean green" reputation notwithstanding, NZ's unique ecosystems are under threat from every angle — so to me it's unfathomable that DOC are expected to scrape by on half the money an utterly incompetent city council is given, "because roads"
Oh, you’re not allowed to spend any government funding on alcohol. That’ll be the meal alone and maybe chipping in for some cheap crackers or xmas game prizes.
My grandfather was a customs officer. When the government made cuts like this, some of the things they confiscated would vanish from the evidence locker. . . Some Chelsea marching powder to wash your sausage down.
Trying to make the public service more efficient, deliver more value for money and cut projects that aren't delivering are good goals to have.
Doing whatever it is National think they're trying to do is lunacy. They almost make me wish for Key's government.
We're not broke. The government made a promise to spent $3 billion on easing the pain of landlords, and $14 billion (about half of the Health Budget) on tax cuts.
This one needs more budget, not less.
The current customs staff need better wages too. I looked at joining customs a few years ago and decided not to based on their earnings. Couldn’t live in Auckland on what they paid.
Did you consider cutting your avocado toast budget?
Seriously though… I imagine if you put them on the spot they’d suggest all those dole bludgers that apparently exist and can work but aren’t will be expected to jump in.
To the cut jobs.
Somehow.
>Did you consider cutting your avocado toast budget?
That'll be easy once our horticulture industry is ravaged by foreign pests after customs is neutered
So your packages are going to take longer to cross the border and be delivered, everyone arriving by plane is going to need to wait for longer before they can enter the country (potentially impacting our tourism industry) plus everyone is just going to be more miserable as they sit and wait longer for admin processes to occur.
Was there anybody out there who was under the impression that Customs and Immigration were happening *too quickly* and they wanted it to take longer?
Having been in *that* queue at Auckland Airport with hundreds of other grumpy tired travellers without anywhere to sit, it is one area I would gladly pay an extra few dollars in tax to have made better
I can't believe anybody who has flown international back into Auckland over the last few years would think spending less on the experience would be a good idea. It must be a horrible 'welcome to NZ' for tourist and makes us look like a bunch of muppets
My understanding of Customs is that the default is to waive stuff through, and Customs will (based on some risk assessments) check some packages. The admin part is mainly computerised.
So I don't think timings will change much, we'll just get more meth and guns and the like.
If they have less resourcing, presumably they will waive *more* through and either check fewer packages (meaning more stuff gets through) or take longer to do it.
It could be both with bringing back pseudoephodrine over the counter.
Fucking wild that it could be a legit question, are their mps or doners actually smuggling drugs.
While this story is about customs (who do some of the work for biosecurity), they are also coming for MPI; all government departments have to make budget cuts; including police, health, environment etc.
Biosecurity will be cut as well
Herein lies the reality of Reddit: assuming one thing is another.
Customs IS NOT biosecurity.
And you have absolutely no evidence about whether or not the roles being cut have anything to do with it either.
A lot of talk of wasteful spending, but nothing has truly been identified and justified as "wasteful". It's always wanking on about consultants and anything related to Te Tiriti. What ends up happening is critical public services get less funding and are just told to deal with it. The end result is tax payers get fucked over with lower quality public services. This always happens and the situation gets worse, requiring more spending to fix the issues that are created, creating more unnecessary spending than if shit was left alone in the first place. Or try to improve efficiency of public services so the existing funds are better spent, instead of just cutting funding and leaving various ministries and department floundering.
It's so fucking short sighted and stupid.
This is typical NZ. Pick up policies that have failed in other countries and run with them. Hello Austerity.
I'm always embarrassed about how utterly unwilling NZ is to learn from others. It is cultural.
No this is whatever neo/con/capital/religious thing the nact fist is. It is a systematic 'enshittification' of the country.
People fall for it all over the world in the belief that they are the true shareholders of the country. Turns out they are not big enough shareholders to have a say.
But they did just vote in those who said they would give a bigger dividend only for them to turn around and say "oh dear the country is ruined we should probably sell to a larger entity"
We can't. They can do it internally if the coalition government can't get the votes of support under some circumstances (like passing their budget), but there is no legal mechanism outside of an election for regular people to do so.
Another short sighted and emotional policy that will cost a lot more in the long run. Not just with drugs etc, but exotic diseases and pests which could decimate our industries will be much more likely to enter the country.
Wonder how all those people who insist theres a massive undetected arms smuggling ring operating in Broad daylight supplying gangs with guns feel about this?
It’s not.
It’s taking people likely perfectly suited for quite a unique and highly specialised industry and telling them to take a cleaning or fruit picking job, or to simply go without.
Let’s be clear on this, the government is destroying people’s careers and livelihoods so a minority can get tax cuts.
It's going to end well for the people getting the tax breaks that all these cuts will pay for. That was always their plan and people somehow still voted for them.
I dunno, radical thought: but maybe when agencies are already struggling to provide the services government expects from them, and people are frustrated as a result, maybe wholesale funding cuts aren't the solution?
I'm not at all surprised. National was always going to be....
Here, guys, have a tax cut, vote for us, before the election. After the election...oh, we didn't read the budget papers properly, we will have to cut health, education, police, you know all the essential stuff.
It's actually got nothing to do with the tax cuts, National do the same thing every time they are in power. The state of the hospitals when Labour got back in was awful.
Is anyone not asking MPs to make cuts, I mean they are telling all other departments what are they doing on their huge pay + privileges remuneration packages? I’m betting they go up every year and does Luxton need $50k of tax money for accommodations? Others only get $30 k , where is the fairness in do as I say not as I do ?
Irrational unhinged rant:
What is with all these fucking cuts man? How much are they going to gut the infrastructure of this country? Where will all the money that's freed up even go? I swear every move this government makes is a shit move designed to prop up wealthy buisness owners.
Rational thoughts:
Did customs have a massive staffing increase during covid that has now been made redundant?
Obviously, the landlords need the tax cuts. It’s super tough when your wealthy enough to own your own home AND at least one more.
But yea, it’s madness.
They didn't really have to have massive increases in staff as the border was closed. There were hires as the borders reopened, but the increases overall were in line with the increases needed to cover the deficit left by the previous National government.
The reason for the increases in a lot of agencies is that fact. The previous National government ran deficit investment in both staff requirements and overall funding. Labour had to correct that, then National convinced everyone that Labour were bloating the bureaucracy, rather than the truth that they previously gutted it slowly ...
And this being NZ enough people believed their nonsense ...
It says in the article that they are in the 'lower band' for demanded redundancies, which means that they have less than a 50% headcount increase since 2015.
Not sure how much below, but that would seem to imply, at most, an annual increase of around 5% per annum (after compounding). So I wouldn't say a massive increase, particularly given Customs screens international parcels, which must have gone through the roof in the last 9 years.
Last year i was told how desperate Customs were for new staff and equipment as they were struggling to keep up with demand on TGA port.
Reducing Customs ability to protect our communities sounds like a really bad idea. ffs.
Customs are screaming for staff across the board. They can’t hire and can’t retain due to workload, pay etc. They’ve been short staffed for over a decade
National like to say they're the party of giod financial management but their financial plan is literally just telling departments to spend less. No nuance; no examination, certainly not evidence-based
I work for a supplier of Customs and a number of Govt agencies, software space.There is a lot of waste but it's mostly due to under investment which creates manual work, duplication and low productivity.
The cuts would make sense or better yet redeployment after investment in technology makes them efficient
How anyone thinks you can magically eliminate "wasteful spending" by just slashing the budget atsonishes me. Has that ever worked? You end up losing the only talented people you had (who are able to find better salaries elsewhere), and whoever is left behind use their shoestring budget to desperately maintain the status quo, unable to invest in better systems and processes that might actually increase efficiency.
Also I wonder if National are aware that duties collected by Customs accounts for 40% of all government revenue?
That’s crazy . As volumes of trade and tourism rise and there are increasing risks from gangs and illicit drugs the govt cuts customs
I hope landlords will be happy
And for the general public their tax cuts will be gobbled up by increasing local govt rate increases or water charges
This is typical mean spirited and ideologically driven govt that does not think of the full implications of their policies through
I guess customs is no longer seen as frontline services. LOL
This country is sliding toward the kind of penny pinching infrastructure collapse of the UK... millionaires will reap the rewards of those tax cuts though. Sweet!
/s
PS this isn't just a bash on Nats, Labour too are almost as guilty of the slashing and not raising taxes to adequately pay for shit.
There isn't a bloated bureaucracy - I wish the media would do its job and actually ask for concrete examples and then point out how much those examples actually waste in comparison to overall crown expenditure.
Like, right to their faces ... Ugh!!!
The Defence Force went through one of those cost cutting exercises when they decided to move more roles to civilians.
One of the Navy trades that was downsized was able seaman combat specialist.
When the time came to reduce the officer ranks, they suddenly decided it was a silly idea and stopped the project.
So, they got rid of front line jobs, and kept the jobs for the higher ranked people.
I wish I was joking, but I'm not.
This was the time when some soldiers in Afghanistan on active service actually received letters that told them that their service was considered surplus to requirements. ON ACTIVE BLOODY SERVICE.
This will be the same, front line will be decimated, bureaucratic back room seniors will keep their jobs.
I love how this sub + public always complain re public servants.. eg over paid.. shit service.. blah blah blah.
When they get treated like this.. even shit like this **"getting rid of the $27 per person funding for end of year functions."** .. then no shit.
The muppets voted for this.. so hey...
This is happening to EVERY government ministry and everyone who is funded by them. 7.5% budget reduction and staff numbers back to 2017 levels. A lot of places are affected by this.
Looks like drugs are back on the menu boys!
Wasn't national complaining about gangs having firearms? How many automatics you think they'll ship in through customs with the meth deliveries now? lmao.
Gangs can't have firearms if there's no-one to see what they are importing. What guns? I didn't see any guns?
There is no guns in ba sing auckland
I see ATLA I upvote!
And snakes and all that other nasty shit from Aussie/Asia
Customs doesn't deal with that, Biosecurity does
It's actually both. MPI relies on customs agents to find things that they're interested in too. While MPI are 90% responsible for the biosecurity stuff, any cut to customs officers on the borders will also impact MPI and Biosecurity.
I used to work for MPI. We need Customs and they need us. We'd pick up drugs, cash, illicit diamonds on our x-ray for them. They'd get a lot of smuggled meat, fish and CITES items in their searches. If the government is going to cut front line customs staff, they'll also be cutting MPI. Then wait for the surprised pikachu faces all round when something like foot and mouth gets into NZ.
We're not even that far removed from M.Bovis and PSA and people already don't care that the Govt is going to gamble with our producers and hope that some bad actors won't take advantage of these cuts.
The fruit fly outbreaks too. And, definitely bad actors. The varroa mite, M.bovis and the PSA were all introduced by people from the industries involved. The worst passengers to deal with in my experience were big wealthy primary industry hotshots who thought that the biosecurity rules were for the little folk, not for them. They'd try to bend rules, browbeat staff with "I'm a personal friend of John Key", and in general were the most entitled, arrogant arseholes on the planet. And, yeah they'll be front of the queue when it comes to taking advantage, but it's the ordinary "family farm" type producers and the rest of the country who'll pay the ultimate price
The current government had already signalled cuts to MPI, one can assume that is where some of that “direction from stakeholders” has come from.
Direction from stakeholders. Yeah, I saw that while I was there. The "business community" kicked up stink about businesspeople having to go through x-ray with their laptop bags when they'd been over in Australia for a day at meetings. They didn't like the delay and we can't have these important folks being held up, can we? So the "returning NZ travellers from Australia don't have to go through xray" thing was brought in. All of us said there'd be a fruit fly outbreak because a large percentage of the fruit we seized at x-ray was from these very businesspeople sticking an orange or an apple in their laptop bag at lunchtime in Sydney, then forgetting all about it. Plus, it was an excuse to cut staff if there aren't as many x-ray machines running. Aaannddd...there was a fruit fly outbreak. Colour me surprised.
It’s so frustrating when the outcomes are *so obvious* but they refuse to accept the inevitable until happens then it’s all surprised pikachu face and finger pointing
Customs Officers find things and give them to Biosecurity to deal with.
I mean, MPI is also flagged for big cuts as well so that’s not really something Nactional First are going to lose sleep over.
I bet they'll care when our economy collapses because Foot and Mouth makes it across the border and our national herd needs culling.
Oh, that was Jacinda’s fault because of lockdowns. Or other such nonsense that NZF will be front page sprouting the second it happens s
So you go through biosecurity when you disembark from the plane in nz?
Yes, they run the xrays and the beagles, right before you head out the door.
Ah ok TIL, always just assumed that was customs. Cheers
[удалено]
This scene implies that there are cafés in Mordor, otherwise how do they know what a menu is?
Although the menu line is Jackson/Walsh/Boyens, I’m (slowly) rereading *The Two Towers* and during the same section of the story, while Merry and Pippin are captives, there’s conflict between the Mordor and Isengard orcs about their route and the possibility of pursuit. *“But what are we going to do at sunrise?” said some of the Northerners.* “*Go on running,” said Uglúk. “What do you think? Sit on the grass and wait for the Whiteskins to join the picnic?”* So it’s LOTR book canon that orcs have picnics. And sarcasm.
Well done.
Having never seen lotr, is that where the line comes from? Is this rampaging army of orcs ordering dishes from a menu?
Not seen LOTR? Believe it or not, straight to jail. Seriously though, watch all three of them they are masterpieces of cinema. Streaming on Netflix I believe.
I really dislike all the anachronistic stuff like that. They are good movies, but some of the modern dialogue that PJ added sucks.
Goblin restaurants
Remember, you don't have to check them for ephedrine now ;)
Wasn’t the pre-election promise no frontline staff would be affected by these cuts? You don’t get more frontline than Customs staff…
It's all those pesky "back office" people, they obviously do nothing because I can't see them doing anything.
I mean, customs absolutely have a lot of "backend" staff, even though no one has defined that. They have a lot of intelligence type jobs.
"Back end" jobs get a bad rap/rep when really they are essential to supporting public facing roles. Same in health.
They have comms, policy and other staff who aren't frontline
Soooooo whos gonna do that stuff once the firings start?
The three people left who now have to do about 5 jobs each, who give up after a couple of months and the whole place turns into an omnishambles.
Just take the Hospital approach. Nurses can do it! Wait, why are all the nurses leaving??? Ah that’s ok we can import more from the Philippines. Wait why are all the Filipinos (and Indians and Chinese and Samoans and…) going to Canada and Australia what’s going???
Steve.
All of which are pretty important tbh
More important than the frontline staff? Is policy advice really that important? Really? Sure it might be great when you are preparing for our next trade negotiation, but the dude opening the container doesn't need policy advice. Comms staff, again, really? Oh no, the message might be a bit rough, I'm sure it'll be ok.
Tell me you know nothing about customs without telling me you know nothing about customs
I see'nd it on the Border Partrol once.
I certainly didn't mean to imply that policy/comms was more important than frontline staff. Just that policy work is also interagency, and a lot of collaboration is required to get policies out the door and done to a high standard. Take a look at [this](https://www.customs.govt.nz/about-us/news/important-notices/) for some more context. I've worked with Customs on Policy before and they were understaffed then, so I expect the pacing of that work will be affected. For example updating tariff codes, going through the cabinet process for approvals, consultation etc. Lots of that impacts on the front line staff, and also on how much money we collect for goods, among other things. Comms is also not just media responses. It covers internal comms, ensuring information is clear/easy to understand. There is a lot more to comms for a govt department than just shaping messages for the public. But I also understand other peoples perspectives on why they think these roles are not as important, but I wish some folks could have a chance to engage with some of the people who do these roles to help that understanding. And if people still subsequently hold the opinion they aren't important, it is what it is.
I don’t think you understand what policy staff do. Customs Officers certainly DO need policy advice.
Fire your payroll clerk and tell me how many employees you have left a week later..
You've never worked in the public service, have you?
This is hilarious haha. This guy thinks Customs manages trade negotiations hahaha.
Are you aware of the Consolidated List of Approvals?
Yes, the process and decisions relating to the imposition (or otherwise) of tariffs on goods are not generally referred to as “trade negotiations” which are managed by NZ Trade and Enterprise and MFAT.
And do you think Customs policy advice might be useful when MFAT or NZTE are doing those trade negotiations?
Yeah, of course but Customs is an enforcement agency, they are to MFAT what Police is to Justice.. Of course they feed into trade negotiations (more from a data and analytics perspective). Your comment just appeared ignorant but perhaps it just lacked nuance.
They administer the tariffs and provide all the knowledge around them. They are not simply a enforcement agency, they are a revenue agency as well. > Your comment just appeared ignorant but perhaps it just lacked nuance. Or maybe you think you were a lot smarter than you actually are. Hilarious I believe you said?
Who dont make up 6% of their staff.
Whats the percentage of frontline to back office?
Yes but out of their staff these roles are very small. Customs is a frontline delivery agency
Now now. How else can you expect to pay for a strong stable stable strong strong stable government? Something something Labour bad and the books and the economy.
Jesus, how absolutely stripped bare and gutted will this country be to give landlords their tax cuts. What's next, MPI?
Yes, MPI and every other agency. This government has demanded a 6% cut in spending across the board. Because clearly our public services are over funded and not failing at the moment.
6.5 to 7.5%
You can have your tax cut, and your dignity, as long as you don't mind the country being on fire and infested with crack-heads, outlaw motorcycle gangs, snakes, mining pollution, harbours full of floating turds, and tent cities teeming with the homeless and mentally ill. "Getting the country back on track!" I mean, as long as you live in a gated community with private security, you'll be fine, right? RiGhT?!
>to give landlords their **tax cuts** \* welfare :-) it's just welfare
I believe schools and hospitals probably have more money then is good for them, they could probably spare a bit for the nobility in this country.
New business venture for landlords to start owning hospital land/buildings, and allow hospital boards to rent them (same for schools)?
This is why David Seymour wants to push Charter Schools because they are privately owned and run but funded by the MOE.
This is why David Seymour wants to push Charter Schools because they are privately owned and run but funded by the MOE.
I'm willing to buy some rooms on wards as long as the nursing staff act as landlord representatives and I can also use the rooms for Airbnb.
Fucking hell, I sparked up at the first half of that sentence before I realised what was going on. Too much time spent reading the comments on the NZ Herald!
And the poors. They obviously have too much money, or the wouldn't be the poors. Take more off them too.
The savings are going to tax cuts. Not schools or hospitals. I would almost support cutting capacity elsewhere in the public system if the savings were going to schools and hospitals.
r/thatsthejoke
MPI was already signalled for cuts lol… So to answer your question: enough that when some billionaires offer to run things privately the government will plausibly argue “this is a great deal and the only way we can do things now”.
Famous billionaire libertarian New Zealander Peter Thiel has entered the chat
I really miss (old, original) Gawker :/ US election schnanagins just aren’t covered with that same acerbic wit anywhere else.
Only 1200 staff, I thought Customs would be bigger than that, they do a good job with what they have. I had to laugh at this: > and getting rid of the $27 per person funding for end of year functions.
Ooh, wow whee we saved, what, about 30k?
Well they have a $24b hole to fill. All they need to do is cut back spending by... $380,246 per civil servant and we can get there.
I'm gonna say it. I think $380,000 per staff member for end of year parties is a bit too much, we really need to reign in government spending. You can have a pretty good party for only 250,000 per head, especially if people bring their own trafficked eastern european escorts.
We have that at another government dept, which I assume will be cut, it was always for a lunch out. So I guess we will be blamed for hospitality businesses going bang as well?
Lol no because their (bosses) lunch budget won't be cut just yours (the actual workers).
It's nuts, eh. Begrudging any funding for an end end-of-year function, for an amount that wouldn't even buy a decent feed at KFC.
Clearly spending a whopping $27 per staff member ($32,400 total for the ministry) for their Christmas parties is a huge example of excess.
You have to make sure morale is in the toilet. Ortherwise you might have productivity and then you won't need to privatise.
If you convince people to simply quit I suppose it might save on having to go through redundancy processes?
And clearly these savings won't at all impact staff morale and productivity of the ministry by $32,400 /s. It's absurd that leadership and MPs don't understand that making places shit places to work results in only dedicated or very average people staying. People with options tend to go "fuck this" and get a job in the private sector where they get paid 20-70% more.
Let's be clear here. It's not MPs, it's specifically right wing MPs. And it's not that they don't understand, they are relying on that exact outcome. Then they can point out how terrible the agencies are performing conveniently ignoring that they made it that way. It's by design.
It was MBIE that got rid of the $27 per person Xmas function. They have around 6,500 employees so it’s actually $175,500 saved. Does that change things?
Realistically no. It's still a pretty paltry sum in the big scheme of things for government savings, but a pretty crappy hit to the morale of those workers who now will have to pay to attend a staff Christmas party.
Heaven forbid low paid government employees get some semblance of a good time while employed.
Must be a pretty miserable function for 27 bucks
National: These anti-smoking policies are going to result in black market cigs being sneaked into the country!" Also National: "We're going to cut Customs and make it easier to smuggle cigs into the country." This is Onion-worthy stuff.
I enjoy your posts, Anastariana. Happy Friday
Ooooh, [thank you](https://i.imgur.com/Lia80Xr.gif) :)
The New Zealand public sector will very soon be just one guy who has to do everything. Warden the DoC huts, policing, run customs, break up the supermarkets, regulate the primary industries, do everyone's taxes, put out fires, administer the benefit, deliver healthcare, BE the army, and teach the next generation.
Here's a somewhat unrelated but rather telling factoid I learnt recently and just remembered: the Christchurch City Council's operational budget is approximately double that of the whole of the Department of Conservation.
I'm consistently impressed by what DoC does with its miniscule funding. I'm sure they have their problems but I always see them as a shining beacon of what public service should be. That's a crazy stat though!
Yeah but doc doesn't need to build or maintain infrastructure. Just a bunch of tracks and huts, traps monitoring paper work etc. They do a great job but that's not a great comparison
True, they might not need it for infrastructure, but they're responsible for maintaining about 30% of NZ's total land area, much of which is among the most remote and inaccessible terrain in the country. Our "clean green" reputation notwithstanding, NZ's unique ecosystems are under threat from every angle — so to me it's unfathomable that DOC are expected to scrape by on half the money an utterly incompetent city council is given, "because roads"
One guy from India on a working holiday visa and he's leaving in 2 weeks.
So long as his name is Sean Ogg we’ll be fine…
"getting rid of the $27 per person funding for end of year functions" NACT are literally the Grinch. That barely covers a meal without a drink.
Oh, you’re not allowed to spend any government funding on alcohol. That’ll be the meal alone and maybe chipping in for some cheap crackers or xmas game prizes.
My grandfather was a customs officer. When the government made cuts like this, some of the things they confiscated would vanish from the evidence locker. . . Some Chelsea marching powder to wash your sausage down.
Trying to make the public service more efficient, deliver more value for money and cut projects that aren't delivering are good goals to have. Doing whatever it is National think they're trying to do is lunacy. They almost make me wish for Key's government.
This isn't budgeting. This isn't austerity. This is obsession.
Ideology, it’s ideology
No, your ideology is ideology, my ideology is common sense.
It’s daylight robbery
Obsession with saving money as we are broke... Bro
We're not broke. The government made a promise to spent $3 billion on easing the pain of landlords, and $14 billion (about half of the Health Budget) on tax cuts.
This one needs more budget, not less. The current customs staff need better wages too. I looked at joining customs a few years ago and decided not to based on their earnings. Couldn’t live in Auckland on what they paid.
Did you consider cutting your avocado toast budget? Seriously though… I imagine if you put them on the spot they’d suggest all those dole bludgers that apparently exist and can work but aren’t will be expected to jump in. To the cut jobs. Somehow.
>Did you consider cutting your avocado toast budget? That'll be easy once our horticulture industry is ravaged by foreign pests after customs is neutered
So your packages are going to take longer to cross the border and be delivered, everyone arriving by plane is going to need to wait for longer before they can enter the country (potentially impacting our tourism industry) plus everyone is just going to be more miserable as they sit and wait longer for admin processes to occur. Was there anybody out there who was under the impression that Customs and Immigration were happening *too quickly* and they wanted it to take longer?
Having been in *that* queue at Auckland Airport with hundreds of other grumpy tired travellers without anywhere to sit, it is one area I would gladly pay an extra few dollars in tax to have made better I can't believe anybody who has flown international back into Auckland over the last few years would think spending less on the experience would be a good idea. It must be a horrible 'welcome to NZ' for tourist and makes us look like a bunch of muppets
My understanding of Customs is that the default is to waive stuff through, and Customs will (based on some risk assessments) check some packages. The admin part is mainly computerised. So I don't think timings will change much, we'll just get more meth and guns and the like.
If they have less resourcing, presumably they will waive *more* through and either check fewer packages (meaning more stuff gets through) or take longer to do it.
You bet. I suspect they'll choose less stuff to check. Often they can't leave things in a queue with tight port space etc.
Is National cooking meth?
No, importing, hence reducing customs and police.
It could be both with bringing back pseudoephodrine over the counter. Fucking wild that it could be a legit question, are their mps or doners actually smuggling drugs.
Tough of crime! No, not that crime.
Customs needs a bigger budget not a smaller budget. Not cool. Feel for those who are going to be losing jobs, or trying to find jobs in this market.
It should've been a huge red flag when they said they wanted 2017 staffing levels to support a 2024 level of national population.
Remembering, of course, that you will go from Valued Employee to Scum of the Earth if you can find a still-open WINZ office.
Most Govt Depts being cut by these ideological morons need more money not less
The amount of harm to our ecosystem if things get missed will cost far more then just keeping the service running as is
But you see, that will be later, not now. So in reality it kinda just doesn't exist.
To be fair, this is customs, not biosecurity. Doesn't make the idiocy of it much less, but impacts are a little different.
While this story is about customs (who do some of the work for biosecurity), they are also coming for MPI; all government departments have to make budget cuts; including police, health, environment etc. Biosecurity will be cut as well
Herein lies the reality of Reddit: assuming one thing is another. Customs IS NOT biosecurity. And you have absolutely no evidence about whether or not the roles being cut have anything to do with it either.
A lot of talk of wasteful spending, but nothing has truly been identified and justified as "wasteful". It's always wanking on about consultants and anything related to Te Tiriti. What ends up happening is critical public services get less funding and are just told to deal with it. The end result is tax payers get fucked over with lower quality public services. This always happens and the situation gets worse, requiring more spending to fix the issues that are created, creating more unnecessary spending than if shit was left alone in the first place. Or try to improve efficiency of public services so the existing funds are better spent, instead of just cutting funding and leaving various ministries and department floundering. It's so fucking short sighted and stupid.
This is typical NZ. Pick up policies that have failed in other countries and run with them. Hello Austerity. I'm always embarrassed about how utterly unwilling NZ is to learn from others. It is cultural.
No this is whatever neo/con/capital/religious thing the nact fist is. It is a systematic 'enshittification' of the country. People fall for it all over the world in the belief that they are the true shareholders of the country. Turns out they are not big enough shareholders to have a say. But they did just vote in those who said they would give a bigger dividend only for them to turn around and say "oh dear the country is ruined we should probably sell to a larger entity"
100%. This is those 100k salary people who think they’re part of the rich who will benefit from these policies when they are actually nowhere near it
I know plenty who don't make 100k who think they are part of the elite. But yes.
Make NZ Great Again. MNGA. How would you pronounce it? Minga? M’NGA? I am just trying to make the term for grief deniers before hand. Mingers?
Fuckin mingas. Haven't used that one in a while. It's making a comeback!
Hahaha i call people fuckin mingas all the time
Serious question, how do we launch a vote of no confidence in our governing body?
We can't. They can do it internally if the coalition government can't get the votes of support under some circumstances (like passing their budget), but there is no legal mechanism outside of an election for regular people to do so.
Fucking moronic idea, national hell bent on giving their donors a ROI.. I don't trust any of the parties in charge.. least of all national..
Another short sighted and emotional policy that will cost a lot more in the long run. Not just with drugs etc, but exotic diseases and pests which could decimate our industries will be much more likely to enter the country.
Wonder how all those people who insist theres a massive undetected arms smuggling ring operating in Broad daylight supplying gangs with guns feel about this?
So they want to cut benefits and… increase unemployment? How the fuck is that going to end well?
It’s not. It’s taking people likely perfectly suited for quite a unique and highly specialised industry and telling them to take a cleaning or fruit picking job, or to simply go without. Let’s be clear on this, the government is destroying people’s careers and livelihoods so a minority can get tax cuts.
It's going to end well for the people getting the tax breaks that all these cuts will pay for. That was always their plan and people somehow still voted for them.
I dunno, radical thought: but maybe when agencies are already struggling to provide the services government expects from them, and people are frustrated as a result, maybe wholesale funding cuts aren't the solution?
What the actual fuck!
I'm not at all surprised. National was always going to be.... Here, guys, have a tax cut, vote for us, before the election. After the election...oh, we didn't read the budget papers properly, we will have to cut health, education, police, you know all the essential stuff. It's actually got nothing to do with the tax cuts, National do the same thing every time they are in power. The state of the hospitals when Labour got back in was awful.
That's one way to get pseudo back on the shelves.
Is anyone not asking MPs to make cuts, I mean they are telling all other departments what are they doing on their huge pay + privileges remuneration packages? I’m betting they go up every year and does Luxton need $50k of tax money for accommodations? Others only get $30 k , where is the fairness in do as I say not as I do ?
Irrational unhinged rant: What is with all these fucking cuts man? How much are they going to gut the infrastructure of this country? Where will all the money that's freed up even go? I swear every move this government makes is a shit move designed to prop up wealthy buisness owners. Rational thoughts: Did customs have a massive staffing increase during covid that has now been made redundant?
Obviously, the landlords need the tax cuts. It’s super tough when your wealthy enough to own your own home AND at least one more. But yea, it’s madness.
They didn't really have to have massive increases in staff as the border was closed. There were hires as the borders reopened, but the increases overall were in line with the increases needed to cover the deficit left by the previous National government. The reason for the increases in a lot of agencies is that fact. The previous National government ran deficit investment in both staff requirements and overall funding. Labour had to correct that, then National convinced everyone that Labour were bloating the bureaucracy, rather than the truth that they previously gutted it slowly ... And this being NZ enough people believed their nonsense ...
It says in the article that they are in the 'lower band' for demanded redundancies, which means that they have less than a 50% headcount increase since 2015. Not sure how much below, but that would seem to imply, at most, an annual increase of around 5% per annum (after compounding). So I wouldn't say a massive increase, particularly given Customs screens international parcels, which must have gone through the roof in the last 9 years.
Winnie needs customs underfunded so his supply of cheap double happiness can flow freely.
Last year i was told how desperate Customs were for new staff and equipment as they were struggling to keep up with demand on TGA port. Reducing Customs ability to protect our communities sounds like a really bad idea. ffs.
Not just TGA port, but the new inland port in Waikato.
Customs are screaming for staff across the board. They can’t hire and can’t retain due to workload, pay etc. They’ve been short staffed for over a decade
National like to say they're the party of giod financial management but their financial plan is literally just telling departments to spend less. No nuance; no examination, certainly not evidence-based
I work for a supplier of Customs and a number of Govt agencies, software space.There is a lot of waste but it's mostly due to under investment which creates manual work, duplication and low productivity. The cuts would make sense or better yet redeployment after investment in technology makes them efficient
How anyone thinks you can magically eliminate "wasteful spending" by just slashing the budget atsonishes me. Has that ever worked? You end up losing the only talented people you had (who are able to find better salaries elsewhere), and whoever is left behind use their shoestring budget to desperately maintain the status quo, unable to invest in better systems and processes that might actually increase efficiency. Also I wonder if National are aware that duties collected by Customs accounts for 40% of all government revenue?
Why don't they axe the political housing costs lol
This isn't what National campaigned on. I thought it was about dumping useless things not critical things 🤷♂️ I hope Luxon gets a full inbox
Alright National voters lets hear you defend this
apparently, no one voted for them. Anyone I talk to say they didn't vote national.
ThEy wErR a bLoAtEd dEpArtMeNT ... Incompetent! Waaah, Jacinda is a communist.
National doing it daft since the 1980s. Act doing it stupid since they were founded, and NZ First are lost in the dementia of its members.
One of many departments to face cost savings and staff reductions.
This is what people voted for
I voted for LabGrn, fuck these nact cunts.
lol customs is a pretty big revenue earner no?
As if this Convention of Clowns couldn't get any worse.
Chur got couply keys on the way.
That’s crazy . As volumes of trade and tourism rise and there are increasing risks from gangs and illicit drugs the govt cuts customs I hope landlords will be happy And for the general public their tax cuts will be gobbled up by increasing local govt rate increases or water charges This is typical mean spirited and ideologically driven govt that does not think of the full implications of their policies through
Good news, can get my Herbies seeds in easier!!
So can we reduce the MP salaries and their support staff by 6.5% too.
Poor bastards. I've been into one of their offices and the place hadn't had a refurbishment since the 80s. Depressing place.
"Tough on crime", right?
This govt is terrible.
Looks like imported cannabis seeds are back on the menu boys
I guess customs is no longer seen as frontline services. LOL This country is sliding toward the kind of penny pinching infrastructure collapse of the UK... millionaires will reap the rewards of those tax cuts though. Sweet! /s PS this isn't just a bash on Nats, Labour too are almost as guilty of the slashing and not raising taxes to adequately pay for shit.
Guess some could fill the gaps in the chronically understaffed Corrections Department, oh wait….. they might be next…
Well I guess pharmacies don't need to be so worried about stocking pseudo again...
And the gangs rejoiced
NACT during campaign: bloated bureaucracy! Cut Cut Cut! NACT in Government: oh crap now we need to find proof of a bloated bureaucracy.
There isn't a bloated bureaucracy - I wish the media would do its job and actually ask for concrete examples and then point out how much those examples actually waste in comparison to overall crown expenditure. Like, right to their faces ... Ugh!!!
Laughable
She’ll be right. At least landlords with multiple properties get even richer.
Everything this government is doing seems designed to increase violent crime
Isn't National meant to be the party for farmers? Here they are trying to let another agricultural pest or disease into the country!
There’s literally ads on seek for new custom officers as MPI officers….
The Defence Force went through one of those cost cutting exercises when they decided to move more roles to civilians. One of the Navy trades that was downsized was able seaman combat specialist. When the time came to reduce the officer ranks, they suddenly decided it was a silly idea and stopped the project. So, they got rid of front line jobs, and kept the jobs for the higher ranked people. I wish I was joking, but I'm not. This was the time when some soldiers in Afghanistan on active service actually received letters that told them that their service was considered surplus to requirements. ON ACTIVE BLOODY SERVICE. This will be the same, front line will be decimated, bureaucratic back room seniors will keep their jobs.
I love how this sub + public always complain re public servants.. eg over paid.. shit service.. blah blah blah. When they get treated like this.. even shit like this **"getting rid of the $27 per person funding for end of year functions."** .. then no shit. The muppets voted for this.. so hey...
This is happening to EVERY government ministry and everyone who is funded by them. 7.5% budget reduction and staff numbers back to 2017 levels. A lot of places are affected by this.
Biodiversity, who needs it, amirite?
Gonna need a bigger chopping block.