The motel industry should be somewhat concerned that the State Service Commission has recently asked for proposals on ways to reduce government department travel by 15 percent by 2010.One of the major markets for the motel industry is the increasing guest nights consumed by the public sector. This has coincided with the number of people working for government departments blossoming by 11% between 2002 and June last year to a whopping 325,000. The number of public servants in Wellington
Labour has been recently accused of being obsessed with increasing public service bureaucracy at an unprecedented rate that has resulted in the public sector leading the market, rather than the private sector.... So is the government now showing concern and introducing controls on spending taxpayers’ money as carefully as hardworking Kiwi families and businesses.... well NO!
According to the State Service Commission, there is no acknowledgment that government should be rationalizing spending other people's money or reducing the weight of the public sector. Instead, the State Service Commission wishes to focus on saving the planet! Apparently, the enemy of the state is greenhouse gas emissions, they need to be reduced and sustainable transport practices need to be accelerated...
The State Service Commission said in its request for information that it wanted ideas on how technology such as video conferencing and teleworking could work to meet travel reducing targets. Interested parties have until August 31 to respond.
