The NZCPR is a web-based think tank that takes a research-based approach to public policy matters and encourages the free and open debate of political issues.
Each week the NZCPR publishes a newsletter, which is sent out to a mailing list of over 16,000 readers.
This week's publication includes commentary on the government's previous involvement in a plethora of regulatory matters – often under the guise of health and safety or environmental concerns – that, to put it bluntly, are extraordinarily bureaucratic, largely pointless, and extremely costly:
"Over the last nine years, the state sector has become bloated with wasteful programmes that need to be subjected to a proper audit, asking whether there are cheaper options, whether responsibility for the task could be better carried out by the private sector, or in fact, whether the task needs to be carried out at all!"One example given by Dr Muriel Newman will be of interest to moteliers. This was the unerlateral introduction by Qualmark NZ Ltd of the new environmental criteria embedded into its quality benchmarking criteria for motels:
"The first example provides a snapshot of the mindless but costly environmental doctrine that the previous government imposed on small business. In 2008, without any consultation with industry operators, Qualmark, the government agency that works in partnership with the private sector to assess and rank services provided by tourism operators, expanded their assessment criteria to include new environmental concerns. This means that in order to receive their quality star gradings, accommodation providers are now being assessed on environmental considerations that have no bearing on their core business - such as whether they run a worm farm or compost organic waste – alongside key criteria such as cleanliness, comfort, safety, security, and other guest services! Some $300,000 of taxpayers’ money was used to fund the first two years of this initiative with a further $840,000 pledged over the next three years."We can't agree more with Dr Muriel Newman's sentiments.
The motel industry is on a collision course with Qualmark and we will be following closely how this will play out later this year.
The "Motella" is watching.
Source: Click HERE
