New Zealand's shift to corporate-style government has been made plain by the releasing of its first rolling quarterly plan ahead of public service targets expected later this month.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
On Tuesday morning, the second day of Q2 2024, Prime Minister Chris Luxon outlined a 36-point "Action Plan for New Zealand" spelling out goals through to June 30.
The latest checklist comes after a 49-point 100-day plan which it wrapped up last month, awarding itself a gold star for achieving each outcome.
Mr Luxon said quarterly plans were "a good way to organise".
"Otherwise, the danger is things just drift," he said.
"I'm running things differently.
"We can take a decision today and in 13 weeks it should be happening for members of the public."
Mr Luxon leads a right-leaning coalition of his centre-right National, libertarians ACT and populist NZ First parties.
Many of the Q2 items relate to the coalition deals, signed last November, that underpin the government, and the government's first budget, on May 30.
National's signature campaign pledge - income tax relief - features, as does NZ First's promised regional infrastructure fund.
A new Attendance Action Plan will tackle truancy, as well be a new law to realise ACT's long-held goal to re-establish charter schools.
"ACT policies form the leading edge of the government's new quarterly plan, just as they did in the initial 100-day plan," ACT leader David Seymour said, claiming half of the pledges were ACT policies.
Mr Luxon is a former executive and has brought corporate planning to his political career.
Underpinning his success as opposition leader - taking over a divided and unpopular party in December 2021 before winning office in October 2023 - has been the use of discipline and corporate-style tools.
"I'm someone who has come to this job ... having led large organisations and turning a lot of things around and some of those skills are incredibly transferable," he said.
Prior to winning last year's election, he gave each of his shadow ministers KPIs around stakeholder engagement and policy formation.
In an election campaign interview with AAP, Mr Luxon was eager to implement ministerial KPIs, and make them public, to "drive accountability".
"It's called performance and it's about delivering for New Zealanders ... that's what they need to be focused on because that's why we're here," he said.
That is no longer the plan, though the government will issue a wide range of public sector targets and strategies within weeks.
"If you think about education, we want 80 per cent of our kids by 2030 to be ready to go at high school - back in the top 10 countries in the world by 2033," he said on the campaign.
"There's lots of sub goals that lead into those ones but you know, that's what I expect."
Tuesday's plan has drawn criticism, with many of the action items pledging to merely "initiate" or "take decisions" on policies rather than implement them.
One is to "raise the energy" on international relations.
"What on earth does raising the energy New Zealand brings to international relationships mean?" Greens co-leader Chloe Swarbrick said.
"For who precisely, and how in reality, does the government want to 'improve the rental market'?
"Christopher Luxon is not in the boardroom anymore. The irony is these bullet points wouldn't even hold up in the corporate world: vague, immeasurable and untethered from reality and evidence as they are."
Former revenue minister Peter Dunne said the plan had a "gimmicky feel to it".
"On the other hand it does set out a clear set of objectives that can be ticked off," he said.
Australian Associated Press
