Key on holiday; Labour proposes 1,200 IT apprenticeships, NZ CTO, 'Garage Grants'; Shearer slams 'dumb' power meters; Your view

By Bernard Hickey

With 70 days left until the September 20 election, here's my daily round-up of the political and governmental news from in and around Wellington on Friday July 11, including news Murray McCully has launched a full ministerial Inquiry into the Malaysian immunity waiver debacle.

John Key is on holiday in Hawaii, Labour has released its IT policy and Labour's David Shearer has criticised the electricity industry's 'dumb' smart meters.

The political pace has eased somewhat this week with Parliament in a two week holiday recess that lasts until July 22 and John Key on holiday this week in Hawaii.

Early on Friday afternoon Foreign Minister Murray McCully announced a full public inquiry into the botched handling of a request for Malaysia to waive immunity in a sexual assualt case. The woman involved called on McCully to resign this week and criticised Prime Minister John Key's sincerity.

“A thorough and transparent Inquiry is important, as those managing diplomatic immunity issues for the government need to enjoy the full, unfettered confidence of the New Zealand public,” McCully said.

The Inquiry would be led by former Treasury Secretary John Whitehead and focus on the appropriateness and robustness of procedures for seeking an immunity waiver and the events that took place around the Malaysian diplomat case.

“The Inquiry report will recommend ways to rectify shortcomings and strengthen processes for the future management of diplomatic immunity cases. These events have had a serious impact on a young woman and have quite rightly undermined public confidence in the ability of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade," he said.

McCully declined further comment citing the ongoing judicial process around the case. Here are the Terms of Reference.

Inquiry terms slammed

Labour Foreign Affairs spokesman David Shearer said the terms of reference suggested the Inquiry would investigate everthing but the actions of McCully and Key.

"The terms of reference have been deliberately crafted in a narrow way to avoid any examination of Murray McCully's role in this debacle," Shearer said.

"The Government is using this inquiry to play for time. It's about getting Mr McCully off the hook and the issue out of the news agenda as we head into the heat of the election campaign. New Zealanders expect the buck to stop at the top. Sadly the outcome is predictable. It is likely to find a low-level official to blame and recommend changes to protocols," he said.

The Inquiry is also a missed opportunity to take a deeper look at the dysfunction created within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Murray McCully's heavy-handed restructuring, Shearer said.

"This has had a serious impact on morale and has clearly damaged the lines of communication within the Ministry and to the Minister and Prime Minister at the very top."

Green Co-Leader Metiria Turei said the terms of reference failed to hold McCully to account.

“These terms of reference must be upgraded to cover all the actions, or more to the point inactions, taken by Mr McCully. Mr McCully has been known as a micro-manager throughout his career," Turei said.

“Now, the New Zealand public is being asked to believe that Mr McCully allowed a New Zealand citizen to be denied justice and a major diplomatic fiasco to evolve, while he sat on his hands," she said.

New Zealand First Leader and former Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the Inquiry had all the hallmarks of an "in-house snow job."

Peters said the information from court documents in Malaysia pointed to MFAT officials not acting in isolation from the Government.

“The bail conditions (on May 10), included surrendering his passport in the Wellington District Court within two days, that is, by May 12. So, why didn’t he surrender his passport? Three days later on May 15  ‘at the request of police’ bail conditions were removed which begs the question, who authorised the police to change their stance?," Peters asked.

“To suggest that a middling MFAT official authorised a change in police actions does not make sense from either a law enforcement position or MFAT decision," he said.

“The Minister of Foreign Affairs was briefed on the May 10, the Prime Minister was briefed on May 12, so the government needs to explain why the passport wasn’t surrendered and why the police changed their position."

Labour's IT policy

This morning at Nethui in Auckland, David Cunliffe announced a Labour Government would establish 1,200 digital industry apprenticeships at a cost of NZ$2.1 million in the first year and support first-time entrepreneurs with 'Garage Grants' at a cost of NZ$3.2 million over 4 years.

He also previewed a further policy announcement "on digital infrastructure and connectivity."

Labour would also appoint a Chief Technology Officer to deliver an annual ‘Digital Technology Roadmap’ and a ‘National Digital Architecture’. Here's the full policy document.

Repeating an earlier policy, Labour said it would allow tax deferrals for accelerated depreciation for IT manufacturers and R&D tax incentives.

Labour would also review the skills shortage points system and create a government-backed app store. It would also instruct government agencies to use a 'whole of government' approach to open source software.

"Labour’s Digital Economic Upgrade requires a hands-on government that knows what it takes to get us there and which isn’t afraid to lead, take risks, and enable people,” Cunliffe said.

Joyce responds

Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce dismissed Labour's ideas as out of date and poorly thought through.

"They propose grants and accelerated depreciation for start-ups and don't seem to know that those are already happening. They propose a Chief Technology Officer when the Government already has a Chief Information Officer performing a similar role," Joyce said.

Xero CEO Rod Drury, who has proposed the Government appoint a CTO, criticised Joyce in a tweet that read: "@stevenljoyce love your work but a CIO is an internal IT role. CTO is commercial drive forward role. Very different."

Joyce responded: "I just don't think u need another taxpayer-funded busybody telling industry how 2 develop. U seem 2 have done well w/out Govt CTO."

Drury's response followed: "200k will unlock millions of investment. Will blow your hair back with the force of my argument next time I see you :)"

Joyce replied: "hmmm as you know my hair already blown back a bit :) I look forward to it."

Joyce said demand for workers in IT was primarily for graduate-level software designers and programmers, not in the trades, which was why the Government was spending NZ$30 million on ICT grad schools for final year undergraduate and postgraduate training.

"And the party that has spent the last couple of months saying they need to tighten up on migration is now saying they want to encourage more migration in ICT. They need to make up their minds.  Do they want to encourage skilled migrants or not?"

Joyce said a Government app store was off the planet. Who do they think will shop at the Government app store? New Zealanders are more than capable of competing and winning in the international app marketplace, and for that matter finding great Kiwi apps online, without this sort of 'support'," he said.

'Dumb' Smart meters

Elsewhere, David Shearer criticised the electricity industry for rolling out 'dumb' meters that did not include a NZ$20 chip that would allow consumers to better control their electricity usage.

He said a Labour Government would set a minimum standard forcing 'smart' meter installers to include the chip.

(Updated with Drury vs Joyce tweet exchange, McCully Inquiry announcement, Reaction)

I'll keep updating this through the day.

See all my previous election diaries here.

See the index for Interest.co.nz's special election policy comparison pages here.