For those who don’t work in the public service, if you ever want a lesson into why it's completely different to the way the rest of us work, just look at yesterday's decision by the Privileges Committee when it came to Alison McDonald and Nic Blakeley and their misleading of ministers and an IT project at immigration. 

They deliberately misled MPs. That's what the committee found. 

Just think about that – it wasn't an accident. This isn't a maybe they did/maybe they didn't scenario. 

They deliberately misled them. 

The punishment is... there is no punishment. Unless you believe the committee saying what it did is punishment enough, which, as it turns out, is exactly how it unfolds. 

This is unique to the public service. You fail at the job, you fail to be independent, and you fail to be honest, but short of being outed as such, that’s where it stays. 

Nowhere else in the New Zealand workforce can that happen the way it has. 

Smallish side note, which also gives insight into the public service; they claim they didn’t want to say anything about the IT project being dead because they were negotiating a commercial exit with various other players in the project. 

They could have, but didn’t realise, talked to MPs in private to inform them of this critical piece of information. 

These people were at the top of the public service tree and yet didn’t realise how the system works. 

You see it, ironically, in the Parliament all the time with MPs. They don’t know how Parliament works and they don’t understand rules and standing orders. It reminds you of just how many people go to work in this country and aren't really interested in being that good. 

The public service has had a rough time of it. The claim is they are not fans of the Government and events like this merely show the suspicion is well-founded. 

It's an odd and worrying mix between Machiavellian behaviour, arrogance that they think they know best, and sheer dishonesty. 

There's no good way at looking at how this played out. 

And yet this is unique to the public service. The service we all pay for and the service I'm sure any number of unions would defend on an almighty ideological hill. You can do what McDonald and Blakeley did and still get to turn up the next day. 

It's inexplicably absurd. 

For those who don’t work in the public service, if you ever want a lesson into why it's completely different to the way the rest of us work, just look at yesterday's decision by the Privileges Committee when it came to Alison McDonald and Nic Blakeley and their misleading of ministers and an IT project at immigration.&nbsp;
They deliberately misled MPs. That's what the committee found.&nbsp;
Just think about that – it wasn't an accident. This isn't a maybe they did/maybe they didn't scenario.&nbsp;
They deliberately misled them.&nbsp;
The punishment is... there is no punishment. Unless you believe the committee saying what it did is punishment enough, which, as it turns out, is exactly how it unfolds.&nbsp;
This is unique to the public service. You fail at the job, you fail to be independent, and you fail to be honest, but short of being outed as such, that’s where it stays.&nbsp;
Nowhere else in the New Zealand workforce can that happen the way it has.&nbsp;
Smallish side note, which also gives insight into the public service; they claim they didn’t want to say anything about the IT project being dead because they were negotiating a commercial exit with various other players in the project.&nbsp;
They could have, but didn’t realise, talked to MPs in private to inform them of this critical piece of information.&nbsp;
These people were at the top of the public service tree and yet didn’t realise how the system works.&nbsp;
You see it, ironically, in the Parliament all the time with MPs. They don’t know how Parliament works and they don’t understand rules and standing orders. It reminds you of just how many people go to work in this country and aren't really interested in being that good.&nbsp;
The public service has had a rough time of it. The claim is they are not fans of the Government and events like this merely show the suspicion is well-founded.&nbsp;
It's an odd and worrying mix between Machiavellian behaviour, arrogance that they think they know best, and sheer dishonesty.&nbsp;
There's no good way at looking at how this played out.&nbsp;
And yet this is unique to the public service. The service we all pay for and the service I'm sure any number of unions would defend on an almighty ideological hill. You can do what McDonald and Blakeley did and still get to turn up the next day.&nbsp;
It's inexplicably absurd.&nbsp;

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Open your mind to the world with New Zealand’s number one breakfast radio show. Without question, as New Zealand’s number one talk host, Mike Hosking sets the day’s agenda. The sharpest voice and mind in the business, Mike drives strong opinion, delivers the best talent, and always leaves you wanting more. The Mike Hosking Breakfast always cuts through and delivers the best daily on Newstalk ZB.

Open your mind to the world with New Zealand’s number one breakfast radio show.Without question, as New Zealand’s number one talk host, Mike Hosking sets the day’s agenda.The sharpest voice and mind in the business, Mike drives strong opinion,...

The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Mike's Minute: There are no punishments if you work in the public service

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/197f2b11-6cd9-4e4a-afc2-b4b2017adbf1/transcript