I have read the latest KPI's for the Government.

This is the things they are going to do before the end of the year.

"Drag this dump out of the quagmire" would have been my number one, but theirs is introducing new planning legislation to replace the RMA.

Which is no bad thing. But introducing stuff isn't the same as ticking stuff off, is it?

And in this list, which is 33 "things" long, is part of this Government's image issue.

You most likely won't have read or seen the 33 because it’s a good example of the news cycle, or our attention span, or a bit of both.

Remember when they first came out? There was mass coverage.

A Government with a "to do" list was novel. It showed things you could see and come back later to and check whether it had actually happened.

It was very business like.

You may also remember that, mainly, they get done. This Government has roughly achieved what it set out to do so as an exercise in discipline it deserves some sort of recognition.

But here's the problem - a cheaper power bill and an annual surplus might have been more use.

So as several quarters and lists have passed we appear, and by that I mean mainly the media, to have lost interest. As far as I can tell the latest list is virtually nowhere to be seen, and I do quite a bit of looking.

Further, it starts to look like a list, and this is the problem, that has stuff in it that is a mix of indecipherable, non-specific, and/or part of a sort of ongoing, broad-based thought bubble.

Here's a good example - number 3 is "pass legislation to allow granny flats to be built without a consent". That's perfect; it's simple, clear and ticks the box.

But what about number 15? "Begin the hospitality sector review". Is forecasting the start of a look at something, a thing?

Number 20: "Take cabinet policy decision on options to provide more tools to address antisocial behaviour". Take a decision? For tools? For behaviour?

Come on, that’s stacking a list. That’s whiteboards and blue skies and boring meetings. We have an economic shambles on our hands and your hot, fourth quarter take is some tools for behaviour?

Maybe one of the KPI's in the first quarter could have been "lets not make bollocks up for future lists so they look like we ran out of stuff to do".

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Mike's Minute: The Government's KPI list highlights their issues

The Mike Hosking Breakfast