NEWS AND VIEWS
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Monday, 14 April 2008

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A trustworthy Pom

There's one thing we do know about Sir Peter Gershon, the adviser called in by Australian Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner to advise him on management of government information and communication technology (ICT). He is a man politicians have found they can rely on.

Proof of that came back in June 2006 when then British Prime Minister Tony Blair was getting a bit of stick about a decision to buy a couple of aircraft for what in Australia we would call the VIP fleet. The existing planes in the RAF fleet were deemed unsuitable to take Mr Blair on his international travels which led to the embarrassment of him arriving in Brussels for a conference aboard a chartered one carrying the Austrian flag. Sir Peter was the man, in the words of the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman, commissioned “to do a proper report into the costings” and he came back with a proposal which was for two second hand planes to be leased. Not really for the PM at all really. They would be at the disposal of The Queen and other members of the Royal Family, but also, then, Ministers, including the Prime Minister. One plane would be for short-haul, and the other for long-haul, with sufficient space for Her Majesty's lobby. What had not been decided was which type of plane would be used, as it was part of the tendering process, nor the precise fit, for the same reason. The PMOS said that “we were accepting Sir Peter's proposal, as we believed that it was the right approach, as it would provide the necessary security and communications.”

Not that Lindsay Tanner has called on the English knight for that particular service to government although it might come in handy given the bitching from the travelling press pack about the difficulties caused by them trying to follow Kevin Rudd on a charter.. Sir Peter made his name and earned his gong for his earlier work as a Chief Executive of the UK Treasury's Office of Government Commerce and several major strategic reviews for the UK Government on procurement, including ICT and public sector efficiency.

As a result of the reviews conducted by Gershon, says Minister Tanner, the UK Government achieved an estimated £23 billion in budget savings. Not that there is unanimous agreement on the size of those savings. The distinguished Financial Times columnist Peter Guthrie wrote last month that the reality was that the cost-cutting drive instituted by the Gershon review had flopped. “According to a report last February from the National Audit Office, only £3.5bn of £13.3bn in savings then claimed by government stood up to serious scrutiny,” Guthrie wrote. Nicholas Timmins, Public Policy Editor for the FT, drew attention to aspects of the programme that have made it an easy target for derision.

The Ministry of Defence, for example, claimed a £4.6m saving from decommissioning some Jaguar and Tornado jets early - a move greeted by critics as evidence not so much of more efficiency as of less defence. The programme was allowed to claim efficiency savings without accounting for the investment needed to achieve them. To have attempted to put precise numbers on investments already in the pipeline would, the government judged, represent a huge bureaucratic exercise that would divert public servants from the real goal - achieving efficiences. Thus, for example, the Department for Work and Pensions has scored a £300m saving that will add up to £1bn over five years by switching benefit payments from giros to bank accounts. It has done so, however, without netting off the £164m investment in a Post Office card account needed to help make that happen. Some 80,000 jobs may have gone. But for all the publicity they have attracted, they amount to only around 10 per cent of the total savings - and it looks as though around £1bn will have been paid out in redundancy costs to help achieve that.

In Australia Sir Peter will concentrate on identifying ways in which the Australian Government can strengthen the whole-of-government management of ICT and maximise the benefits from ICT to drive greater efficiency and better services. The review will also examine the way in which agencies manage ICT investments, including maintenance, intra-agency links, development and staffing.

And there is one thing he cannot be accused of. He is not working for the money. Sir Peter has asked that the Australian Government make a donation to a charity in lieu of any remuneration.

What governments give … governments can take away

I am surprised that some of my colleagues in the Crikey stable are getting all indignant about the decision of the Victorian Government not to pay compensation to Tattersalls and Tabcorp for not renewing their cosy oligopoly to cream money off poker machine players. The scandal here is not the taking away but the granting in the first place. To cry foul now should have as much force as the arguments of other rent seeking companies in the past which complained loudly when governments reduced tariff protection. If ever there was an example of “buyer beware” it is when decisions are made to invest because of a benefit granted by a government. The letter from then Victorian Treasurer Alan Stockdale to Tatts 13 years ago, published in The Australian this morning, put it nicel,y. “I must, however, make it clear that the statement of principles in this letter does not bind this Government or future governments and, of course, that the Victorian Parliament has the power at any time to amend existing legislation or pass new legislation affecting your operations or the terms on which those operations are conducted.”

Falling housing prices the coming problem

It is not yet John Howard's barbecue stopper but the downward trend in housing prices is getting there. Over the weekend, and again this morning, there were reports of falling prices (see our Pick of the Political Coverage that follows) and this will become Treasurer Wayne Swan's biggest problem over the next few months. First home buyers having trouble financing a house is one thing but the real political problem comes when people see their wealth disappearing. Toss in some dismal superannuation fund returns and there is no doubt that consumer confidence will fall. I predict a rough road ahead.

The come back kid

The face lift and hair transplants seem to have worked for Silvio Berlusconi who is rated an 86% chance of again becoming Prime Minister in the elections held yesterday and today. The Crikey election indicator assess the probability of a victory by his opponent Walter Veltorni as only 14%

The camnpaign as seen on Betfair

Many a true word

Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson tells us that people have been under estimating him all his life as he battled his way upwards ever upwards to the leadership of the Liberal Party. Many true words, I have decided, are said in jest as I for one under estimated just how embarrassingly awful his diary from the road could be. I advise those of you who have not caught up with his happy touring snaps to do so quickly as surely this pantomime must be nearing the end of its run. You will find it here on the Liberal Party website.

The Daily Reality Check

Queenslander. Queenslander. Queenslander. Prime Minister. Treasurer. And now Governor General. And in Queensland they clicked past the news about Quentin Bryce and got on with reading about the important things; stories like the woman who died in a fall at the airport and the Brisbane Grammar boys who may boycott their school formal because they cannot attend with their boyfriends. The news, first broken by The Australian, that the parole board would allow Brisbane's so-called lesbian vampire killer “a graduated release” clearly stirred some interest too because within hours of it making the most read list on the Courier Mail website the Department of Corrective Services was saying the article was wrong because the prisoner, who was eligible for parole back in 2002, still had social and anger issues. The reaction to stories like yesterday's announcement of a new Governor General clearly illustrate the gap between what most newspaper editors think of as news and the opinion of that part of their readership who visit the internet. Papers across the land splashed with the woman getting the job.

The story only made the most read list in four of the 10 sites in the Crikey daily internet news survey.

The Pick of this Morning's Political Coverage

Rock star Rudd lets the flower of youth bloom – Peter Martin, Canberra Times

Nelson has until July to hold on – Patricia Karvelas, The Australian

Interest rate fears deter home buyers – John Stapleton, The Australian

Women hail Quentin Bryce appointment – Michael Madigan, Brisbane Courier Mail.

The Pick of the Weekend's Political Coverage

If we cannot have an election date to speculate about or an opinion poll to comment on then a leadership spill will have to do. Getting rid of Brendan Nelson is the kind of event that a political journalist can really get excited about. You can speculate madly and no one ever seems to remember the number of times you get it wrong. The lure of the leadership challenge is so great that even the sober sided Greg “I'm a serious foreign policy commentator” Sheridan can not resist the temptation. He stirred along the latest outbreak with a page one lead in the Weekend Australian which set the scene for the News Limited speculator in chief, Glenn Milne, to weigh in on Sunday and again on Monday . Kicking a man when he's down, and rarely has a political leader been as far down in the polls as Dr Brendan, really is fun; and absolutely meaningless as well. If a drover's dog could win some elections then even the top dog at Crufts would sometimes be unable to win when up against a political pure bred like Kevin Rudd. Kevin is one of those top dogs who could lift his leg and obliterate the mark of any contender. Surely the real leadership story would be explaining why anyone in the Liberal Party would be foolish enough at this stage to want to be the leader. The old dog needed for the hard road leading the Coalition back towards government would be staying in his or her kennel for a year or so yet.

Liberals prepare to oust Nelson – Greg Sheridan, The Australian

Thousands stripped off house values – Daniel Hatch, Perth West Australian

Property slump worsening – Angela Saurine, Sydney Daily Telegraph

Globe-trotting PM does it his way – Michelle Grattan, Melbourne Sunday Age