Pulling Back the Curtain on Customer Service & Ethics in New Zealand

Today, I bring you the second of my three-Part ‘up close and personal’ interview with Mayor Grant Smith of Palmerston North. In this segment of our interview, Mayor Smith talks about the relationship ‘that could be’ (and, he feels, should be) between the cities, towns and regions of the Lower North Island. He discusses the potential for the key population centres to pool resources and efforts in a broader inter-regional local government collaboration initiative. He’s particularly enthusiastic about what an inter-regional tourism industry could look like. 'Palmy' Mayor Moots 'Platinum Triangle' for Lower North Island The Lower North Island – “If we include New Plymouth and Napier” in this broad collective of regions – contributes 24 percent to the total Gross Domestic Product of New Zealand. “We’re talking about 26 different Councils in that geography,” Mayor Smith says. “If you look at the often very complementary industry bases across that broader area, you can see that there’s serious scope for a variety of forms of leverage. “Those leverage opportunities are commercial, civil, logistical, social . . . the list goes on. And we’re not capitalising on them to any real degree at all.” As a more narrowly focused example, he points to the relationship between Palmerston North and Wellington. Or perhaps more accurately, the lack of one. “If we look north for examples, Palmerston North should, on multiple levels, have a similar relationship with Wellington, as Hamilton has with Auckland,” says Smith. “But we don’t. “Wellington should be using us as their food basket, as their distribution and logistics centre, and as a workforce resource pool. "The Manawatu region supplies 30 percent of New Zealand's vegetables. Meantime, the wider Manawatu-Wanganui region is the country's sheep and beef capital, with all the major meatworks companies represented here. And there's the greatest concentration in the Southern Hemisphere of food scientists and innovators; over 3100 individual specialists. "Palmerston North is well-known for its logistics and distribution hubs, with its strategic central location. It's home to automotive, food and Defence suppliers. "And with good transport links and a daily commuter rail service, the capital should be tapping more actively into the skilled workforce we can help supply." Why Don’t We Create A Lower North Island ‘Tourism Mosaic’? “Also, in a wider sense, there’s a substantial – and also currently very much going-to-waste – opportunity to be profiling the lower North Island as a collective for tourism. “If we stop looking through just ‘the eyes of locals’, we can see so much variety and complementarity, in terms of tourism attractions between the regions. “We’ve not only got Wellington as the entry point, but everything that sits south of Taranaki and right across to Hawkes Bay, and then down and right across to the Wairarapa. There’s wineries, mountains, rugged coastlines and gushing rivers, sports, arts and culture . . . the list goes on. “It’s a gold mine from a tourism perspective – if you look at it collectively, and without the parochial lens that often comes with having lived in a specific region your whole life.” ‘The Platinum Triangle’ Smith calls this greater collection of regions the ‘Platinum Triangle’, with tongue-in-cheek reference to the oft-dubbed ‘Golden Triangle’ of Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga. “We should be supporting each others’ natural strengths, and from a wider profile and tourism perspective, be a collective of population centres working together; creating a rock solid, vibrant, large-scale, Lower North Island ‘mosaic’. “Think how much more easily that sort of inter-linked, co-ordinated approach would make it to attract both investment and population growth. “And, especially in the current economic climate, we need that for our hotels and the broader hospitality sector.” On that note, back to Wellington: “We need Wellington and Wellington needs us. “Not only are they our biggest city and our Capital, they’re the Platinum Triangle’s inter-island linkage.” Smith says that, several years ago, he went down to Wellington on a very specific mission to seek out an audience with its tourism gurus in the government and local government sectors. “I put it to the Wellington mayor of the day. I said, ‘Guys, why don’t we do this thing together? The Women's Rugby World Cup, for example. Why don’t we do a bid together? Let Wellington lead and we’ll play a strong support role.’ “But they turned around and left us at the altar! They tried to win it alone – and completely failed and handed the victory to Northland and Auckland." Smith says that was just one of a good number of valiant attempts he’s made at inspiring joint initiatives over the years, but each has “failed big time” to get the tourism powers-that-be down in the Capital, on board. “They won’t accept that there are other cities on their doorstep, that offer scope for a wonderful collaboration . . . not even now, of all moments in time, when we could help them back up and out of this ditch they’ve fallen into. “They’re like a top-level sportsperson who’s in a real form slump and lost confidence,” he says. “The whole thing is fixable but they need to look in the mirror. “Just like ( with reference back to Part One of our interview ) they need to listen to their residents and their key sectors, including the business sector, they need to listen to partners and would-be partners, like other councils. “But they’ve got this attitude that, “We’re the big brother and you’re just a pimple.’ The Lost Wisdom of Bygone Eras “Right back as far as 150 years ago, the Wellington/Manawatu railway company saw the potential, and was instrumental – in the railways era – in making connections in many more ways than one . . . supporting a vibrant inter-regional tourism picture; just one example of the lost wisdom of bygone decades. “But there’s an arrogance today that’s unnecessarily holding Wellington back . . . and its timing is very bad right now, especially. "Wellington can’t be everything that we can all – collectively – be. “They don’t have the mountains, they don’t have the wine industry, they don’t have the rolling farmlands, and they don’t have the rural aspect that New Zealand is internationally known for. “Sure, they’ve got the creative sector . . . but, as special and unique as that is, such as with the spectacular World of Wearable Arts . . . our collective offering is so much greater.”

PRESS RELEASE JUST IN FROM NEW ZEALAND TAXPAYERS' UNION

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Learn the Plays & Ploys of New Zealand Government Agencies to Beat Them At Their Own Sordid Game Since starting 'The Customer & The Constituent' back in January 2024, I've been learning things about the New Zealand political scene as it relates to Ministers and their Ministries (or agencies or bureaus), and also the behind-the-curtain Parliamentary machinations related to them. Things I almost wish now that I didn't know. But they're things that, for better or for worse, ALL New Zealanders should know, about the way the New Zealand Government and its "public service" really operates. If you don't know how things operate in reality (not just the PR fluff on their websites) in some of these big-name agencies that we are forced to deal with in one way or another, at some time or another, depending on the need or issue you're attempting to have solved or resolved, you could go around in ever-increasing frustrating circles for weeks, months and even years. Before getting absolutely nowhere . And the worst part is: That's the intention . The 5 D's 1) Delay 2) Defer 3) Deny 4) Defend 5) Dismissed They're largely self-explanatory, but it's an absolute playbook that they stick to, and apparently senior agency bureaucrats and Ministers and their staff are taught this as a rite of passage into parliamentary and career public "roles" . . . and then are sworn to secrecy over it, in a manner that almost has "Eyes Wide Shut" secret society overtones to it. You NEVER refer to the '5 D's' outside of the walls of inner sanctums. However, I'd add two more "D"s to their list: The sixth: Deaf (as in, Ignore). The seventh: Dumb .. And oh my goodness, let me count the ways (which I will do in further articles in this Series, in specific, detailed and named examples). So between your introduction herein to the 'D's', and my ongoing and, I hope, enlightening, series for your continuing and essential edification regarding How Wellington Really Works, I trust that you'll end up knowing how to deal with this sordid scene in a more strategic manner, for a less infuriating time, and maybe even with an outcome. Although there's no guarantee that any "outcome" won't be no outcome. Because that's almost always their intention. Oh, and I do hope that my pieces actually do become an ongoing series, because they do "hit men" (of sorts), too. Yeah, really. Paid generously (with your money, by the way) to "remove" "difficult" ( their words; not mine) individuals. Like me. Stay tuned. See you again shortly. I hope. (PS: I think a feel a book coming on.) COMING NEXT : A drill-down on each of the 'D's. And next up after that: The detailed argument I'll put to the private sector on why hiring an ex-bureaucrat is a very bad idea ( Hint: You might think it gives you in-house lobbyist power and back-door influence, but the price you'll pay is the '5D' customer service anti-culture they'll foster throughout your organisation. Even IF you keep them away from the frontline, it will happen by osmosis anyway. And faster than you think. The worst part? The longer you keep them, the more irreversible the damage they'll seed in your culture. Which then hits your brand. And so on. So, to C-suites everywhere, this will be a read you NEED .

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Americans are in love with Karoline Leavitt, the new, 27-year-old Whitehouse Press Secretary. She is eloquent, has a razor-sharp wit and a speed-of-light response formulation time, is meticulously prepared . . . and is fiercely loyal to the boss. However . . . At this morning's press briefing she showed a crack - a potential big negative -in her otherwise impeccable and impenetrable modus operandi. The layman audience didn't pick it up; the glowing compliments continued to avalanche in. But I saw a hint of the old politician and traditional press secretary sleight of hand: When a reporter asked her about the seriousness of tonight's deadline for all Federal government staff to respond to Elon Musk's / DOGE's "send us 5 things you did last week" V2 email, she pulled out the old "reframe the question and monologue it back to something positive and be emphatic to take the emphasis off your redirection" trick. (It's between 9.47 minutes and 13.54 minutes in. Particularly note the clarity and simplicity of the second reporter's key question i.e. will Federal employees be fired if they ignore Musk's email for a second time ? Watch .) There it was . . . that tired old advice STILL given out to politicians by their media training PR consultant hacks. I've commented on this previously here . And while I think it's disingenuous to do it at all, it's wholly inadvisable to do it if you're not particularly good at it. Under the headline, ' Minister of Police vs Jack Tame ', I gave an in-action example, including with the link to the interview and the timestamp at which Mitchell embarrassed himself mightily (albeit he bulldozed on, completely oblivious). While Leavitt employed the technique (which I prefer to call a "tactic") skilfully, that skill was more of a mechanical one in her case.. Whereas, when Trump uses it (which he does frequently), he's a master at it. His charismatic natural slide into an alternative impassioned point or story is so natural. So, well . . . Trump. Trump will always get away with it. It's baked into his style. But Leavitt will only get away with it for as long as the puppy love phase lasts and her halo continues to shine so brightly. At some point, if she employs it too regularly, the average citizen out there in viewer land will realise that she's not actually answering the question. I don't think she'll ever be seen as negatively as Biden's "press secretary" (if you could call her that) Karine Jean-Pierre, of course, but Leavitt's podium is at such a currently great height that she has a long way to fall if she does. Notwithstanding her exuberant youth, captivating good looks and "don't fck with me" forceful manner, there's one thing that pisses off the press and the punters alike. And that's repeatedly not giving straight answers to straight questions. So it was a disappointment to see her pull this one out the bag so early in her tenure as hallowed Whitehouse Press Secretary - since its emergence doesn't augur well going forward. I mean, just to know that she would resort to it whenever she felt it expedient. The Observational Minutiae By way of further observation, watch carefully as the second reporter comes in with a determination to get the straight answer the first one didn't succeed in getting. At this point, if you're a keen observer of human behaviour and responses, you'll notice Leavitt is slightly pushed off her confident footing. She makes two grammatical stumbles: she first said "Elon come in" instead of "Elon came in". Then she transposed two words slightly further on. When the second reporter kept pressing her, she defensively snapped, "Are my press briefings not good enough for you, Jackie?" Not good. She doesn't like being pressed so hard. She needs to get used to it, or there'll be an increasing number of moments when she comes at least slightly unstuck behind the podium. 

JUST IN: PRESS RELEASE FROM THE OFFICE OF REPUBLICAN SENATOR MIKE LEE OF UTAH. Calling for the United States' complete withdrawal from the UN, Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah has introduced the Disengaging Entirely from the United Nations Debacle (DEFUND) Act ,. The DEFUND Act "addresses grave issues of national sovereignty and fiscal accountability which have plagued US. involvement in the UN". Co-sponsored in the Senate by Republican Senators Marsha Blackburn and Rick Scott, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers and Representative Chip Roy (also Republicans) the accompanying comments by Senator Lee read: "No more blank checks for the United Nations. Americans' hard-earned dollars have been funneled into initiatives that fly in the face of our values, enabling tyrants, betraying allies, and spreading bigotry "With the DEFUND Act, we're stepping away from this debacle. If we engage with the UN in the future, it will be on our terms, with the full backing of the Senate and an iron-clad escape clause." He said the UN had betrayed U.S. trust repeatedly, and that the country should not "to be their cash cow" while the UN undermines the U.S.'s own national security and interests. Meantime, Senator Blackburn said: “ The DEFUND Act will stop all forms of U.S. financial support to the UN and hold this wayward organisation accountable for placating Hamas terrorists and the Chinese Communist Party.” Meantime, Senator Chip Roy commented: “From UNRWA actively protecting Hamas and acting against our ally Israel, and delaying condemnation of Hamas, to China being elected to the 'Human Rights Council,' to the propagation of climate hysteria, covering for China's forced abortion and sterilisation programs . . . the UN's decades-old, internal rot once again raises the questions of why the United States is even still a member or why we're wasting billions every year on it."

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