COMMENT FROM THE CAPITAL MR MULDOON PLEASED WITH “THINK TANK’S” PERFORMANCE

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34127, 13 April 1976, Page 20

COMMENT FROM THE CAPITAL MR MULDOON PLEASED WITH “THINK TANK’S” PERFORMANCE

(By

CEDRIC MENTIPLAY)

WELLINGTON, April 11.—It is now nearly four months since the Prime Minister’s team of economic advisers and counsellors, known inevitably as the “think tank,” was set up. Since then it has accomplished quite a bit of work, has drawn official approval, and has produced some grumbling among departmental people.

The grumbling has come despite a high-level request that departments should endeavour to answer to the best of their ability questions asked them by members of the Prime Minister’s staff. But the adivsers themselves are happy with the co-operation they are receiving in all but a very fewcases.

The team, wtiich had five members when first announced on December 17, now has eight, led by Mr B. V. Galvin, previously an assistant secretary to the Treasury. The others are Messrs L. C. Bayliss, J. G. Beckett, L. J. Wood. N, W. Stirling, J. P. McFaull, A. Sullivan and R. Hole.

Between them they have more than a dozen university degrees and a wealth of experience in the monetary and economic field, management and administration, the Treasury and related subjects, and industrial organisation. But still there is a certain amount of friction with people who have not encountered their like, and who are uneasy in the presence oi someone who may report direct to the Prime Minister.

Mr Muldoon is very happy with the result, happy enough to make a special appeal to importers and

exporters as well as other businessmen, to co-operate. And he has attempted to explain that the creation of his advisory team was more than a passing idea.

Effects unknown "When in Government before, I never felt happy that decisions at. Cabinet level were being made with a sufficiently detailed understanding of the economic effects,” he told a group of Auckland businessmen recently. “Frequently decisions were made which, in retrospect, years later, would never have been made had the inevitable results and ramifications been fully understood. “The fundamental reason for this, of course, was that there are not enough hours in the day for any Minister, let alone the whole Cabinet, to brief himself fully on every decision made in his administration. Even the Cabinet committee system — and the Cabinet economic committee under a National Government spends virtually the whole of Tuesday morning of each week considering economic policy in detail — nevertheless cannot overcome this inevitable defect.

“Accordingly in the three years of Opposition, and particularly last year, when it became clear to me that there was going to be a change of Government, I determined that as Prime Minister I would enlarge the Prime Minister’s Department by setting up a group of highlyqualified personnel whose task it would be to liaise with all of those groups in the public and private sectors whose views were relevant to Government deci-sion-making: so that the Prime Minister and individual Ministers could be more adequately briefed than if they were left to their own resources, supplemented by papers and discussions with and from their departments.” Mr Muldoon said that in

the last few months the new system had proved outstandingly successful.

"I have a team of eight top-flight men,” he explained. "Mostly with an economic background, relatively young but highly experienced, and led by one of our outstanding public servants. I have specialists in banking and finance, agriculture, transport, foreign affairs, secondary industry and

foreign trade, with a solid leavening of Treasury experiences which covers the whole range of Governmen: activity.” Mr Muldoon explained that these men are not deskbound, but travel about, talking to people in the upper echelons of trade and industry, as well as the departments and Government agencies, coming back to analyse the information they have obtained, and writing briefing papers for Mr Muldoon and his Ministers.

They sit in on Cabinet committees and departmental discussions. Every Friday afternoon the whole group comes together in Mr Muldoon’s office for an hour or so, to discuss the projects on which the individual members have been working during the week. “So we keep ourselves up tp date with what is happening around the country,” Mr Muldoon explained. “Industry, the producer boards ar.d the departments have been extremely co-operative in releasing confidential information on a confidential basis.” Mr Muldoon asked for help by anyone prepared to talk to members of his department on company matters, “so that we can be more fully informed at the level of Government deci-sion-making.” There is no doubt that he regards the experiment as highly successful, and believes it would be still more so if more business people co-operated.