Five departments in energy policy row

Press, 25 February 1978, Page 14

Five departments in energy policy row

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

Accounts are beginning to emerge of the low point which has been reached in relations between a number of Government departments as they attempt to produce a on "Goals and Guidelines” for energyplanning m New Zealand. Any ow amcng five departments — the Treasury, the Prime Minister s Department Trade and Industry Energy Resources. and EJectricitv — is too important iust to be dismissed as childish bickering The issues at stake preclude the row- being ignored. Speculation about the revision of "Goals and Guidelines” has been dismissed by the Minister of Energy Resources and Electricity (Mr Gain as ‘‘out of date and distorted.” but the public is still entitled to take an interest. It seems the present argument is over whether this repon should be revised or S'mpiv ed'ted down into a smaller version This is not tics, bti- is a basic matter b policv matter whether the contents of a report are Bufficientiv acceptable to require onlv to be edited or whether they need re-dratt-ing Major matters of policymust ha'e the approval of the Government, even if the Cabinet Ministers responsible must relv to some extent on their officials If departments cannot aeree. their Ministers must seek agreement at 'Cabinet level Three Cabinet Ministers run the fi'-e departments involved: Trade and Industry (Mr Adams-Schneider), Treasure and Prime Minister’s Department (Mr Muldoon), and Energy Re sources and Electricity (Mr Gain that police di-agreements between their departments are ironed out Energv Resources and Electricitv are about to merge under the umbrella of the Ministrv of Energy Mr Gair will b® its Minister and Mr W M Duncan hs depart--Monto! hCh'P of Mr

difficult, jobs will be to ensure that disagreements between the electricity, energy resources, and mines components of his organisation are resolved internally. However, this will not solve the row over "Goals and Guidelines.” This row has its base in a matter important to the future of energv in New Zealand: just what elements should be considered as part of the energy stock, and what proportion of these resources should be u'sed for purposes other than the production of energv? This cannot be left to the officials. When different departmental representatives start fighting on such an important issue the matter needs to be taken out of their hands and a decision made by the Government. Still, it does seem strange that the report should have got tn the stage where either

revision or editing was possible if the disagreements about it were so significant How could a departmental officer agree to something being in a report only to want it revised out later? It does not make sense. If it is a case of some individuals working on this report disliking each other. I their senior officers or ■ Ministers should either force them to act responsibly or take them off the committee. Again, solutions such as this will probably require the active intervention of a Minister. The hiatus between the decision to merge electricity and energv resources and the actual event might account for some of the problems. 1 but not all. Anyway, it seems. ’ that the Treasury has joined the Electricitv Department in wanting the report re- ! written, in opposition to the others.