Call for new approach to quangoes

Press, 6 July 1984, Page 7

Call for new approach to quangoes

“Labour Party policy calls for a brand new approach to quangoes. A comprehensive review will be carried out by a Parliamentary select committee,” Mr Palmer, the deputy leader of the Opposition told a meeting in Masterton. “Unnecessary quangoes will be killed off. There is an urgent need to improve accountability in the area of quangoes,” he said last evening.

“A quango is a quasiautonomous non-govern-mental organisation. It is an acronym to describe a variety of corporations, companies, committees, tribunals, councils and other organisations loosely connected to government. One useful description is that a quango is an official body to which a Minister makes apE ointments other than pubc servants.

“Quangoes have multiplied like rabbits in New Zealand since the end of World War 11. We are par-

ticularly richly endowed with them. Given the fact we are a small country, the number, variety, and complexity of New Zealand quangoes is truly astonishing.

“There were in 1981, by my reckoning, a total of 3436 quangoes in New Zealand. The Department of Education with 2598 constitutes a special case because all school committees are included. But even when Education is left out of these calculations, there is still 838.

“Quangoes sometimes are not even fully accountable to the Minister who appoints them. The problem of accountability is a serious one. Parliament needs to know what is going on before it can decide whether it should be going on. While' some quangoes report to Parliament, many do not. Accountability is the most urgent requirement for New Zealand quangoes.”