New Zealand’s a country, not a company.

People are more than clients or consumers.

Not claiming the light rail process has been flawless. But I do think we should be more cautious about comparisons between government & corporate governance when discussing what should be done /1 https://twitter.com/chrisluxonmp/status/1341542154607370241

Government decisions involve questions about what should be publicly owned - decisions that are different from considering what businesses shd own or subcontract.

Decisions about govt investment+govt debt aren’t the same as decisions abt corporate investment+corporate debt. /2

Not saying skills exercised in business contexts are never relevant to government.

But ‘the commercial world’ has different drivers than the public realm.

We shouldn’t slip into thinking they are or should be governed by the same principles. /3

The govt doesn’t (and shouldn’t) have to pay a return to shareholders, or be driven by profit. The govt borrows in different ways, and can be driven by the public interest. The govt is more than a business and work in govt requires different skills from corporate management. /4

The dominant ethos of the 1980s in NZ (as well as the UK, the US, and elsewhere) tried to diminish these differences. But it’s time to reassert those differences, the special responsibilities of govt, and the problems that have flown from managing govt as a business. /5