New Zealand's Bloated Quangos & Overpaid Commissioners: an Example of the Commerce Commission
Regulators that become Enablers and Commercial Companies Funded by Taxpayers
I’ve written before about the prolific expansion of Public Private Philanthropic Partnerships ((P)PPPs). The bloated levels of bureaucracy and conflicts of interest in these PPPs are astonishing. For instance, as I explained about the Blair Era, this evolved into the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (the clue is in the title) strongly influencing public policy. The wonderful Ben Rubin at
(amongst others) has presented some excellent research about this aspect of corrupt Government infiltration by GloboCap and the subsequent overreach from multiple conflicts of interest. By the way, this is worldwide.
If you’re interested in uncovering the HOW and WHY of these PPPPs, then I invite you to indulge your intellectual curiosity for a few minutes: dig into these QUANGOs (“Quasi-Non-Gov Organisations”) that support, fund, partner and enable PPPPs. As a guest writer argued in a recent article in the Kiwi BFD “We need a cull of Commissioners.” In this article, I’d like to spell out exactly why this is a reasonable request and indeed why that cull is an inevitable outcome of the global recession that is ahead.
As the above article points out, in NZ, Quangos are now defined as ‘Crown Entities’.
Legalese: What is a ‘Crown Entity’?
According to the Crown Entities Act (2004) the..
Monitor’s role (The role of the monitor is, in relation to a monitored Crown entity company):—(a) to assist the shareholding Ministers to carry out their role (which is described in section 88); and (b) to perform or exercise any or all of the following functions, duties, or powers: (i) administering appropriations: (ii) administering legislation: (iii) tendering advice to Ministers: (iv) any other functions, duties, or powers in this Act or another Act that may, or must, be performed or exercised by the monitor.
The list of these Crown Entities is long, with 31 listed in the NZ Gov website (there are others), including these 11, which one could potentially justify:
The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) The pseudo-insurance ‘no-blame’ healthcare service that is widely considered not fit for purpose. Especially by those Kiwi’s who are jab-injured or bereaved.
Chartered Professional Engineers Council A quality standard for building and construction industries.
Tertiary Education Commission Funding and overseeing the tertiary ed sectors.
WorkSafe New Zealand The not-for-purpose entity which repeatedly fails to enforce the Health and Safety at Work Act.
Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board Quality standards for plumbers et al.
Electrical Workers Registration Board A quality standard for Sparkies in NZ.
Engineering Associates Registration Board A quality endorsement for engineering and tech professionals
New Zealand Registered Architects Board A quality standard for professional architects.
Financial Markets Authority (Self explanatory)
Housing New Zealand Corporation Provider of social housing
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise An entity overseeing trade and commerce.
But then there are these - TWENTY more dubious entities:
Commerce Commission - more on this below.
Accreditation Council A laboratory testing endorsement that means the NZ Gov can fund itself to only test for what it is looking for (and nothing else).
AgResearch Ltd A woke agri-business focused on policies like climate change.
BCallaghan Innovation An R&D entity that has multiple strategic partners aimed at ‘commercialising innovation’.
Crown Infrastructure Partners Ltd A PPP-focused infrastructure company.
Education New Zealand An agency promoting the value (aka exploitation) of international students.
Electricity Authority A company overseeing the power companies, including promoting the use of SMART meters.
Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority A company promoting EVs and other so-called ‘sustainable’ policies and infrastructure.
Institute of Environmental Science and Research Limited A pseudo-scientific and laboratory testing endorsement that means the NZ Gov can fund itself to only test for what it is looking for (and nothing else).
External Reporting Board an auditor of the enablers for accounting, assurance, and climate standards.
Institute of Geological and Nuclear Science Ltd (GNS Science) Another climate change alarmist focused on pseudo-scientific modelling.
Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd (Manaaki Whenua) Another pseudo-scientific research facility that means the NZ Gov can fund itself to investigate and gain results that support the Gov narrative.
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd (NIWA) Another pseudo-scientific research and testing entity, this time focused on water, marine and climate.
The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Ltd Controlling the research and storage of seeds in NZ.
New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited (trading as Scion) Another pseudo-scientific research and testing entity, this time focused on forestry and wood products.
New Zealand Tourism Board The centre of all ‘Clean, Green, 100% Pure’ Middle Earth propaganda.
New Zealand Growth Capital Partners (formerly NZVIF) Venture capital for entrepreneurial tech companies.
REANNZ (Research & Education Advanced Network NZ Ltd) Specialised internet network provider for education and research. (Ping to
)Retirement Commissioner (Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission)
Takeovers Panel Oversees commercial consolidations.
But there are MORE - and this is where it gets murkier - what about the Crown Entity Pharmac? Which as we know now, like the UK’s MHRA and every other Medicines ‘enabler’ is totally captured by BigPharma. Or the Earthquake Commission? Then there are state-owned or ‘mixed ownership’ entities, like NZ Post or Mercury NZ Ltd. Overall, this blurring of the lines between what is commercial or public adds to the lack of transparency, and in turn, the opportunity for exploitation.
Let’s look closer at the Commerce Commission
The Commerce Commission or ‘ComCom’ as it likes to call itself, is described as “New Zealand’s competition authority and regulatory agency. It is responsible for enforcing laws relating to competition, fair trading and consumer credit contracts, and has regulatory responsibilities in the electricity lines, gas pipelines, telecommunications, dairy and airport sectors.” On paper, sounds legit. BUT….
ComCom’s policies are very much based on the WEF 2030 Agenda, as this excerpt illustrates:
“The recent weather-related events in 2023 have highlighted the importance of essential infrastructure to New Zealanders, the economy and our day-to-day lives. These events are a reminder on the importance of network investment in both climate change mitigation and adaptation. The Commission has a role in assessing proposed investment to best promote the long-term interests of end users and ensure consumers get value for money from essential infrastructure services. […] The Government’s emissions budgets and emissions reduction plans are aimed at meeting the target of net zero for long-lived greenhouse gas emissions by and beyond 2050. This is a key aspect of the operating context for regulated infrastructure businesses and the Commission as an economic regulator. Regulated electricity transmission and distributed businesses need to ensure there is capacity to support increased renewable electricity generation and increased electrification. At the same time, there is a need for more system flexibility and increased investment in climate change adaptation for all regulated infrastructure businesses.”
(Pg 16 ComCom’s Annual Report 2023 (my emphasis)
Reading this nonsense you could be forgiven for not realising that already more than 87% of NZ electricity generated over 2022 came from renewable sources, according to none other than the NZ Government’s own data via the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) annual report into the energy sector. But that doesn’t mean the propaganda machine is stopped from repeating the same global narrative.
When MBIE asked 2,000 NZ consumers in 2023 whether they “are confident that competition and consumer laws are being appropriately enforced.” there was a 34% decrease in confidence since the previous year. Which begs the question: are ComCom fit for purpose? Further questions arise when we see how failure is rewarded - ComCom have increased their staff by 57% over the last 3 years to a total of 428. And those staff numbers don’t even include all the consultants that are contracted to support ComCom’s ‘investigations’. The management roles have also increased from 11 to 14% of its workforce. Over the past 5 years ComCom issued only 73 ‘warning letters’ to companies about non-compliance. ComCom clear disregard of the already top-heavy bureaucracy that is often a burden on NZ taxpayers is appalling. Where is accountability - and wait till you see all the costs (see below)!
Controversially, (and contrary to the divided coalition Government’s policies) ComCom supports the NZ Co-Governance model. It appointed Loretta Lovell as the Commission’s first Māori wāhine [female] Associate Commissioner in May 2023. Then Rakihia Tau was appointed as Associate Commissioner. Why?
Probably trying to justify it’s own existence, ComCom spent $millions of taxpayers’ funds in a ‘successful’ prosecution of Mitre10, (a giant Australasian DIY chain) by imposing a $500k penalty on operating company NGB Properties Ltd. (I’m sure this was crippling for their $multimillion business. Not.) The action against this company was apparently because ComCom seek to ‘prevent anti-competitive land covenants’, i.e. building restrictions on land sales near to an existing retailer, that deliberately limits ‘fair’ competition.
In other jurisdictions, these kind of location decisions are based on valid free market costs and risk/benefit analysis, alongside the regulatory role placed partly on local Councils and residents. These respond to the needs of consumers within a specified area. Anyone with any knowledge of NZ will be more than aware of the lack of consideration (or is it more likely, down to financial influence?) around building consents for multiple supermarkets and fast-food outlets (franchises) within a close proximity to each other, which have relatively small populations.
It is ironic and tragic that ComCom’s interpretating of Section 28 of the Commerce Act, which “prohibits the requiring, giving or enforcement of land covenants that have the purpose, effect or likely effect of substantially lessening competition” fails to acknowledge the fact that many covenants are actually illegal. For instance, evidence from the People’s Inquiry on the toxic effects of chemicals and poisons on New Zealanders revealed how rural covenants exist on some land and property sales which explicitly prevent (or impose hefty fines on) the new owner if legitimate complaints are made about an adjacent land owner. Even if they are guilty of the illegal act of chemical spray-drift or similar pollution and contamination of their land or air. These actions are likely to have negative health effects on animals, pets, family members and businesses. But there is often no compensation or justice available. This hypocrisy of ComCom means it is not acting ‘in the best interests of New Zealanders.”
Who is ComCom?
Meet Dr John Small, Chair of ComCom:
Dr John Small, promoted from Commissioner to Chair of ComCom two years ago, is Founding Director of a Government-partnered consultancy firm called Covec, which interestingly was deregistered recently, in Feb 2023. We shouldn’t be surprised to learn Covec were involved in numerous Agenda 2030 gravy trains of commissions, including this 2015 Report that promoted the WEF Agenda 2030 15-Minute City and Low Emission Zone (LEZ) policies, currently being rolled-out in cities like Auckland and Hamilton. He was also Head of Auckland University’s Economics Dept and a Lay member of the NZ High Court.
As I hinted at above, the influence from WEF is explicit throughout ComCom’s documents, like this excuse for being unable to assess its own effectiveness with enforcing competition law:
This is the second year we are unable to report a result due to the information no longer being reported by the Word Economic Forum. We are exploring options for how best to measure our regulatory contribution to the state of competition in New Zealand.
How is ComCom funded and staffed?
Would you be surprised to learn that Dr John Small earns >NZ$500k p/a? Yes, more than the fine imposed to Mitre10, which probably cost us taxpayers $thousands in legal fees. And that the total remuneration of this particular Quango’s ‘Commissioners’ runs to almost $3.5mill? Here’s the latest from their Annual Report:
On top of that, the ‘Other’ Commissioners (presumably those in ‘other’ jobs and not on a salary), can claim a “daily rate” of between $1,680 and $1,950. That’s a generous consultancy rate that company levies and taxpayers fund.
Of ComCom’s total 428 employees, 32 are paid over $200k p/a. And it looks like some of those staff enjoy some extra benefits, like fully-expensed trips to Paris to talk about ‘Climate Change’ regulation. In June 2023, ComCom attended the OECD Competition Committee Meeting in Paris, France. The claimed purpose of this meeting was to “bring together ‘high-level’ representatives of the OECD member countries to discuss issues of global interest relating to competition”. ComCom staff also spent a week in London, England with the Competition and Markets Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority “learning about new UK legislation, market studies and the impact of regulation in digital markets.” I accept the NZ financial regulations have got a long way to go in terms of development - exploitation and ignorance are rife - but was a trip to Europe really necessary? What about educating the public on basic budgeting skills as a priority first? However, I expect that trip was very valuable for agreeing GloboCap’s next steps.
Reading about these and other ComCom jollies reminded me of the utter hypocrisy of the WEF Davos meeting last year, when all the Global Leaders arrived in their private jets. ComCom even admit in their Annual Report how it failed so dismally in their Climate Change targets (how can they preach to others when this is so blatant?):
In conclusion, the closer we look at PPPPs, NGOs and Quangos, the worse it gets. The conflicts of interest, utter hypocrisy, unethical partnerships and bureaucratic administration has bloated out of control. And all at taxpayers’ expense.
It’s time to end these pseudo-regulator-enablers. And it’s definitely time to ‘cull’ (or maybe a better word is retire!) all these overpaid commissioners. We could start by abolishing the 20 superfluous Crown Entities listed above, which as far as I can see, serve little purpose other than a gravy train bureaucracy. These companies are costing the taxpayers $millions every year and continuing to fill the bank accounts of the wealthy within the cycle of the revolving doors of power in New Zealand. Enough.
And yet it's the welfare bludgers that are the problem
You didn’t mention the Medical Board or Optometrist Board or any other of the “health profession” regulatory boards who have HUGE control on those professions