Civil Defence in chaos
Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 8:14 PM | Permalink
Rick Barker is making a meal out of the Civil Defence portfolio. Following the fiasco of the tsunami that wasn't, heavy snow in South Canterbury has forced the minister to reveal embarrassing insights - like the fact he did not realise it took electricity to pump water and run cell phone towers. In today's NZ Herald, John Armstrong writes:
If it has seemed in recent weeks as if Civil Defence is auditioning for some modern-day version of Dad's Army, there is now a simple explanation - the ministry's officials may merely be following the orders of their minister...
Mr Carter then contrasted the Prime Minister's statement that she was happy with Civil Defence's response with Mr Barker's insistence that things could have been done better. Who was right - Mr Barker or the Prime Minister? ... there was only one answer, even though it meant contradicting everything he had said about learning from mistakes.
If it has seemed in recent weeks as if Civil Defence is auditioning for some modern-day version of Dad's Army, there is now a simple explanation - the ministry's officials may merely be following the orders of their minister...
Mr Carter then contrasted the Prime Minister's statement that she was happy with Civil Defence's response with Mr Barker's insistence that things could have been done better. Who was right - Mr Barker or the Prime Minister? ... there was only one answer, even though it meant contradicting everything he had said about learning from mistakes.
