I was glad to hear John Key telling yesterday’s party breakfast meeting that re-ordering the priorities of the public service would not involve "arbitratry moves".

Asked how he would approach MED for example, he talked first about TEC as a body that had grown from nothing and was doing ‘quite a lot of little value’ to anyone.  Returning to MED he said he would want to see Ministers working with the CEO on changes and not just making arbitrary moves.

I had been wondering whether Wellington’s National MPs would feel alone in a caucus pressed by the people in the rest of New Zealand to make showy cuts in Wellington. From the breakfast response, and John’s clear earlier assurances that National would cap growth in the bureacracy, not slash it, I believe we will have powerful support in defending the importance of a competent public service.