LABOUR DREAMS WHILE WELLINGTON CONSULTANTS SALIVATE

"Helen Clark's plans to create an Ethnic Affairs portfolio shows yet again her party's instinct to meet every perceived problem in society with an expansion in  central control, "State Services Minister Simon Upton said today.

"Seven weeks out from the election Labour has already proposed a plethora of new or restructured Departments, Offices, Funds, programmes and Ministerial roles. Our latest tally puts the total at 63, and it's still climbing.

"It's just an attempt to scratch every itch and to appease every one of the interest groups they favour. Few of their plans have been thought through, and New Zealanders would pick up the bill, and more often than not, deal with yet more bureaucracy.

"Every new department would dream up new ways to spend more money.

"Every new fund, office or commission requires Chief Executives, boards, conferences, and all the rest.

"Ministers with newly-created portfolios would invent costly programmes to prove they were doing something.

"And, Wellington consultants are positively salivating with excitement at the prospect of an explosion in government restructuring and tinkering," Mr Upton warned.

"If you think that's bad," Mr Upton continued, "to Labour's plans must be added the Alliance's fantasies. Phillida Bunkle, the Alliance's women's affairs spokeswoman, has raised new horrors with her proposed Employment Equity Bureau.

"Not just big government, but state-sponsored moralising would triumph if this combination were to get their hands on Government," Mr Upton concluded.