GOOD BUGGER

We were at an auspicious "do" tonight. Tim Gibson , CE of NZ Trade and Enterprise had his farewell. It was a fairly heavyweight Wellington crowd. There were Ministers to the left and Ministers to the right and all had nothing but praise for the man who has helped shape the portal to international trade for many New Zealand companies.

It was a fine tribute to an extremely well respected NZ'er who has done much to increase exports around the world.

What we like about Tim is that he is a genuine nice guy and normally they don't survive the hurly burly of this particular sector. But he has and he has stamped his mark and overseen many milestones including the organisation winning international accolades for its excellence amongst its peers.

NZ has been well served by this quiet unassuming man and we will watch with interest where he pops up next.

NZTE UPDATE

Yesterday we blogged on NZTE and its supposed horror nite at the International Business Awards in Auckland this week. We linked the resignation of CE Tim Gibson to the untidy proceedings - apparently there was a technical hitch and MC Carol Hirschfield showed she gets a bit flustered without an autocue.

Anyway - we had quite a few mates there in various capacities, including some captains of industry. Apparently our NZTE snout must have had his nose out of joint over something because, despite the general feeling that Mr Gibson's reign had run its course - he actually resigned a couple of days before the awards ceremony. The Ministers concerned were well aware of his departure on the night of the awards.
So we were wrong. Perception is all, and it seems our informant had a very different view of the evening than most of the others we know who were in attendance as they say it was not near as bad as we painted it.

Anyway we can tell you that there were many soirees around Auckland that night following the awards and in each venue good times were had by all, in one case,till 5am in the morning. Hair of the dog or oyster?

However we still think that NZTE is still a fat govt department. Our money is on the new boy John Allen at MFAT, leaving the diplomatic boys to the schmoozing and grooving and will concentrate his efforts on increasing trade opportunities. To do that it seems very logical to wrap NZTE into the MFAT fold sooner than later.

THE WINNER OF THE BEST SELF PROMOTION AWARD GOES TO........

NZTE - New Zealand Trade and Industry. The gloaty government agency is widely regarded around the Wellington public sector traps as the department of puffery. They spend heaps on crap , less on measuring it and look real flash poncing around in the name of increasing trade opportunities. Now it hasn't all been bad - there have been a few good initiatives. However they have generally been held in contempt by the doing departments, for nearly a decade.

And it was expected that this government would look at folding some of their functions into MFAT.
So it no surprise that we see that NZTE boss Tim Gibson resign today... we wonder if this slightly earlier departure than expected had something to do with the fact that the NZTE New Zealand International Business Awards last night were not flash. Apparently the night was plagued by technical glitches and was as one insider said - not a good look for the department famous for creating good looks.

So with the departure of Gibson will the Government seize the opportunity to make NZTE the MiniMe of MFAT?