Google contract idea results in debate over NZ

The New Zealand government is controversially considering Internet giant Google and other multi-national corporations to contract out work currently done by the public sector, according to Radio New Zealand Tuesday. Prime Minister John Key has signaled further restructuring, with mergers of government departments and redundancies. He said the U.S.-based Google could well end up with some contracts. "We've had some people up there talking to them; I had some discussions when I was there and they showed us some technology we thought was pretty cool. There is definitely in terms of their cloud technology the capacity to use that," he told Radio New Zealand. "They're just one of a number of large, both multinational and New Zealand, companies that could play a role." In its first term from 2008 to 2011, the National Party-led government cut at least 2,500 jobs from the public service, according to the report. In the next phase, Key said some existing jobs would be eliminated, but jobs would be created with the introduction of new technology. Key held two meetings with Google executives last year -- the first in Auckland in June and the second in San Francisco in July, on his way to Washington for a state visit -- but he has made little public comment on his discussions. The main opposition Labor Party said arbitrary cost-cutting would not make public services any more efficient. "It's about cutting numbers, it's about selling assets and putting that up as some sort of a plan to grow the economy. I think most New Zealanders will see right through it," Labour leader David Shearer told Radio New Zealand. Labor's state services spokesperson Chris Hipkins said the government should be looking for ways to make public services better. "Improving New Zealanders' access to services, like passport applications, through new technology and data sharing between government agencies makes sense," said Hipkins in a statement. "But we need to make sure that systems are robust and that many people who don't have access to the latest technology can still get help from a real person, face-to-face," he said. "The idea that we could see regional offices closed and replaced with call-centers in Mumbai will be abhorrent to many. We cannot afford to have our public services lose touch with the very people they are set up to help." The Public Services Association said the government was not coming up with a coherent plan for the public service and was making cuts for the sake of it. The union's national secretary, Brenda Pilott, told Radio New Zealand there was no more fat left in the system and public sector cuts were starting to take their toll. The PSA believed the government should hold off restructuring the sector until inquiries into the Pike River coal mine disaster, which killed 29 men, and the Canterbury earthquakes, which left at least 181 dead, were completed.