A solid choice
One of the Government’s initiatives has been the setting up of an industry wide body in the ICT sector. Previous attempts have not been supported or successful, but we do now have a Digital Develoment Council which has representatives from up to a dozen ICT groups such as NZCS, InternetNZ, TUANZ, Women in Technology, Business NZ, Local Govt NZ, the 20/20 Trust etc.
Many people are sceptical, given previous failures, and will be looking closely to see how well it performs.
A good indicator is the appointment of its first Chair – Fran Wilde.
Fran is what one calls a heavyweight – in that she gets things done and you don’t want to be in her way trying to stop her. Fran is a former Wellington City Mayor, current Wellington Regional Council Chair and also was CEO of Trade NZ.
No one person is a guarantee of success, but as I said Fran has a very good track record of doing, not just talking.
June 12th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
(A stunned silence ensues…)
June 12th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
RRM, fortune teller extraordinaire
June 12th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
I am sick of these ex Labour politicians popping up and you giving them praise. How about some ex National Party politicians there are plenty of capable people around.
June 12th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Timbarclay, you say what needs to be said but what people are afraid to say, good on you mate.
It’s nauseating enough to see people like Swain and Wilde catapulted into cushy QUANGO jobs after the voters boot them out, but it adds insult to injury to see them praised on conservative blogs as ‘heavyweights’. Yes Fran Wilde is a ‘heavyweight’ – a ‘heavyweight’ in that she’s weighed down with undeserved offices and stolen taxpayer’s money. If this is the sort of person the Digital Development Council is after I think I can foresee its future… and it ends in November when John Key gets out the long-overdue scalpel and gets to work on the long, bloody process of trimming the fat and leaving the muscle.
June 12th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I’m really sorry, but please explain to me what the Digital Development Council does?
I’m guessing something between NOTHING and NILCH.
The real work done in New Zealand is done by local IT entrepreneurs and IT doers who DO NOT get government gravy from the multitude of pointless government funded organisations.
I suggest we form a committee to discuss forming a committee to oversee the implementation of a strategy that oversees the formation of a committee that reports to stakeholders regarding the strategic position that the implementation of such a strategy would pose upon a committee and the community. Only then will New Zealand advance into the top rankings of government and bureaucratic pointlessness that we deserve to achieve.
June 12th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Fran Wilde was Mayor of Wellington when CityNet got underway(thanks to Richard Naylor – WCC IT person at the time – IIRC), Now CityLink, it was a model for how to just get stuff done….
pushmepullu: Swain wasn’t defeated at the polls, IIRC. He left Parliament for personal reasons. Fran Wilde may have been defeated by Pauline Gardner in Wellington Central in 1990(? – or maybe ’93). Gardner later left the National Party, walking out of the party to sit a United Party MP heading into the 1996 election. I may be hazy on the dates…..but I think I have the milestones right.
June 12th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Excuse me!
>
>>I suggest we form a committee to discuss forming a committee to oversee the implementation of a strategy that oversees the formation of a committee that reports to stakeholders regarding the strategic position that the implementation of such a strategy would pose upon a committee and the community.
I made a motion to the effect that we establish an investigation team to do that last year, and untill I hear back from the committee on dermining if propsals or suggestions should be considered for inclusion in the agenda for the panel that decides if proposals or motions are in order for consideration by the board for consideration of proposals and suggestions, I will thank to not intrude on my interruption of the proposal to abandon all proposals for strategy formulation until after the date of the 2011 election has been fixed. Thank you in advance for ensuring an appropriate response is, in the fullness of time, submitted to your spin committee for appropriate wording prior to being forwarded to me.
I remain
Your humble Public Servant
I. M. A (Dick) Tater B.A (deliberation) M.A. (prevarication) Ph.D (evasion) W.C. & Chain
Assistant deputy chief second secretary to the Chief Policy Officer of the Ministry of Obfuscation (acting)
June 12th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
When it takes 5 months to get two e-mails from IRD it’s time for another committee.
June 12th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
pushmepullu says:
Except Swain – for any other faults he may have had as an MP – does understand IT and the body to which he was appointed is a private, not government, one.
Neither qualification applies to Wilde, however, so unlike DPF I share your nausea. Come on DPF, there’s plenty of “get things done” people around Wellington. Wouldn’t it have been better for the government to appoint someone who:
a) Has the required depth of understanding of ICT issues and, perhaps more importantly
b) Doesn’t have a talent for pissing people off?
[DPF: Fran has a pretty good understanding of IT issues having chaired a two day digital cities conference etc. And it is useful she is not directly involved in any one part of the sector, as she is not conflicted. Fran can piss people off, but that is part of the price you pay for being a very effective operator. She will stop things becoming a useless talkfest - in my opinion]
June 12th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
I don’t want to weigh deeply into this debate, however I would like to correct a couple of inaccuracies from commenters:
1. The DDC is *not* a Government body. Whilst it does receive some government funding, it has been set up as the independent “implementation” arm of the upcoming Digital Development Forum, which will allow for a large number of ICT-related organisations to come together to ensure a coordinated approach towards enhancing the digital future of New Zealand.
2. Fran Wilde was not appointed by the Government. The DDC is an independent body and the Independent Chair was appointed by the Council itself after due consideration of what it was the Council wanted to achieve and who would be the best possible person to lead it to make that happen. The Government didn’t get a vote.
Note, too, that the appointment of the Chair was very unanimous. A number of organisations have worked very hard with Government to bring the DDC and the “association of associations” (in the form of the Forum) into being, and are very serious about actually “getting stuff done”. As DPF has pointed out, Fran is regarded as someone who can make that happen, hence her appointment.
Paul Matthews
NZCS Chief Executive
P.S. If you want more information, pop on over to http://www.ddc.org.nz
June 13th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Trying to intimidate us with facts Paul? You must be new around here.
June 13th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Take no notice of him Paul
Some of us like facts for breakfast, gives us more to chew on!