MFAT has been a bit of a closed shop for some time, and could seriously do with someone taking the reins and looking over just how it has been run.

It’s IT system is stuck in about 1985, with staff only gaining limited access to desktop internet in the last few months. Prior to this, staff had to queue for a ‘internet access terminal’, of which there is about one per twenty or thirty staff. Unbelieveable, really.

There is a total lack of transparency around internal appointments and promotions, wqith ‘advancement by intrigue’ being the time-honored practice. This leads to a lot of time spent scheming that could otherwise be taken up with something useful.

They are extraordinarily hierarchical – probably more so than any other NZ ministry. No junior ever tells the boss that he is wrong, everyone nods, says yes and complains about it afterwards.

MFAT has extremely weak policy development processes, and almost never puts meaty policy papers to Minister or Cabinet. The planned use of Winston’s $700 million funding boost was a classic example. There was a list of new posts that would be opened, but no discussion of selection criteria, weighting of different factors and a range of options. All we got was a list, that might as well have been scribbled on the back of a cocktail napkin.

All that said, the MFAT staffers I have know are very bright, and generally very motivated to work for New Zealand’s interests. But the systems isn’t well set up to always help them do this. A new broom is desperately needed at the top, with a few senior time-servers jumping ship/walking the plank shortly afterwards.

And I sat gob smacked at what was being said.

So much for an apolitical MFAT.

Clearly Minister McCully is doing a LCpl Jones and equally clearly the ‘Mandarins ‘don’t like it up em’.

I don’t know if John Allen is inline for the job or not. But having dealt with John I think he’d be a good candidate. He has experience of leading a big organisation, he’s got a very discerning understanding of the world, our place in it and our opportunities, and he’s been instrumental in foreign-affairs like initiatives such as the annual trans-Tasman forums.

A family member who works for MFAT tells me John Allen was not amongst the 4 people interviewed for the position. Of course, this is just inter-office gossip. But seeing as we’re simply speculating, thought it might be worth passing on.

Two of the remaining three Programmes are multilateral, and include trade negotiations on the one hand, and the UN on the other. About the only appropriate career path for somebody running the UN division is a career diplomat. There just aren’t trade policy specialists of substantial calibre in New Zealand outside of MFAT.

The sixth programme, which includes finance, audit, and IT, is the most easily transferable skill-set from outside the organisation.

There are some non-foreign policy functions across existing foreign policy programmes that could feasibly be grouped together as a separate programme and be held by a non-career diplomat.

It will be a very interesting exercise to see if a complete outsider manages to adapt to the unique culture of MFAT, and if any real changes can be brought about to its structure and culture.

Quit worrying abour Karma votes – your blood preasure will drop.

Almost without exception the diplomatic staff used to treat locally engaged staff like shit.

Those who are on the overseas-posting gravy train can make some serious money with the level of allowances they get and some of the longer serving senior ambassadors are millionaires, courtesy of the taxpayer.

I’m a fierce critic of MFAT’s current arrangements, and would like to see change, but it’s not clear what kind of change he intends. Some clarity would be nice.

If the minister could elaborate on this “culture change” you speak of that would be nice.