"There is no plan about how the cuts in bureaucrat numbers will work"

"As far as can be judged, there is no plan about how the cuts [in bureaucrat numbers] will work. ... The government mumbled about ‘artificial intelligence,’ ... but I have seen no study which would suggest that it is possible to get a 14 percent increase in productivity across such a diverse range of activities in three years. ...

"To add to the confusion, the government is going to merge a wide number of public agencies and centralise some backroom activities. With the possible exception of politicians, everyone knows that such re-disorganisations reduce productivity for a period of three and more years. ...

"Typically, these bigger organisations have more layers of management – I bet there will not be a proportional reduction in generic managers – and the top is even more isolated from the front line. ... In any case they will have increasingly to deal with the job reductions plus the re-disorganisation. There will be an increase in badly supervised consultancies.

"I regret to say that to this independent observer, the proposed reduction seems to be a panic measure. I shall not be surprised if it all turns to custard when the new government arrives after the election. (It may still be a Luxon-Willis Government.) Another source of custard is if the Treasury assumption of the strait of Hormuz opening up soon and smoothly proves optimistic. ...

"Expect some brutal measures after the election."

~ Brian Easton fro his post 'Is New Zealand’s Economy in Dire Straits?'