One of the legacies of Phil Goff is that some of his staff in what was formerly known as the Goffice are being axed. I blogged that this would be one of the consequences and now it is starting to bite. Labour only have Phil Goff to thanks for their suffering. I hope he gives each staff member who got given the cardboard box a nice hug for solidarity…except Clinton Smith.
As they file out they can say “Thanks Phil”:
Labour is slashing its parliamentary staff numbers, after its poor election result sliced an estimated $700,000 off its funding.
As part of the cost-cutting the number of press secretaries working for the 34 MPs has been cut from five to three; one fewer than the press team that works exclusively for Prime Minister John Key.
There will also be likely job losses in other areas, but these are yet to be finalised, as Labour looks for savings to cover what is understood to be a 20 per cent fall in funding from $3.5m before the election to about $2.8m now.
Chief press secretary Fran Mold will take on a broader role as head of media and communications, including correspondence.
She said leader David Shearer, who is well-known for hating long meetings, would instigate other changes too, including limiting caucus meetings to 90 minutes.
MPs would also be seated differently changing from the current rows of seats to a roundtable format and cellphones and laptops would be left outside in an effort to keep the meetings shorter and more businesslike.
Trevor Mallard is going to choke at not being able to tweet up a storm instead of listening to boring old caucus meetings.
