You鈥檝e got to think there鈥檚 something very rotten in the state of the public service in this country that they鈥檙e carrying on 鈥攊n some quarters where they know full well they鈥檙e getting cancelled鈥� that they鈥檙e carrying on hiring people, working on projects, spending money, commissioning work. 听

Why? They鈥檙e not going anywhere. Three Waters, light rail, Let鈥檚 get Wellington Moving... why are people on these projects persevering when they must know it鈥檚 over? They鈥檙e gone, surely the spending stops. It鈥檚 reckless and wasteful, and smacks of a deluded sense of entitlement that they can carry on in the false belief 鈥攐r maybe just arrogance鈥� that wasting taxpayers' money on contracts and outlay trumps the reality, which is they鈥檙e toast. 听

Give it up. Stop already. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent on things that will be completely irrelevant and non-existent. There is a guy, as we know from yesterday, at Three Waters hiring people. What a waste of time and money. 听

This is another problem with delayed special vote counting and a delayed formation of a government of course. It all takes too long. I was heartened to hear even PM in waiting Chris Luxon saying the process needs to be sped up. The electoral commission 鈥攗nder the previous government鈥� actually extended the special vote count period if you can believe it.听To account for those enrolling on the day, they added another week. 听

Madness. So now we wait this crazy three weeks whereby belligerent public service operators carry on with their head in the sand spending money on stuff going nowhere. If the new government had been able to get their feet under the desk sooner, all this would have been stopped by now and the country would not still be haemorrhaging cash on go nowhere projects. People like the Three Waters man would be stopped in their tracks. 听

Luxon said people should have been able to read between the lines by now and those projects stopped. Full stop. Those resources and that money needs to go to other things, he said. He鈥檚 incredibly frustrated with the time delay and people like that guy abusing it by hiring and carrying on, wasting our money, says everything you need to know about how the previous government operated and why they lost our trust. 听

Luxon said they can鈥檛 stop these projects themselves until they鈥檙e officially a government, but he did say he鈥檇 have hoped people would read the room and stop. Mark Mitchell said it鈥檚 a complete disrespect of taxpayers' money and I agree with that. 听

So how much responsibility should the caretaker government have in all this? Should they be putting this stuff on ice? Why are they allowing a spend up free for all on stuff the incoming government will axe? Megan Woods agreed it seems wasteful but said they鈥檙e in caretaker mode. Is that a good enough excuse? She said it鈥檚 up to the incoming government to disestablish any programmes, she said it鈥檚 not a perfect world but it鈥檚 the way it is. 听

It just feels to me that while all the excuses and hot air is getting bandied about, yet more money鈥檚 being spent, or should I say wasted. And I think we as taxpayers deserve better. 听

Hopefully a change in direction and a shift in priorities with this new government will refresh outdated attitudes within the public service, and this nose-in-the-trough-to-the-bitter-end mentality, will stop.听