Make no mistake about it, the dumping of the TVNZ/RNZ merger is the dumping of a dumb idea.

I told the then Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern that, as she sat in this very studio some years back.

I said if you listen to nothing else I say, take it from a person who has been in this game for 40 years - it’s a dumb idea.

It will achieve nothing, damage a lot more than it will address and is driven by a mad ideology that we want a BBC-type arrangement that we realistically can never have.

The trouble with the announcement is it's not like they’ve realised it's mad, the only thing they have realised is they are going to lose an election. So in a desperate attempt to right the ship they are getting rid of stuff that they think will help their cause.

They still think it’s a good idea. If the polls were different they would still be doing it.

The part they can't hide from though is the waste.

What a waste of time, of energy, of money.

Millions spent, consultants galore and the upset and upheaval within the organisations as staff wonder what the hell is happening to their futures.

This is the trouble with the state running stuff it really has no idea about.

When I first joined Radio NZ in the late 80's and early 90's I was gobsmacked at what a mess the place was. You thought Gliding On was a comedy? It wasn’t, it was a documentary.

I re-joined Radio NZ years later and it was a slightly more modern version but still in a world of its own.

I have worked for TVNZ several times, under different Governments and different guises. Even the slickest of them doesn’t come close to the professionalism, focus and performance of the media as run by the private sector.

So, a year's worth of meetings, debates, spending, inconvenience, wastage and theory - for what? Just to be told we aren't doing that now.

And here is the other thing about the scrapping - although it avoids a needless mess, it doesn’t help the Government.

The industry will be relieved, but the voter never gave a toss because why would you? This has always been beltway stuff.

What we care about is the cost of the mortgage and the price of fruit and vegetables. And on that the Government has lost control.

Who runs the six o'clock news has always been irrelevant.