New Zealand’s largest Public Service union has thrown its weight behind new legislation governing the State sector.
The Public Service Association (PSA) said the Public Service Bill, which has passed Parliament, “offers new opportunities to improve the delivery of services, the relationship between Crown and Māori, and the working lives of Public Servants”.
National Secretary of the PSA, Glenn Barclay said the legislation marked the biggest reform to New Zealand’s system of public management for more than 30 years.
“We believe it aligns well with the spirit of service that motivates Public Servants,” Mr Barclay said.
“There have been times when the public sector has felt fragmented, carved into carefully delineated fiefdoms, and that can be a challenging thing to navigate both for citizens in need of support and staff working hard to provide it,” he said.
Mr Barclay said the previous State Sector Act 1988 had become increasingly unsuitable for New Zealand’s modern needs, and carried the baggage of outdated ideological perspectives.
Māngai (Representative) for the Public Service Sector, Paula Davis (pictured) said it would take time to see the full scope of what the new Act could mean for Public Servants, Māori in particular.
“The new Act commits the Crown to a strong partnership with Māori and provides many mechanisms to make that a reality,” Ms Davis said.
“We can’t forget, however, how many previous commitments have struggled to make the leap from the paper they’re written on into the lives of people in our community,” she said.
Mr Barclay said the reforms meant that the days when a teenage cadet would work their way up one Agency for their whole career were gone.
“Public Servants want to go where they’re needed and help however they can, and we need consistent terms and conditions of employment that remove barriers to making this happen,” he said.
“The new Act brings us closer to this, and promotes the concept of a career in the Public Service as a whole,” Mr Barclay said.
Wellington, 26 July 2020
