Two former senior New Zealand Public Servants have told a conference at Waikato University that there are serious problems in the current bureaucracy.
Former Secretary of the Treasury, Graham Scott who presided over the ‘Rogernomics’ reforms in the ‘80s, lamented the lack of strong debate within Departments and the tendency to group-think.
“There seems to be a lack of creative tension. People are so busy being polite to each other they don’t argue much anymore,” Dr Scott (pictured) said.
“Whereas the Public Service I remember was actually a pretty hard school, and that had its downsides — but you didn’t go into a meeting if you hadn’t done your homework, or if you did, you didn’t say anything.”
He said one of the consequences of the current situation was a lack of careful institutional analysis about how to deliver services, “which has been crippling for the present Government, in my view”.
Former diplomat and Chief Executive of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Sir Maarten Wevers said the Public Service had “got off the boil”.
“I think there’s been a reduction of focus,” Sir Maarten said.
“The butter has been spread too thinly, and there’s been a lack of focus on the things that really matter, the ones that would have big multiplier effects, and I think education and immigration are two that have already come up,” he said.
“There’s a lack of urgency in the way in which a lot of the public sector Agencies respond to changes in circumstances.”
Sir Maarten said there was also a general aversion to outside advice.
“I think there’s a general issue that openness to external voices is not as strong as it should be in the system that is providing advice, and that can be improved,” he said.
Hamilton, 4 March 2023
