Public Sector, Vol. 28, (2) 2005

PUBLIC SECTOR

General Articles

From crisis to reform to crisis again: Argentina’s experience with public service reforms

Local government and New Zealand’s constitutional inquiry

Expert practice of policy practitioners

View Point

Race, ethnicity and democracy in New Zealand education

Services First

Seminar Report

New Zealand Public Service – past, present, future

AGM Address

A pivotal Year Volume 28 Number 2 2005 1 Institute of Public Administration New Zealand P O Box 5032, Wellington, New Zealand Telephone:+ 64 4 463 6940 Fax: + 64 4 463 6939

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Proof Reader Volume 28 Number 2 2005 ISSN 0110-5191 Helen Mintrom

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Editorial Office General Articles c/- The Publisher as above From crisis to reform to crisis again: Argentina’s experience with public service reforms Editorial Committee by Gonzalo Iglesias ...... 7 Tom Berthold Ralph Chapman Local government and New Zealand’s constitutional inquiry Mynetta Erueti by Roger Matthews, Grant Hewison and John Sheppard ...... 12 Rob Laking Allen Petrey Expert practice of policy practitioners Michael Reid by Lorraine Fowlie ...... 17 Carol Stigley

Advertising View Point Jay Matthes Phone:+64 4 463 6940 Race, ethnicity and democracy in New Zealand education Fax: +64 4 463 6939 by Elizabeth Rata ...... 2 Email: [email protected] Scope Services First IPANZ is committed to promoting by Charles Finny ...... 24 informed debate on issues already significant in the way New Zealanders govern themselves, or which are emerging as Book Review issues calling for decisions on what sorts of laws and management New Zealanders Public Sector Information in the Digital Age: Between Markets, Public are prepared to accept. Management and Citizen’s Rights Reviewed by Hugh McPhail ...... 26 IPANZ arranges seminars and workshops for people to debate these issues. Much of this debate is reflected in Public Sector. Seminar Report New Zealand Public Service – past, present, future Information for Authors by Hon Trevor Mallard ...... 28 See our web page at www.ipanz.org.nz/pub.html News Subscriptions Annual General Meeting, Elections and New Constitution ...... 30 The Institute welcomes both corporate and individual membership and journal AGM Address subscriptions. Please see the subscription form on the inside of the back cover. A pivotal Year The views published in Public Sector do not by Rod Oram ...... 31 necessarily represent those of IPANZ or those of the author’s employers. Volume 28 Number 2 2005 1 Viewpoint Race, ethnicity and democracy in New Zealand education

Elizabeth Rata, Faculty of Education, University of Auckland

Second, democracy contains dissent between individuals and This article is an edited version of an address associations of individuals while permitting that dissent to by the author to the New Zealand Secondary exist. It is a system for peaceful ‘battle’. It overcomes the Principals’ Conference, Wellington, 19 May 2005. weakness of consensus (the weak agree with the strong) and it Editor enables protest and dissension to remain on the boil without civil war breaking out. It is unafraid of relentless tension. It does not seek permanent resolution. It settles for temporary accommodation between ‘warring’ and constantly changing Introduction parties. In recent decades New Zealand has set in place ideological and These two features are democracy’s claim to superiority. Its institutional conditions that will subvert democracy. This has institutions are the sites for peaceful ‘battle’ and the manage- occurred in two ways: ment of constant change. Its citizens are the ‘turbulent • First, by devaluing the Enlightenment conditions that are individuals’ described by Immanuel Kant. They know how to essential for democracy: universalism, individualism and a disagree and protest. They also know how to unite and commitment to reason and scientific objectivity (Kant’s cooperate. ‘faith in reason’), Democracy is an energetic, creative and contradictory system • Second, by valuing and then institutionalising a racial that enables social cohesion in the midst of social change. But ideology that categorises and regulates people on the its inherent dynamic and its irresolvable contradictions make basis of their racial/ethnic genetic heritage. democracy vulnerable to the claims of traditional hierarchical systems, – those based upon kinship, caste or religion. These New Zealand is not alone in pursuing this course. It operates systems provide greater stability and cohesion it is true. The in a number of similar countries under a variety of names: price however is conformity, rigidity and inertia. identity politics, cultural politics, multiculturalism, bicul- turalism, and diversity politics. I use the encompassing term, In recent decades, New Zealand – along with other democra- ‘culturalism’ for this political and intellectual movement. cies – has suffered a deep existential crisis. Unnerved by the uncertainties of modernity and the complex contradictions of democracy, New Zealand has succumbed to the romantic appeal of neotraditionalism2. I want to discuss the racial Democracy ideology at the heart of neotraditionalism before showing how the incompatibility between democracy and neotraditionalism Secondary schools play a major role in maintaining the underpins the conflict between liberal humanism and conditions necessary for democracy. These conditions are culturalism in our schools. subverted by the pervasive and seductive influence of culturalism.

Nowhere has the shift to racial/ethnic categorisation and Culturalism’s racial ideology boundary making been more zealously pursued than in education. I will confine my discussion to its effects on New The term ‘racial ideology’ contains two main ideas. The ‘racial’ Zealand secondary schooling although it is pervasive through- ideas refers to the belief that race or ethnicity (I use the two out education and elsewhere in the public sector. terms interchangeably to mean descent from a genetically identifiable group, – often visible in particular physical charac- I need to start with a reminder of what democracy is in order teristics) is an acceptable way to divide New Zealand society to show the full extent of its incompatibility with a race/ethnic into socio-political categories. The ‘ideology’ part refers to the ideology. Democracy is a system of socio-political organisation fact that this method of categorising people conceals the superior to those systems based upon non-universalist catego- reality of our society, – that of fluid ethnicity. ries such as kinship, religion, caste or race. Its superiority lies in two main areas. First, it tolerates constant social change and The racial ideology promoted by an interesting coalition3 social mobility because it treats the universal individual, not the between neotribalists and biculturalists, and accepted by many foundational group1, as the basic political unit of society. No New Zealanders as a natural way to organise people, does in one category of persons can claim an inherent right to either fact contain myths that are at odds with the real world. The high or low status. myths are:

2 Volume 28 Number 2 2005 • First, that our ethnic or racial identity is our primary and dial: that it has existed since the beginning of time, is remem- determining personal identity. bered in sacred mythological origins, and is projected into a millennium-type future. Its members are linked by blood, a • Second, that the group is primordial, distinctive and biological tie reinforced by, or re-interpreted as, a spirit separate. (volkgeist or mauri) that carries the ‘spirit of connection’ or whakapapa from the ancestors through the generations. No • Third, that the group is indigenous in the autochthonous one who is not of the blood can truly belong. It gives a sense of the word. distinctiveness that divides the group from all other groups, • Fourth, that how people live and understand their lives now and forever. It is racial fundamentalism, yet it is justified (culture) is caused by who they are (their ancestral descent in New Zealand by elevating whakapapa to a sacred realm and or ethnicity/race). by widespread support for retribalism.

I want to speak briefly to each of these culturalist myths. The ideology of primordialism has a strong following despite the fairly obvious reality of ethnic fluidity. Everyone living today is descended from the same genetic origins. Everyone Myth One: A primary and determining identity comes from a history of genetic mixing. Even groups, such as The first myth, that our ethnic or racial identity is our primary Mäori that had several centuries in isolation, come from origins and determining personal identity, means that ethnic identity is shared by all human beings. In the past two centuries, Mäori privileged over any other identities we may have, such as a have contributed again to the larger human gene pool. national identity as a New Zealand citizen, a religious identity as a Christian or Muslim, a gendered identity as a man or a Myth Three: Indigenous means autochthonous woman, a lifestyle identity as a ‘greenie’, a ‘westie’, or even a (or aboriginal) ‘gangsta’. The third myth is that the presumed distinctive primordial But the belief that race or ethnicity is a person’s primary group, to which individuals owe their primary determining identity is ideological. It conceals the reality that anything identity, is indigenous in an autochthonous sense, that is, the human is messy, complex and sometimes contradictory. We do group arises ‘from the land itself’. It is ‘blood and soil’ ideol- not have one primary identity that is inherited generically and ogy, located in mythological origins and seductive in its that determines how we live and understand the world. We mystical appeal. The reality of common human origins, racial/ draw on many ways of identifying with our fellow humans. ethnic fluidity, and global migration lacks the exclusive mysti- Sometimes in our lives, our race or ethnicity (that sense of cism of the autochthonous claim. belonging to a genetic ancestral group) is very strong and we feel it deeply. At other times, we may feel a strong national identity. The response to the recent coming home of the Myth Four: Race/Ethnicity causes culture Unknown Warrior4 certainly stirred for many people that identity of being a New Zealander. Finally, and most importantly, this racial ideology claims a causal connection between race/ethnicity and culture. It claims If people do feel a deep need for a primary identity there is no that who we are in terms of the ancestral genetic group causes reason why a national identity cannot provide the required what we do and the meaning we give to our actions. (i.e. social cohesion and psychological belonging. And there are culture). It is a belief that has taken on its own life in educa- even more important reasons for the promotion of a national tion. Such cultural determinism is behind the idea of ‘Mäori identity as, if not a determining identity, at least one with some maths’, ‘Mäori pedagogy’, ‘Mäori research’ and so on. It is primacy. After all, New Zealand exists because New Zealand- currently being extended to the idea of a Pacifica pedagogy. It ers exist and the reverse is also true. To claim that the identity claims that how a person thinks, behaves and relates is caused of ‘New Zealander’ is less important than an ethnic identity by ‘blood’ or in more acceptable terms, by ‘spirit’. It is biologi- and simply one of a potpourri of possible identities belittles cal determinism dressed in intellectual garb5. our commitment to and hope for the New Zealand nation. However culture is not ethnicity/ race. Culture is the attribu- Since the 1877 Education Act, our schools have played a major tion of meaning to what we do, how we relate, and what we role in nation-building and national identity-making or citizen- value, understand and believe. We may have our origins in the ship. This is no longer the case. While we are right to be culture of a particular ethnic group, but as ethnic groups mix, cautious about a self-referential, inward-looking jingoism, it is so the lives and the meaning of these lives change in the possible to promote a ‘healthy nationalism’, one characterised constant adaptation to new circumstances. Culture is life in by an outward-looking and active internationalism. action. It is not fixed and static – except in the service of intellectual elites who use it as a political strategy.

Myth Two: The primordial group Culturalism in schools The second myth that contributes to the culturalist racial The culturalist racial ideology has become naturalised in our ideology is the idea that the ethnic or racial group is primor- schools, to the point that a critic like myself is (mistakenly)

Volume 28 Number 2 2005 3 accused of racism or of being ‘anti-Mäori’. However the idea ongoing oppression of non-Western cultures. that ethnic/race causes culture must be subject to criticism. That is my purpose. Culturalists claim that all cultures have asked and answered the big questions about how the world began, about the nature of Culturalist educationalists6 claim that Mäori students under- human beings, and about the meaning of life. While that is stand, relate and behave in culturally prescribed ways. If true, a fundamental difference exists between traditional teachers do not recognise this they are regarded as; knowledge and science in the way the questions are answered. Traditional cultures turn their answers into sacred knowledge. 1. Responsible for Mäori students’ alienation in the ‘domi- Science refuses to accept the latest answer as the final say on nant Western system’; the matter. It doubts, investigates, overturns and attempts new answers, ones that will stand only until the next challenger. 2. Responsible for the student’s subsequent failure at school; and The downsizing of modern knowledge to ‘just another cultural story’ has had a number of serious consequences. It leads to 3. Complicit in the ‘Mäori – Pakeha dominant-subordinate’ power relations that operate in every school and every the fragmentation of knowledge, a position that has contrib- classroom. uted to standards-based assessment and the sorry NCEA saga. A second consequence is the effect on the scientific thinker. It This approach reduces culture to a rigid, fixed and limited way is difficult, if not impossible, for a child brought up with of being in the world. Its cultural determinism limits our culturalist beliefs to acquire the intellectual and psychological children by treating them as people whose understanding of dispositions of doubt and inquiry needed by the creative the world and ways of living and relating are caused by, and scientist. forever linked to, their ethnic heritage. Modern science is Third, the pedagogic relationship between teacher and student rejected by its cultural relativism, with scientific knowledge is valued more highly than the teacher’s subject knowledge. regarded merely as one of many cultural stories. Cultural This shift in emphasis from teacher knowledge as the core of determinism and cultural relativism have changed the face of teaching to the pedagogic relationship underpins the idea that New Zealand secondary education. there is little significant difference between the primary and secondary sectors. Two examples of the implications of this are pay parity between the sectors and recent moves to Cultural relativism and knowledge combine primary and secondary teacher education programmes. The shift to cultural relativism and so-called ‘ethno- knowledges’, such as Mäori mathematics, has undermined the liberal philosophy of education that supports democracy. This latter approach regards the transmission and development of knowledge as the core task of education. Michael Matthews7 Cultural determinism and pedagogy provides this succinct description: The shift from subject knowledge to the teacher-student pedagogic relation is tied to the rise of culturalism. The Education should be primarily concerned with developing ethnically identified student is believed to be ‘constructed’ understanding, with initiation into worthwhile traditions of within and by the social relationships and symbolic resources intellectual achievement, and with developing capabilities for clear, of culture, especially language. Furthermore these cultural analytic and critical thought. In a liberal education, students should resources are believed to be caused by the student’s ethnicity/ come to know and appreciate a variety of disciplines, know them at race. The emphasis shifts from objective knowledge that is an appropriate depth, see the interconnectedness of the disciplines, or available universally to ‘ways of knowing’ that are culturally the modes of thought, and finally have some critical disposition determined and subjectively experienced. toward what is being learned, to be genuinely open-minded about intellectual things. The role of reason in making sense of the world is considered to be less important than the subjective experience. This is the These liberal goals are contrasted with goals such as professional ‘I know because I was there’ approach rather than the ‘I know training, job preparation, promotion of self-esteem, social because I am able to think about what I have not experienced’ engineering, entertainment, or countless other putative purposes of (even about what no one has or is ever likely to experience). schooling that are enunciated by politicians, administrators, and The latter is the scientific rationality that freed human beings educators. The liberal hope has always been that if education is done in the modern period from knowledge tied to the limitations well, then other personal and social goods will follow. The of subjective experience only. development of informed, critical and moral capabilities is the In the culturalist approach, identity formation occurs within cornerstone for personal and social achievements. socio-cultural relationships that are ethnically/racially deter- In contrast the culturalist approach regards reason, science and mined. Knowledge is a cultural process mediating these progress as just another cultural story, and most damningly, a relationships. As such there can be no objective knowledge8. Western cultural story. As a so-called European ‘cultural Instead knowledge is tied to the subjective experience of the product’, modern science stands accused of complicity in the constructing group. The consequences are particularly impor-

4 Volume 28 Number 2 2005 tant for secondary schools because it is in the secondary school above all they are silenced by the racial ideology that pervades that young people should encounter complex knowledge and New Zealand public life. My task here has been to provide that the sophisticated ways of thinking to engage with that knowl- alternative viewpoint. Your task as readers is to subject this edge. viewpoint to the scientific process of analysis, criticism and judgment. Both tasks are necessary for democratic health. Instead many are tied to their local experiences, to what is considered ‘relevant’, – to what is already known. In this way, education encircles the young person’s world rather than opening it up for exploration and consequences that are unknown. This explains why the outcomes-based approach is Notes now the main method of assessment. Intellectual risk-taking is abandoned for intellectual ‘safety’. This deadening process is 1 My discussion of the individual, associational group and the retreat from the imagination, from science, and from the foundational group, along with an explanation about the Enlightenment heritage. It is a retreat from the pre-conditions unsuitability of the foundational group for democracy, is of democracy. available on the Parliamentary Select Committees’ Constitutional Arrangement Committee website at http:// www.constitutional.parliament.govt.nz/templates/ Conclusion Page.aspx?id=109 Michael Matthews has warned that ‘if teachers and administra- 2 Neotraditionalism is the claim that traditional socio- tors have no clear philosophy of education, then it is more political systems based on ethnic/race genetic groups, likely that education will merely take the shape of the last such as the tribe, have been revived albeit in modernised political foot that trod upon it.9’ forms. In my writings on neotribal capitalism I argue that the neotribe (the ‘revived ’ tribe) is a contemporary The success of the culturalist racial ideology in subverting our private economic corporation. democratic institutions, including our schools, is partly due to the effective strategies of its proponents. But the failure of 3 For an analysis of these two interest groups and their democrats to know the value of what they have has allowed unlikely coalition refer to Rata, E. (2004). The Capitula- the subversion to occur. tion of the Left. Red and Green , No. 4, pp.13–32

A main reason for the failure of nerve by New Zealand 4 To serve as a focus of remembrance for the sacrifice democrats lies in the very nature of democracy itself, – in its made by all New Zealand servicemen and women, the turbulent, contradictory, ceaseless tensions. Educating young remains of an unknown first world war warrior was people for such an energetic mercurial system is not easy, and repatriated from Somme region of France for burial in schools are caught in the necessary contradictions of democra- the new Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at the National cy’s turbulence. War Memorial in Wellington, 11 November 2004. The task of schools is to create citizens who are capable of 5 rational, morally informed dissent, not the mindless dissent of The role of intellectuals in race/ethnicity boundary the irrational malcontent. Schools must develop the autono- making is examined in, Rata, E. (2004). Kaupapa Mäori in mous individual who is simultaneously able to criticise the New Zealand Education. In Jack Demaine (Ed.). Citizen- group and to belong to it. And schools must create the ship and Political Education Today. (pp. 59–74). London: thinking individual capable of objective thought, of analysis, Palgrave Macmillan. criticism and judgement. It is enough to make even NCEA 6 Refer to ‘Ethnic Ideologies in New Zealand Education, look easy! What’s Wrong with Kaupapa Mäori’ for a critical examina- Culturalism has moved into the philosophical vacuum in tion of the ideas of influential culturalist educationalists education, a vacuum opened up, in part, by the retreat of the such as Linda Smith, Graham Smith, Russell Bishop and baby boomer generation from the democratic vision of New others. www.education.auckland.ac.nz (Elizabeth Zealand’s colonial10 founders. These were men and women Rata). from a number of ethnic heritages but committed to the Universalist vision of the human being as the primary identity 7 Michael Matthews (2000). Time for Science Education. of all people. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, p. xxi.

Today an ethnicity/race identity rather than a national citizen 8 Advocates of the pedagogical approach favoured by identity is accepted uncritically as the primary means of social culturalists dispute that objective knowledge (or ‘what to categorisation. Alternative viewpoints are silenced by the teach’) even exists. According to Eric Hobsbawn ‘it is cultural relativism that views all knowledge as the subjective denied that there is any reality that is objectively there experiences of a distinctive socio-cultural group. They are and not constructed by the observer for different and silenced by the cultural determinism that views the teacher – changing purposes. It is claimed that we can never student relationship in cultural, not knowledge, terms. And penetrate beyond the limitations of language.’ (‘In

Volume 28 Number 2 2005 5 Defense of History’, The Guardian, January 14, 2005. http://www.guardian.co.uk Elizabeth Rata teaches in the Faculty of Education at the 9 Michael Matthews (2000). Time for Science Education. University of Auckland, is an New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, p. xxi. Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Political Studies, and 10 My use of the word ‘colonial ’ is deliberate. It deserves to a founding member of the Politics of be rescued from its present position as a term of abuse Social Regulation Research Group and reinstated as the word for the historical period in based at that university. Dr Rata is a which the New Zealand nation was established, and for Fulbright Senior Scholar and an the complex, and still disputed, processes of that estab- international writer and speaker on lishment. the politics of ethnicity and indigeneity in liberal democracies.

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6 Volume 28 Number 2 2005 General Article

From crisis to reform to crisis again: Argentina’s experience with public service reforms

Gonzalo Iglesias, School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington

In his seminal work, Samuel Huntington (Political Order in However, as is testified by the widespread social discontent Changing Societies, 1968) signalled provocatively that if moder- and the recent episodes of political instability, and more than a nity and democracy were to breed political stability to the decade after they were launched, market-oriented reforms can increasingly turbulent developing societies, modernisation was hardly be said to have met expectations. generally going to breed nothing but exactly the opposite. Huntington’s primary thesis was that the violence and political A significant factor inhibiting improvement in performance instability characteristic of the developing world - of which has been the failure of many governments to achieve signifi- Argentina is a frequently-cited example - was in large part the cant reform in their civil services. Despite not a few attempts product of the lag in the development of political institutions to reform and modernise civil services during past decades 1 behind social and economic change. (and despite some remarkable exceptions too, such as Chile ) many governments adhere to traditional practices, and the Alas, a similar argument would be repeated today about the progress made in Latin American public services lags well nature of public service reforms in most Latin American behind the progress made in other areas. Most public organisa- countries. Caught as they have been in a transition from ‘pre’, tions continue to suffer from a multitude of anomalies and ‘pseudo’ or – more rarely – ‘pure’ Weberian bureaucratic deficiencies including the lack of human resource planning, structures to the ‘new’ managerial paradigms, most countries in inappropriate staffing policy, discriminatory systems of the region have also been experiencing the tensions and promotion, erratic postings and transfers, and absence of any turbulences that are likely to arise when the rapid change in objective performance appraisal system or clear reward state’s economic structure is coupled with a much slower structures. Modern management techniques are scarce, and development of the institutional capacities to perform the new managers have little flexibility to administer resources in roles it is now being expected to assume. pursuing their organisational missions (see Bresser Pereira, 2001; Longo, 2003). Public service can be thus considered, not In the last twenty years Latin America has seen unprecedented without good reason, as the Achilles’ heel of reforms in Latin transformation in the state’s organisation as well as in the America. relationship between the state, citizens, and markets (World Bank, 2003). Despite the fact that outcomes of this rapid Argentina has not been the exception to this pattern. Starting political and administrative transformation will still be open to in the early nineties, a new government jumped off a ‘burning debate for many years to come, its nature and depth are platform’ of a decade of economic stagnation that ended in a certainly less controversial. hyper-inflationary process, to introduce structural reforms in Argentina that impressed the world because of both their There are common elements to this transformation in many speed and scope. As a result, Argentina was the poster-child of countries. international financial institutions for most of the decade2.

First, the region has moved from being a set of countries But as the reformism lost momentum, the initial set of where democracy was the exception, to one in which democ- macroeconomic transformation was not followed by any racy is ‘the only game in town’. Second, governments in the proportional investment in improving state sector capabilities. region have become significantly more decentralised in By the late 90s, and after a Second State Reform that was more political, administrative, and fiscal terms: provinces and local publicised than real, there was a widespread recognition that governments have acquired growing service delivery responsi- the picture showed the co-existence of radical changes in the bilities and account for a larger share of total public spending economic structure of the state with less desirable features on key services provision. Third, the process of redefining the such as the persistence of protected monopolies, weak state’s role has included increased contracting out to private regulatory capabilities, and scarce and fragmented improve- and non government service providers, privatisation and, more ments in service delivery at the provincial level. generally, a movement toward enhancing the role of competition in many economic activities, including the provision of When at the end of 1999 a new government coalition came to key services. Last but not least, there has been an increasingly power and tried again to push previously abandoned ‘second active role played by civil society. generation’ reforms3 back into the political agenda, it was too

Volume 28 Number 2 2005 7 late: both the fiscal and political oxygen were running out. In Established in 1991, the main component of those reforms 2001 the crises finally overtook Argentine reforms in mid- was an integrated civil service career system (Sistema Nacional de stride4. More importantly, as the second generation reforms la Profesion Administrativa, or simply SINAPA) encompassing failed (because they were delayed, aborted, poorly designed or the whole national public sector and covering positions in all poorly implemented) to fill the gap between public sector levels of the federal administration. The SINAPA, in which a functions and capabilities, the risk started to increase that the significant proportion of the employees in the federal adminis- whole modernisation effort would be reversed. tration still continue to serve, was designed as a sophisticated classification list covering both standard and executive positions with several related subsystems dealing with training, performance evaluation, salary grids, and competitive examina- Calligraphic revolutions tions (Oszlak, 1997). Juan Bautista Alberdi – the ‘father’ of Argentine constitutional Despite its many formal positive aspects and improvements, law - wrote about a hundred and fifty years ago that Argentine the reality of practice soon indicated that SINAPA was a static policy-makers seemed to be addicted to “calligraphic revolu- rather than a flexible system, in which the personnel was an tions”, a sarcastic metaphor to illustrate how the early local ageing and usually low qualified workforce, rarely evaluated on propensity to introduce wide formal institutional reforms was time, rarely promoted and even more rarely fired (Iacovello et rarely accompanied by any significant and sustained political al, 2002). effort to see them effectively implemented. Somewhat predictably, and only four years after SINAPA was Now as it was then, the outcome of that passion for futile introduced, a Presidential decree allowed Ministers and innovation is the emergence of several related phenomena that Secretaries of State to appoint public employees at their constitute the watermark of Argentinean public policy discretion on temporary contracts, bypassing the recently environment: volatile, rigid and poorly coordinated policies established merit system. Although the new positions were that contribute to shorten the time horizons of the economic intended for middle level managers, advisors and technical and social actors that are supposed to respond to the policies, assistants, it is not surprising that very soon every political reducing policy effectiveness (Spiller & Tomassi, 2003). authority was appointing additional employees for administra- Firstly, the proliferation of norms and policy initiatives tive tasks through this mechanism. combined with low enforcement and weak implementation This practice soon created a transient parallel bureaucracy in efforts, as with monetary profligacy, progressively devalues which employees tended to be better-paid (but shorter-lived) policy credibility. Secondly, the overall lack of credibility of the than permanent civil servants at similar levels. Although the system makes negotiations over policy outcomes less meaning- existence of this parallel bureaucracy constitutes itself a ful, since policy debts are rarely paid in the hard currency of strategy to overcome the deficiencies and rigidities of the policies that will actually be carried out (Aninat et al, 2004). traditional bureaucracy refurbished under SINAPA (Iacovello Lastly, the attempts to overcome the lack of policy credibility et al, 2002), it comes at the price of even larger ex-post costs. by preventing political opportunism have led in many cases to the adoption of extremely rigid institutional and policy designs. On the one hand, to circumvent the rigidities of the career Since these mechanisms also limit the capacity to make civil service system, Ministers and State Secretaries make large adjustments they also create incentives to bypass or suppress numbers of top and mid-level appointments on temporary the system in the face of changed economic and social contracts in their organisations. When Ministers, Secretaries circumstances. and under-Secretaries change, which they do quite frequently, the contracts of these temporary employees are usually also Thus, rigidity and volatility are different sides of the same terminated. This high turnover in political and technical coin: a circular causation process that goes from an initial lack positions erodes institutional memory, and impedes the of credibility, to the adoption of increasingly rigid policies to development of horizontal and vertical norms of cooperation avoid opportunism, in turn creating incentives to bypass those and coordination between high level bureaucrats. policies, thus further eroding their credibility. On the other, at the lower echelons, to boost their member- One of the main elements – although not the only one – ship, State Unions usually exercise high political pressure to contributing to this ‘policy volatility’ has been the absence of a incorporate the mass of low skilled hired personnel into the professional and independent civil service. Nevertheless, if formal civil service. As recently as last June, and as a part of a there is any interest in Argentina’s experience with civil service more general agreement with the Unions, the Presidential reforms it lies precisely in the fact that after several extensive decree 707/05 allowed the incorporation of 9000 employees reforms at the beginning of the 90s it constitutes the first into the lower levels of bureaucracy, all of them previously Latin American country to have attempted a wide and compre- hired under the temporary contracts mechanism. hensive civil service reform, including the most relevant aspects usually associated with the so-called professional In summary, about ten years after its introduction, the career ‘Weberian’ bureaucracies: meritocratic recruitment, internal civil service was being ignored or bypassed at high bureaucratic promotion, career stability and salary grids. levels, while at the lower levels the number of temporary

8 Volume 28 Number 2 2005 contracts excluded from civil service regulations kept growing. difficult because social norms and conventions are highly Rather than helping to reduce policy volatility, the civil service persistent. reform became itself just another ‘calligraphic revolution’. Thus, while it is possible to change policies and legislation almost instantaneously (Alberdi’s ‘calligraphic revolutions’), it needs to be remembered that informal norms and conventions Now that the ‘window’ is opened once are often more important in governing organisational behaviour than the formal legalistic ones. In Argentina’s case, the again … would you please close the door? pattern of a particularly bad relationship between politicians and career civil servants was established well before the The attempts to reform the civil service briefly described reforms mentioned earlier were introduced, but it continues to above are good examples of those peculiar qualities of affect the operational capacity of the state very negatively even Argentine public policies: that is, ambitious, fast, and compre- today. hensive reforms that are equally rapidly bypassed, devaluated, aborted or simply forgotten before they reach maturity. The In summary, as in any other process of reform and organisa- case of SINAPA showed how the administration that had once tional innovation, the introduction of civil service and public introduced one of the most ambitious professional civil sector reforms is generally a process that requires deep cultural service careers in Latin America, created with a difference of changes, in addition to the political commitment, follow-up years a whole parallel bureaucracy of appointed temporary and continuity needed for those changes to emerge. As stated employees to overcome the rigidities and deficiencies of the by Pollit & Bouckaert (2000) a successful reform strategy is later. one that creates and sustains conditions in which ‘small improvements’ can flourish. Recognising that specific aspects regarding the design of the civil service reform that has been described can arguably be So far, this has not been the case of Argentinean reforms since signalled as deficient and consequently blamed for its further the main and most stable characteristic of the Argentine state faulty implementation, it is worth noting that the fundamental has been, somewhat paradoxically, its almost complete inability reasons lying behind implementation failures are, for the most to sustain and enforce policies over time. Certainly, the depth part, political rather than technical. of the last economical and political crisis in Argentina has (one more time) opened the window for a brand new wave of First, since reforms may be resisted by the forces that have Alberdi’s calligraphic revolutions. Considering the fact that the perpetuated the inefficient equilibrium, such as a corrupt state new government arrived in 2003 with a belligerent rhetoric apparatus or an inefficient bureaucracy fighting to preserve the against most of the past years reforms and was granted status quo, addressing the problems associated with weak unprecedented administrative powers, one may wonder if at traditions of bureaucratic autonomy and highly politicised least this time somebody will close the door so the latest management may involve touching on vested interests, and reforms won’t fly away at the same speed they will probably thus may require having enough political capital as well as the arrive. decision to use it. That is why given the extremely high political costs of major structural reforms and the complementarity between sectorial reforms, the government Concluding remarks usually prefers imposing a shock or radical reform package once a window of opportunity is opened, generally following a The evidence of Argentina as well as other countries in the crisis. region suggests that reforming the state and modernising state bureaucracy are not easy tasks but sometimes painful learning However, both first and second generation reforms usually processes, not exempt from reversals and from which quick need time to become fully effective. Moreover, they may need results should not be realistically expected. Although a lot is this time to be quiet, peaceful and moderately prosperous – expected from replacing inefficient and corrupt bureaucracies three conditions rarely found all at the same time in developing with streamlined government structures, modernising the state countries. But, as demonstrated by the Chilean experience so and the civil service has often turned out to be a painful far, strong political consensus and cooperative behaviour experience that takes considerable time and involves numerous across the main actors may at least guarantee that reforms will iterations before – if ever - states reach the promised land of still be sustained well after the initial political or economical high-performance civil services. conditions become extinct, and thus not be abandoned before their results can be actually judged. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the ideas presented here should not be understood as an argument against public Second, and as the neo-institutional stream of economic administration modernisation efforts, since such would be literature has signalled (North, 1990; Pierson, 2000), inefficient considered as no less than silly conformism for those suffering institutional equilibria can be stable and immune to shocks the consequences of poor public service delivery. Nor it precisely because institutions are characterised by large setup should be read as yet another reminder of the many difficulties costs, massive increasing returns, and coordination effects. of translating the managerial catechism into the context of Even if political capital is available to overcome any initial developing countries: the progressive loss of innocence amidst potential barrier, changing the status quo may remain very both the academic and professional discourse makes it unnec-

Volume 28 Number 2 2005 9 essary to cite those ‘difficulties’ yet again, and hardly anyone Iacoviello, M.; Tommasi, M. and Zuvanic, L. (2002), would deny today that institutional and national context matters in “Diagnóstico Institucional de sistemas de servicio civil: Caso the transplantation of management ideas (OECD, 2005). Argentina”, IADB Regional Policy Dialogue Public Policy Management and Transparency Network, Washington DC. The first and most obvious implication is that Argentine Available at: http://www.iadb.org/int/drp/esp/Red5/ administrations should stop insisting on new, comprehensive transparenciadoc4.htm or radical policy innovations, and consuming the scarce political, human, and financial resources in pursuing the latest Navia, P. and Velasco, A. (2003), The Politics of Second fad. A better option to ‘big bang’ reforms would be that of Generation Reforms in Latin America, in: After the Washing- ‘strategic incrementalism’ (World Bank, 2003): that is, prag- ton Consensus: Restarting Growth and Reform in Latin matic incremental reforms that, while pursuing opportunities America, P. P. Kuczynski and J. Williamson (eds.), Institute for for specific service delivery reforms and program innovations, International Economics, Washington. may contribute both to short-term results and help create conditions for deeper and more favourable change over time. North, D. (1990), Institutions, Institutional Change and As stated by Pollit & Buckaert (2000) a successful reform Economic Performance, Cambridge University Press, Cam- strategy is one that creates and sustains conditions in which bridge. ‘small improvements’ can flourish. OECD (2004), Modernizing the state: the synthesis, 30th A second implication is an emphasis on ‘policy sustainability’ Session of the Public Governance Committee, OECD. vis a vis ‘policy quality’. If failure to reform has been less a Oszlak, O. (1997), The Argentine Civil Service: the unfinished matter of poor design than a consequence of a volatile policy search for identity, Paper presented at the International and political environment, the question to be asked of any civil Conference on Civil Service Systems in Comparative Perspec- service reform proposals to come (managerial or not) is, thus tive, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, April 1997. 1) whether the new reforms are sustainable - have the Available at: http://www.indiana.edu/~csrc/oszlak1.html survival skills needed to avoid the ephemeral fate of their Pollitt, C. (2004), “From there to here, from now till then: predecessors; and buying and borrowing public management reforms”, prepared 2) whether or not the reforms will themselves help reduce for CLAD Ninth International Conferece, Madrid, November overall policy volatility and enhance policy efficiency in 2004. the long run. Pollitt, C. and Bouckaert, G. (2000), Public Management Reform: Finally, since second generation reforms usually entail the A Comparative Analysis, Oxford, Oxford University Press. creation of organisational structures and accountability Spiller, P. and Tommasi, M.(2003), “The Institutional Founda- networks that are more complex than those of traditional tions of Public Policy: A Transactions Approach with Applica- service delivery techniques, Argentina as well as other Latin tion to Argentina”, Journal of Law, Economics and Organiza- American countries should indeed continue investing in tion, 2003, vol. 19, issue 2, pages 281-306. building state capacities. Only by closing the gap between the emerging public sector responsibilities and the institutional Spiller, P., Stein, E.and Tommasi, M. (2003), “Political Institu- capacity to perform the new roles that the state is expected to tions, Policy Making Processes, and Policy Outcomes: An assume would any of the forthcoming reforms turn out to be Intertemporal Transactions Framework”, Political Institutions, something more than a meaningless rhetorical exercise. Policy Making Processes, and Policy Outcomes, Inter-Ameri- can Development Bank World Bank (2003), Making Services Work for Poor People, World Development Report 2004, World Bank, Washington, DC. References Aninat, C.; Londregan, J.; Navia, P. and Vial, J. (2004), Political Institutions, Policymaking Processes, and Policy Outcomes in Notes Chile, Inter-American Development Bank, third draft, Septem- 1 When compared to the rest of Latin America, Chile ber 2004. stands out as a particularly stable and resilient economy Bresser-Pereira, L. (2001), New Public Management Reform: due to the strength of its institutions. Even if Chile did Now in the Latin American Agenda, and Yet... Available at: not go as far as Argentina did in many sectorial reforms http://bresserpereira.org.br/papers/77-journal-final.pdf during the 90 ’s, Aninat et al (2004) suggest that the Huntington, S. (1968), Political Order in Changing Societies, predictability of policy implementation and of law Yale University Press New Haven. enforcement led to a policy making process in which transaction costs were low and inter-temporal political Longo, F. (2003), Comparative Institutional Diagnosis of Civil exchanges were credible. The result was an economic and Service Systems, Summary of 17 Country Evaluations, IADB policy process that cannot be attached to those very Regional Policy Dialogue Public Policy Management and punctuated cycles of boom and bust characteristic of Transparency Network, Washington DC. many Latin American countries, particularly Argentina.

10 Volume 28 Number 2 2005 2 In the few years between 1991 and 1994, the new Peronist 4 After four consecutive years of economic recession that Party administration triggered a broad set of reform ended in a bank run and forced the elected President to policies identified in the literature as ‘structural’ or ‘first resign, in January 2001 the new provisional government generation reforms’, including a wide privatisation was forced to abandon peso parity with the dollar and to program, trade and financial liberalisation, elimination of default on its foreign debt. Consequently, in the following barriers to foreign direct investment, as well as an ambi- months the Peso collapsed to less than 30 per cent of its tious pension system reform and the decentralisation of former value, the unemployment rate rose to 25 per cent, health and educational services to the provincial level. and the poverty indexes doubled to cover more than half Additionally, the adoption of the hard-peg monetary of the population. regime (the currency board or Convertibilidad) allowed the federal government to substantially improve its fiscal performance and stabilise the economy in a very short time. Gonzalo Iglesias is a Master of 3 These reforms included a new public service reform (the Public Management student in the Plan de Modernizacion del Estado), a labour market School of Government at Victoria reform, a new fiscal arrangement with the provinces, University of Wellington. service delivery innovations that pushed for choice and competition in the healthcare sector, just to mention the most relevant.

The Canadian Institute on Governance Policy Brief No. 22: The Task Ahead: Advancing First Nations Forest Sector Participation

This April 2005 policy brief considers a number of paths in through out Canada and its impact on First Nations – advancing First Nations participation in the forest sector. It forest industry relationships. The policy brief contains a is based a larger study which was sponsored by the Forest number of recommendations for how First Nations, Products Association of Canada (FPAC), the First Nations forest sector firms, provincial and federal governments Forestry Program (FNFP), and the National Aboriginal can work together to achieve progress. Forestry Association (NAFA), and had the purpose of analysing the policy context in each province and territory http://www.iog.ca/publications/policybrief22.pdf

Volume 28 Number 2 2005 11 General Article

Local government and New Zealand’s constitutional inquiry

Roger Matthews, North Shore City Council, Grant Hewison, Brookfield Lawyers, John Sheppard, Consultant

Background The history of government in New Zealand has resulted in a strong centralised system of government. We have no upper Recently there has been growing debate about New Zealand’s house and no single constitutional document that is higher law. constitutional arrangements. Partly in response to this debate, Within this centralised system of government, local government the New Zealand House of Representatives established the does not derive from any constitutional entitlement and this has Constitutional Arrangements Committee on 16 December resulted in a system where many perceive local government as a 2004. The Committee issued its report ‘Inquiry to Review necessity more than anything else (Palmer, G., 1998). New Zealand’s Existing Constitutional Arrangements’ in August 20051. However, the report made only one brief The review that resulted in the Local Government Act 2002 comment concerning local government. looked, almost for the first time, at the principles and powers of local government, but it did not attempt any consideration This paper argues that local government must be an important of its constitutional role. Constitutions are primarily about feature of any inquiry into New Zealand’s constitution. political authority and power within a democratic framework. It is strongly suggested that any review of New Zealand’s Introduction constitutional matters must begin to grapple with questions about the distribution of that authority and power between the The consideration of the role of local government in existing levels of government. The inquiry must investigate New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements is not explicitly and comment on a clear constitutionally principled basis for stated in the terms of reference for the Constituional Arrange- local government’s role and activities. Local government would ments Committee, although at the very least it should be benefit from a renewed sense of life and inspiration. implicit given the role that local government plays in the lives of all New Zealanders. The terms of reference state: The Local Government Act 2002 states:

The committee is to undertake a review of New Zealand’s existing The purpose of local government is— constitutional arrangements by identifying and describing: (a) to enable democratic local decision-making and action by, and on (a) New Zealand’s constitutional development since 1840; behalf of, communities; and, (b) The key elements in New Zealand’s constitutional structure, and the (b) To promote the social, economic, environmental, and cultural well- relationships between those elements; being of communities, in the present and for the future. (c) The sources of New Zealand’s constitution; The role of a local authority is to— (d) The process other countries have followed in undertaking a range of constitutional reforms; and, (a) give effect, in relation to its district or region, to the purpose of local government stated in [above]; and, (e) The processes which it would be appropriate for New Zealand to follow if significant constitutional reforms were considered in the (b) perform the duties, and exercise the rights, conferred on it by or future. under this Act and any other enactment.

However from a review of the submissions received by the These sections clearly acknowledge that local authorities have Committee and published on the Internet, the consideration an undeniable local ‘governmental’ role (as opposed to only of the role of local government in New Zealand’s constitution administering local functions on behalf of central govern- does not appear to have been well addressed. We believe it is ment), but they do not provide constitutional protection of critical that any constitutional inquiry do so. this role, which leaves local government vulnerable to any potential future change in its role. One measure that we believe At its simplest, democracy means people having an equal say in deserves immediate attention is recognition of local govern- the decisions that affect their lives; and citizenship means ment in the New Zealand Constitution Act 1986. being a full member of the community. For most of us, many of the decisions that affect our lives and most of what we A modest proposal along these lines might be to include a new think of as the community, happen at the local level. Part V as follows:

12 Volume 28 Number 2 2005 1. There shall continue to be in New Zealand a nation-wide dimensions of citizenship - the right to accessible political system of independent democratically elected local participation and the social right and need to be included authorities through which collective decisions can be made (Marshall, T., 1950). Seen in this social perspective, local and acted upon locally; government is the logical function of what has been called ‘human scale’ community development (Max-Neef, M., et al., 2. The Executive and Legislature, by legislative and other 1989). measures, must support the capacity of local authorities to manage their own affairs, to exercise their powers, to Of course, to describe the ideal form of local government in a perform their functions and to raise most of their own democracy is not to imply that these criteria have all been met funding; and, in practice in New Zealand local government; clearly they have not. One historical feature of our system, partly owed to its 3. Draft legislation or policy that affects the status, institu- British origin, is that local government has been more directly tions, powers or functions of local government must be controlled by national government than in other countries, and published for public comment before proceeding, in a has had significantly less financial autonomy; thus it has been manner that allows organised local government and other less able to act as a genuine instrument of local democracy interested persons an opportunity to make representations. (Chandler, J., 1992). At the same time, New Zealand local governments have not always themselves fulfilled their democratic potential even when they had the capacity.

Local government’s democratic legitimacy In New Zealand today, however, the legal and constitutional It has been said that; ‘the democratic ideal in local government status of local government does not reflect its actual and implies that active participation of the citizens in local affairs is historical value in democracy, both as a necessary structural both a goal in itself and an instrument for strengthening component of democratic government, and as the civil and democracy in society at large’ (Kjellberg, F., 1995). social right of individual citizens. Nor does it sufficiently recognise the relative confidence that most New Zealanders The fact that Ancient Athens is often thought of as the have in local government, or its essential role in community birthplace of democracy has much to do with the form of its building. In contrast, we can find these values explicitly built government – in effect, a large city council meeting in which into the constitutions of a number of European democracies. the citizens voted directly. When the American Republic was founded, Alexander Hamilton argued that the truest form of democracy was the town meeting, but he added another Subsidiarity argument for local government, that it was the best check on the centralisation of power, which was to become a feature of Internationally, the idea of devolving authority, decision- the American representative model of democracy. making and service delivery has gained popularity and interest as the traditional welfare state has failed to meet the rising John Stuart Mill, the father of British Liberalism in the expectations of citizens for public services while delivering nineteenth century, was a passionate advocate of local govern- competitive economies. In the United States devolution is ment because he believed it the most accessible form of employed to combat the growth of national authority. In democracy. In the late nineteenth century, the provision of Japan, it is seen as a way to create more responsive mecha- community services became a more important role for nisms for delivering public service, while in Europe the government and a further argument for local government was objective has been to ensure more effective governance units. developed. • In most sovereign states the authority to carry out public Local government has a long pedigree and powerful legitimacy functions is distributed between central and local govern- in western democracy, on at least three grounds: ment; and,

• Democratic institutions must have a local foundation to • Generally, authority is divided on the basis of activity, and counteract central power; it is apportioned on the basis of area characteristics throughout the country. The two systems - that is central • The democratic ideal of political participation is most and local government, are however inter-dependent and meaningful when it deals with the familiar, the accessible ideally should complement each other. and the local; and, The theoretical rationale for devolution can also be drawn • Democracy as a concept assumes, and is only viable when from the notion of subsidiarity. Subsidiarity is described in the based on, the idea of a community or society, and while draft ‘World Charter of Local Self Government’ (IULA- communities and societies can exist at different scales, ASPAC, 1998) as: they are usually strongest at the local level, where personal contacts and networks are best developed (Salvaris, M., 1995). … the principle, whereby decisions should be taken at the level closest to the citizens, town or municipality, and that only those tasks that The idea of local governance is a kind of individual human the local level cannot effectively carry out alone should be referred to right, combining the civil and political and the social higher levels.

Volume 28 Number 2 2005 13 The Royal Commission for Social Policy first promoted the Smaller units of government are more likely to be homog- subsidiarity principle, endorsed as the principle for governing enous than larger units, and in smaller homogenous units the relationship between different levels of government in the individuals are more likely to share similar preferences for European Union, in New Zealand in 1988. Subsidiarity specific political actions or policies; and, requires a principled approach to the allocation of functions and activities between spheres of government, civic society (f) Protecting individual and community liberty - The and the private sector. However, there are few examples, other constitutional separation of powers between central and than the Resource Management Act 1991, where the allocation local government would provide a limit to the potential of functions between spheres of government has been range of political coercion by central government. approached from such a basis (Stigley, C., 2000). Individual liberty is likely to be enhanced by reducing the range of activities the central state can undertake, effec- The United States National Conference of State Legislatures tively limiting its power and authority. (1998) has made a good summary of the case for the devolution of authority and the security that a constitution provides: Recognising local government in the The Constitution divides authority between federal and state constitution governments for the protection of individuals. When one level becomes deficient or engages in excesses, the other level of government Some may feel uncomfortable with the suggestion that local serves as a channel for renewed expressions of self-government. This government should have a prominent role in the constitutional careful balance enhances the express protections of civil liberties inquiry. Yet if we agree about local government’s wider role in within the Constitution. democracy, there are some sound and pragmatic reasons why Any debate on the role of a constitution in New Zealand must local government should be a focal point. address the relative power and authority of central and local One of the key issues in the inquiry must be whether and how government. This must involve both mechanisms for limiting local government should be recognised in any new constitu- the authority of central government and protecting the rights tion. The case for recognising local government is strong and of communities to organise themselves and run their affairs legitimate and is essentially this: differently at a local level. • Local government is a critical part of the structure of The distribution of functions between central and local New Zealand democracy; it deserves constitutional government should be codified on the basis of the application protection in its own right as much as other entrenched of principles (Kerr, R., 1999), including: components of democracy, such as parliament and the (a) Informed decision-making - The information required judiciary; to make decisions is costly to obtain. Thus the level of government that is most likely to possess the required • The right of local participation and self government is a information should generally be given responsibility for civil right of all citizens in a democracy; related decisions; • Local government should be given special status in a (b) Balanced decision-making - Decisions should be made democracy because of its historic and continuing role, as at the level of government where both the benefits and the most accessible site of democracy, as a check against the related costs fall. Trouble is sure to arise when one excessively centralised power, and to ensure that the level of government is responsible for spending decisions different needs and resources of different localities are while another is charged with raising the required revenue; properly represented; and,

(c) Cost effective decision-making - Where the costs of • Local government is in fact constitutionally recognised in making decisions are high and individual preferences are many modern democracies, as well as by international relatively uniform, national policies may be efficient. On bodies like the UN, and the European Union. the other hand, where preferences differ, local decision- In Sweden, for example, local government is entrenched in the making may enable the diverse preferences of people to very first article of the constitution, which reads: be better reflected; All public power in Sweden proceeds from the people. Swedish (d) Participation - As governments increase in size the democracy is founded on freedom of opinion and on universal and opportunity for individuals to participate in decision- equal suffrage. It shall be realised through a representative and making reduces and is replaced by organised interest parliamentary polity and through local government. groups competing for influence over political representatives. Where the level of commonality of interests is In Australia, by way of another example, local government has unclear, individuals lack the incentive to act in the com- been largely recognised and protected in the constitutions of mon interest; the states of Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia in 1979, and New South Wales in 1986 (Jones, M., 1991). Overall (e) Shared values - Size is a factor in the degree to which in Australia, local government is referred to in all State members of a community share values and concerns. Constitutions, with three of the States providing for

14 Volume 28 Number 2 2005 entrenchment of local government provisions and special 6. Local authorities shall be consulted, insofar as possible, in procedural requirements for consultation on the part of State due time and in an appropriate way in the planning and Government’s with local authorities before they are able to decision-making processes for all matters which concern pass local government legislation (Constitution Act 1902 them directly. (NSW), s.51; Constitution Act 1867 (Qld), s.54; Constitution Act 1934 (SA), s.64a; Constitution Act 1934 (Tas), s.45A; D. Protection of local authorities and their Constitution Act 1975 (Vic), s.74A; Constitution Act 1889 boundaries (WA), s.52). 1. Reorganisation of local authorities or their boundaries shall not be made without prior consultation of the local A potential model communities concerned, usually by means of a poll where this is permitted by statute. Included below is a set of principles of ‘local government’ adapted from the European Charter of Local Self-Government that might be recognised in the New Zealand Constitution: E. Appropriate administrative structures and resources for the tasks of local authorities A. Legal foundation for local government 1. Without prejudice to more general statutory provisions, Local government shall be recognised in domestic legislation. local authorities shall be able to determine their own internal administrative structures in order to adapt them to B. Concept of local government local needs and ensure effective management. 1. Local government denotes the right and the ability of 2. The conditions of service of local government employees local authorities, within the limits of the law, to regulate shall be on a professional basis with appointment and and manage a substantial share of public affairs under promotion by merit and on the basis of equal employment their own responsibility and in the interests of the local opportunities. population.

2. This right shall be exercised by councils composed of F. Conditions under which responsibilities at a members freely elected by secret ballot on the basis of local level are exercised direct, equal, universal suffrage, and which possess executive organs responsible to them. This provision shall 1. The conditions of office of local elected representatives in no way affect recourse to assemblies of citizens, shall provide for free exercise of their functions. referendums or any other form of direct citizen participation where it is permitted by statute. 2. They shall allow for appropriate financial compensation for expenses incurred in the exercise of the office in C. Scope of local government question. 1. The basic powers and responsibilities of local authorities 3. Any functions and activities, which are deemed incom- shall be prescribed by statute. However, this provision patible with the holding of local elective office, shall be shall not prevent the attribution to local authorities of determined by statute. powers and responsibilities for specific purposes in accordance with the law. G. Administrative supervision of local authorities’ activities 2. Local authorities shall, within the limits of the law, have full discretion to exercise their initiative with regard to any matter, which is not excluded from their competence nor 1. Any administrative supervision of local authorities may exclusively assigned to any other authority. only be exercised according to such procedures and in such cases as are provided for by statute. 3. Public responsibilities shall generally be exercised, in preference, by those authorities, which are closest to the 2. Administrative supervision of local authorities shall be citizen. Allocation of responsibility to another authority exercised in such a way as to ensure that the intervention should weigh up the extent and nature of the task and of the controlling authority is kept in proportion to the requirements of efficiency and economy. importance of the interests, which it is intended to protect. 4. Powers given to local authorities shall normally be full and exclusive. They may not be undermined or limited by H. Financial resources of local authorities another, central authority except as provided for by the law. 1. Local authorities shall be entitled, within national eco- 5. Where a central authority delegates powers to them, local nomic policy, to adequate financial resources of their own, authorities shall, insofar as possible, be allowed discretion of which they may dispose freely within the framework of in adapting their exercise to local conditions. their powers.

Volume 28 Number 2 2005 15 2. Local authorities’ financial resources shall be commensu- Jones M., (1991). Australian Local Government: Waiting for a rate with the responsibilities provided for by the constitu- Challenge. In Hesse, J. J., (ed.), Local Government and Urban tion and the law. Affairs in International Perspective. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft June 1991, p. 623. 3. Most of the financial resources of local authorities shall derive from local rates, taxes and charges of which, within Kerr, R., (1999). Toward more efficient and democratic local the limits of statute, they have the power to determine the government. Business Roundtable reported speech, December rate. 1999.

4. The financial systems on which resources available to local Kjellberg, F., (1995). ‘The Changing Values of Local Government’ authorities are based shall be of a sufficiently diversified in Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social and buoyant nature to enable them to keep pace as far as Science, vol. 540, 40. practically possible with the real evolution of the cost of Marshall, T. H., (1950). Citizenship and Social Class, Cambridge. carrying out their tasks. Max-Neef, M., Elizalde, A., & Hopenhayn, M., (1989). ‘Human 5. The provision of grants shall not remove the basic scale development: an option for the future’, Development freedom of local authorities to exercise policy discretion Dialogue, Uppsala, Dag Hammarskjold Foundation. within their own jurisdiction. National Conference of State Legislatures July 1998, Goals for 6. For the purpose of borrowing for capital investment, local State federal Action - Law and Justice Policies, NCSL, Washing- authorities shall have access to the national capital market ton. within the limits of the law. Palmer, G., (1998). Reform of local government – a power of general competence? A paper prepared for Auckland City I. Local authorities’ right to associate Council. 1. Local authorities shall be entitled, in exercising their Salvaris, M., (1995). Local Government, Democracy and Constitu- powers, to co-operate and, within the framework of the tion Reform. A speech by Michael Salvaris, Senior Research law, to form consortia with other local authorities or Fellow, Centre for Urban and Social Research, Swinburne businesses in order to carry out tasks of common interest. University of Technology, 2-3. 2. Local authorities shall be entitled, under such conditions Stigley, C., (2000). Local government’s growing importance in the as may be provided for by the law, to co-operate with their constitution. A paper to the ‘Building the Constitution’ counterparts in other States. Conference, Wellington, April 2000.

J. Legal protection of local authorities Notes 1. Local authorities shall have the right of recourse to a 1 Constitutional Arrangements Copmmittee, (2005). judicial remedy in order to secure free exercise of their Inquiry to review New Zealand’s exeisting constitutional powers and respect for such principles of local govern- arrangements. Report of the Constitutional Arrange- ment as are enshrined in statute. ments committee, Hon. Peter Dunn (Chair), August 20005, 170 p. http://www.constitutional Conclusion parliament.govt.nz/upload.Final_Report.pdfg It is argued that it is essential that any review of Roger Matthews is a strategic policy analyst at the North Shore City New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements should properly Council; he has previously worked for Auckland City Council and two consider the role of local government. It is clear that local regional councils. He was involved throughout the review of the Local government has been part of New Zealand’s constitutional Government Act 1974 working with government departments and Local development since 1840 and the recognition and formalisation Government New Zealand. of this is long overdue. In order to protect the purpose and role of local government, it is submitted that this discussion should form a core part of the work of the Constitutional Grant Hewison is a consultant with Brookfields Lawyers specialising Arrangements Committee. in local government law and policy. Previously he worked as a senior manager for Auckland and Manukau city councils. He was involved References throughout the review of the Local Government Act 1974. Chandler, J., (ed) (1992). Local Government in Liberal Democ- John Sheppard in 30 year’s practice has been involved working with racies, London, Routledge, December 1992, p.224. local government. Since 1989, he has worked almost exclusively for public IULA-ASPAC (1998). Towards a World Charter of Local Self body clients. Since reorganisation of local government in 1989 he has Government, IULA-ASPAC Newsletter, Vol. 9, No.3 July/ been consulted particularly by councils affected by the reforms of structure, September 1998. functions and open government.

16 Volume 28 Number 2 2005 General Article Expert practice of policy practitioners

Lorraine Fowlie, Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives, Wellington

breaking down performance into discrete parts taught to Introduction others to improve their expertise and performance. Policy analysis is a socio-political activity. The functional descriptions of expert practice in policy analysis texts do not satisfactorily explain the day-to-day practice of policy practi- Experts and learning tioners. For instance Weimer and Vining (1999, pp. 45–47) describe five competencies for practice: Learning is a cognitive and a social activity. Expert practitioners solidly ground their learning in the needs of their clients, • Practitioners know how to gather, organise and commu- and in the context of their practice actively seek new informa- nicate information under pressure; tion to work effectively in their environment (Daley, 1999; • Practitioners place the policy issue in context; Daley, 1998; Ferry & Ross-Gordon, 1998; Carper, 1978). Expert practitioners are self-directed adult learners, critical • Practitioners have the technical skills to enable them to thinkers, know what is useful knowledge and what is not, predict better, and evaluate more confidently the conse- actively integrate concepts, improvise, pick up little things, quences of alternative policies; draw upon professional experiences and personal experience, and are able to identify factors that hinder learning which may • Practitioners have the conceptual and technical skills to include politics, lack of resources, and the organisational undertake policy analysis; and structure in which they work.

• Practitioners understand political and organisational 1 behaviour. Defining expertise Common characteristics of expert practice included practition- However, the texts do not explore the nuances of how policy ers having a sound educational background that underpins practitioners use their knowledge, experience, skill, in their practice. Theory provides the backbone upon which policy practice of policy analysis. This paper reports on a study, based practitioners develop an understanding of the policy problem on eight interviews with policy practioners to identify the at hand, and utilise strategies for problem solving (Stivers, characteristics of expert practice. According to them expert 2001). Practice is safer and quicker when based on a sound practice involves a much wider range of skills and knowledge education base (Benner ,1984, p.xix). than is described in the literature, as we shall see. Expert practitioners are experienced analysts. Experience in this context does not mean the mere passage of time, or longevity. Theories of expertise Experience is the refinement of preconceived notions and theory through encounters with many actual practical situations adding Theories of expertise span three generations. First-generation nuances or shades of differences to theory (Benner, 1984, p.178). theories focus on discrete task performance; second-genera- The key to expertise lies in how the individual uses experience as tion theories identify levels of skill acquisition, and third- a learning mechanism, and the ability to spontaneously generate generation theories integrate expertise, experience, learning solutions to problematic situations. and knowledge compilation thus linking theory to practice. Expert practitioners demonstrate the art of making judgments Glaser and Chi (1988, pp. xv–xxvii) summarised the research or managing complex situations. However, it is difficult to on expertise and identified seven characteristics of expert capture the artistry and crafting of expert practice either when practice. These characteristics focus on the attributes of an describing it, or acknowledging it in the performance appraisal individual and could apply to any task or practice setting. system. It is a case of ‘you know it when you see it’. Experts have rich domains of self-knowledge, both conceptual and procedural, which is easily accessible to problem-solve. They practise their skill acquisition until it becomes an auto- Method matic function, and ask questions, especially with difficult tasks. They also have strong self-monitoring skills. Expert Eight people, identified by colleagues as ‘experts’, agreed to be practice is a complex activity that is more than identifying and interviewed. The interviews were taped, and the majority of the

Volume 28 Number 2 2005 17 quotes presented in the text are an aggregation of comments … ‘developing community networks’. The interaction between made by the research participants to protect their identity. each of the key players, politicians, public officials and citizens Interview transcripts were coded according to the Glaserian is a social interaction where ideas, beliefs, concerns and the method of constant comparative method of data analysis.2 identification of values are exchanged for the development and implementation of policy in anticipation for the better- Six characteristics of expert practice were identified. These are: ment of society, hence the term social trust. Underpinning the social trust, nous, quality sense-making, making visible through category of social trust are the concepts of democratic trust action, organisational broker and role model. A brief descrip- (based on the inclusion of citizens in policy development), tion of these characteristics follows. fiduciary trust, ‘by being an effective and ethical agent in carrying out government business, informed by, and subordi- Social Trust nated to, the ethical norms of justice and beneficence’ (Kass, 1990, cited by Thomas, 1998, p.171), and mutual trust, under- Social trust is based on three themes: trust and confidence of pinned by interpersonal trust, process-based trust, and institu- the Minister; trust and confidence of the organisation where the tional-based trust (Thomas, 1998). policy practitioner is employed; and confidence and trust of the community. Nous Trust and confidence of the Minister Policy practitioners exercise judgement when developing policy advice in a socio-political environment. Nous competency Collectively, the research participants identified that ‘[the] trust refers to the ‘ability of individual public servants to make good and confidence of a Minister is essential if the policy advice judgements in the light of the public nature of their work’ tendered by the Agency is to be accepted’. They went on to (Tanner, 2001, p.8). Nous is characterised by four themes: say, ‘no matter how well you present the advice, if the Minister political savviness, finding out what is going on, judgment and does not have confidence or trust in you, the advice will not be timing, and ‘future think’. read, or accepted’. Some research participants identified what they thought distinguished an expert policy practitioner from other practitioners: … ‘the expert practitioner actively sets out Political savviness to develop a relationship with the Minister’, … ‘finds out the Interviewees identified that expert practitioners are politically Minister’s preferences and expectations’ … ‘quickly establishes savvy. They have ‘knowledge and experience of the political their credibility with the Minister’ and tenders ‘free and frank dynamics’ that influence the policy process. Interviewees said advice’. … ‘[the] present government is manifesto-driven and Ministers want advice on what is the best way to implement policy’. Trust and confidence of the organisation Some interviewees said ‘expert practitioners quickly find out the Minister’s preferences’, … ‘the preferences of the key Research participants identified two ways in which their agencies which either have direct input into developing policy, organisation expressed trust and confidence in their practice: or will be directly or indirectly affected by the advice’, and also ‘the performance management system’, and receiving positive identified the ‘key players across different agencies for frank or negative feedback from ‘the Minister, other organisations discussions and troubleshooting’. They also have a very good (public, private and non-government organisations) and ‘understanding of the political dynamics’ operating within community groups’. Examples of positive feedback included, organisations, between organisations, between Ministers and, if … ‘Ministerial comments approving advice presented for possible, at Cabinet level. action, or for future consideration’, … ‘the timeliness of the report’, and evidence that … ‘ the advice was well researched based on best practice’. Seen as negative feedback were: the Finding out what is going on ‘non-acceptance of the advice’, the Minister asking for … ‘the The interviewees believed that it is their job to ‘find out what report to be rewritten’, or … ‘this is not what I asked for, do it is going on’. They went on to say ‘[we are] not just people again’, and community groups expressing ‘consultation readers, we are also ideology readers, reading the political body overload’. language’. They talked about the importance of ‘getting out and about’, ‘networking’, ‘making contacts, not sitting in the Trust and confidence of the community office waiting for things to happen’, ‘identifying who else is advising the government’ and ‘where these groups were Citizens expect to be part of the consultative process and want coming from’. They also spoke of ‘having the ear of the to be consulted with, not consulted to (Comrie and Cheyne, Minister’, and that they were there to try and ‘influence the 1999). Some participants said ‘it pays to find out what is going decision-making process through formal and informal commu- on around the country, in the regions and with different nication channels’. The outcome of influence may be [the] … interest groups’. An important part of the consultative process ‘formation of a coalition or an alliance of interested groups’, included making policy issues ‘relevant’ to people and this or that the policy practitioner has a ‘better understanding of included ‘speaking in plain English’,…‘being accessible’, and the group’s point of view’ or ‘to reshape a policy agenda’.

18 Volume 28 Number 2 2005 Judgment and timing structure, function, policy co-ordination, the budget process, the legislative process, and the select committee process. The exercising of ‘judgment’ and ‘timing’ was seen as, ‘[the] where and when and what and how and what’s the right time Experience is also a core element of expert practice. Some to do something’. Some participants recalled times when they interviewees identified the need to have a very good working worked through ‘competing views’, deciding which options to knowledge and understanding of the ‘framework’ the Agency present to the Minister knowing that there is no “right an- uses to develop policy advice:‘every organisation has its swer”, ‘trying to predict the consequences of policy options in frameworks and when you become a member of that organisa- the real world’, ‘being reminded to make a judgment’, and tion, you pick up that this is the way that certain issues are having to inform Ministers ‘this is a judgment’. Other interviewed and dealt with’. viewees described… ‘when to draw to a Minister’s attention an You learn the ropes, of the kind of frameworks which are either issue that they may not have considered’, … ‘identifying too taught from your manager, or, from the sharing of experiences, or late X’s view on a policy issue Y’, ... ‘not having a champion to just through the whole range of communication practices in the push an issue through’, and being aware of ‘politicians’ organisation. Every organisation develops frameworks because they preferences and viewpoints’. Judgment was seen as a complex have withstood practical testing, they have actually dealt with certain activity that required skill and experience. problems, they had actually led to successful outcomes, they’re self- reinforcing. ‘Future think’ Research participants described themselves as experimental and/or experiential learners. Expert practitioners modify their Some interviews identified the importance of thinking ahead, knowledge and skills to develop new ways of thinking and in other words they thought strategically. ‘Future think’ has two doing things better (Hayes & Allinson, 1998). However, there interconnecting themes: what policy issues on the horizon was reluctance by the research participants to acknowledge might the government be interested in or need to be brought learning also involved trial and error. Finally, through prepara- to their attention, and who may form the future government. tion and experience the policy practitioner learns to know if They talked about ‘getting out and identifying issues’ and the advice proffered meets the ‘quality standard (technical and ‘scanning the environment’ to identify issues for the incoming analytical)’ of Agency. government to consider. ‘Future think’ is about being proactive and open to future possibilities. Naming and framing Quality sense-making According to the research participants the identification of an issue is a complex process. Organisations use information in three arenas: sense making, knowledge creation, and decision-making which leads to ‘One of the problems that you have is dealing with rather organisational learning and knowledge (Choo, 2001). When simplistic causal logic that some people have. One of the analysing the views of the research participants two themes – things that good analysis does, is that it kind of peels away the preparation for practice and ‘naming and framing’ – were onion and reveals the critical issues that need to be addressed identified as the key elements of quality sense-making. bearing in mind one of the key issues: is this a problem for government?’. The interviewees said that expert practitioners put the policy issue in context asking; ‘is this a new issue or an Preparation for practice old issue’: ‘what is the guts of the issue’; ‘why has this [issue] Collectively, three qualities were identified as the core compo- caused a problem in society’; ‘what brought the changes about’; nents of preparation for practice: professional self-awareness, ‘what is the scale of the problem’ and ‘why should the govern- educational preparation and experience. Professional self- ment now be involved’. The issue context determines what awareness included having an awareness of trends and changes framework is used for problem-solving. in societal beliefs, values, and tolerance and being aware of Some of the research participants identified that expert changes in political ideology, policy ideology and policy practitioners have a whole-of-government approach to their frameworks. It is also about being flexible and adaptable, work: ‘expert practitioners develop an understanding of a adopting ‘chameleon-like’ qualities to suit the Minister of the policy issue that is beyond their own organisation’s perspec- day. As one research participant said, expert practitioners tives and frameworks’. Policy issues are ‘not seen in isolation’, ‘undergo a personality transplant’. they ‘[drew] linkages to other ministries or departments’ and The importance of having a good degree to ‘understand how ‘identified why this may be of concern for them’. things tick’ was seen as a starting point for practice. Prepara- tion for practice is not static: it is an ongoing process involving Making visible through action formal, informal, in-house or external programmes for the policy practitioner to build a repertoire of knowledge and Expert practitioners ‘make things happen’. Collectively, the skills for policy analysis. This included having a very good research participants described ‘making visible through action’ understanding of the ‘machinery of government’, particularly as ‘gaining traction’, ‘is able to lead’, ‘manages relationships’, ‘is

Volume 28 Number 2 2005 19 able to move the policy process forward’, and ‘maintains policy Leadership traction and momentum’. Making visible through action is a socio-political process influenced by institutional processes and Expert policy practitioners have a leadership role developing rules, conventions, custom of practice and language – in other policy advice. Research participants talked about how they, words, the exercising of power. While the research participants through people, got things done, acknowledging ‘in the end it did not refer to the term ‘power’ in relation to their own is a team effort’. Collectively, three areas of leadership were practice, they did, however, use examples from their own described: technical – sound educational preparation: concep- practice that demonstrated the exercising of power. tual – critical and lateral thinking, and interpersonal – good people skills, (Pernick, 2001). As succinctly described by Bass (1991, p.233) expert power presents in a number of ways, for example, in considerable Leadership activities described included: professional experience; in information, knowledge, and • ‘Leading the policy process’ to ensure that policy advice is wisdom; in good decisions; in sound judgment; and in accurate developed and presented to the Minister on time; perceptions of reality. Power is also exercised where actors interact with one another to obtain policy resources. • Analysing and challenging existing frameworks for currency and relevancy, and ‘developing and implementing new In other words, ‘they play the game’ (Klijn, 1996). The crafts- frameworks’ for conducting policy analysis as required; manship of policy advice is a persuasive performance (a form of power) judged by how policy practitioners use their tools • Ensuring policy advice is ‘challenged’ or ‘critically reviewed’ (Wildavsky, 1996, p.401). The Minister who accepts or rejects by peers; the advice, in the end, judges the performance. Influence is a • ‘Championing their colleagues’, ‘providing support as political and an interpersonal activity involving the skills of requested; and communication and persuasion (Sullivan & Decker, 1992, p.485). One research participant identified their influence in • The ability to ‘perform under tight time constraints’. the policy analysis process either as ‘a respected colleague’ or ‘another head to think about the issue’. Networking What these research participants described is a ‘can do’ Policy development does not occur in isolation: no one organisa- attitude. They create meaningful connections through network- tion has all the resources to go it alone (Klijn, 1996, p. 93). Two ing and relationship management, and have a good under- contexts of networking were presented: the socio-political standing and knowledge of the beliefs, values, priorities and context of practice, and managing the policy process. Some agendas of key stakeholders. This knowledge enables these research participants summed up the socio-political context of research participants to develop timely coalitions, alliances or practice as being ‘you have to get out from behind your desk to networks to ‘get things done’. find out what is going on within an organisation’, ‘with interested parties’, ‘within the community’, ‘at the politician level’, Organisational broker and going ‘to the people who are primarily responsible for policy delivery’. At the service delivery level it was indicated that policy Organisational broker is an overarching description of the practitioners need to have an ‘understanding of what their many roles the research participants undertake when perform- problems are, understanding our issues, and our issues of best ing their role as a policy practitioner within their organisation: policy’. these roles could be performed simultaneously, depending on the context and the environment. Such roles includes commu- While managing the policy process was not explored in great nicator, leaders, networking, relationship manager, cultural depth during the interviews, research participants did allude to broker, and conflict manager which are briefly described. the process. Key points identified included:

Communicator • ‘Identifying which ministries or departments the policy issue could affect’; Two key communication themes were identified by the • Assessing the resource needs of the Agency to develop interviewees: communication as sense-making; ‘you have to the policy, for example, ‘scanning the environment for understand where they are coming from, being empathetic’, information sources’; and communication as a strategy: ‘listening rather than talking’. • Keeping to the fore the ‘goals and interests’ of the The importance of communication, oral and written, was organisation, the ‘expected goal to achieve’, including stressed by the research participants. Good writing skills are ‘keeping within the timeframe set’ when working through essential: ‘you need to be able to write clearly, lucidly and the policy process; and succinctly’, ‘make submissions’, and ‘persuade people with your argument’. Cabinet Ministers ‘may have fifty papers and they • Moving the policy process along, ensuring it was ‘pushed might be ten pages long’ … ‘people who cannot illustrate through’. clearly what the issue is, what the alternatives are, are not likely These research participants took ‘responsibility to ensure that to make very much progress in that environment’. policy can be implemented and coordinated with other

20 Volume 28 Number 2 2005 departments and have processes in place so it will be’. Managing included clarification of the policy proposal, consultation – the policy process or policy network also involves developing ‘finding out the concerns and issues of stakeholders and relationships amongst the various actors. interested parties; clarification of the policy proposal, “speaking in plain English”, and negotiation’. Relationship management Interviewees identified the importance of developing a Role Model relationship with the Minister. This is a crucial relationship that Expert practice is more than crafting quality policy advice. It is based on trust and confidence, because ‘in the end no matter includes developing and nurturing colleagues because ulti- how brilliant the advice is, the Minister has the power to veto mately ‘it is a team effort’. The two characteristics of a role everything that you do’. They also talked about the importance model are coach and mentor. of developing a relationship with those organisations that may be affected ‘directly or indirectly by the policy issue’, particularly at ‘service delivery’ level, the ‘sharing policy resources, Coach such as information, and expertise’. ‘Policy practitioners need Coaching involves either developing a skill set or ameliorating to have a clear understanding of the concerns of Agencies’, poor performance (Bowerman & Collins, 1999). Coaching and ‘what their issues are’ before proffering advice to the takes place through skilled conversation which involves Minister. listening and understanding where the individual is coming Feldman and Khademian (2002, p. 544) note that relationship from, identifying how they learn, and adopting and adapting management is governed by the constitution, statute, custom, teaching strategies to facilitate learning. Such conversation also and practice. In New Zealand the State Sector Act 1988 draws out tacit knowledge and implicit knowledge, providing a governs the relationship between the Minister and the chief of forum for the transformation of this kind of knowledge into a ministry or department. The relationship between the explicit knowledge for future action. Minister and the policy unit or the organisation determines Some interviewees described how they supported their what policy practitioners do and how they do it (Feldman & colleagues as a coach, for example ‘suggesting that they read Khademian, 2002, p. 542). on this subject’, or teaching a colleague how to ‘critically analyse a single research report’, or ‘working closely with a Cultural broker colleague scanning the environment for particular courses coming up and saying to the person: you should be going on Cultural broker in this context has two distinct themes: that’. representing the Agency in fora and consulting with people from a wide range of cultural, ethnic and community groups Mentor such as Mäori, Pacific, the elderly, and the disabled, to develop an understanding of a group’s perspective in the process of The qualities of a good mentor include collegiality, friendli- developing policy advice. These research participants saw their ness, encouragement and acceptance (Altmeyer, Prather, & role as presenting unambiguously the views of such groups in Thombs, 1994, p. 388). Trust is the core element in a the advice to the Minister. One interviewee described the mentoring relationship. A small number of research partici- ‘painful process’ of developing a relationship of trust with pants described how their organisation supports and develops Mäori. staff careers. These interviewees worked alongside inductees and encouraged these people to develop their ‘own networks One thing I had to get across to Mäori was, and this was just at the within the policy unit within the organisation and outside the problem identification stage consultation, this is not your only organisation’ over a period of time in a ‘safe environment’. opportunity to participate in the process. It is a process, and we will They also supported inductees to gain ‘experience’, ‘build up come back to you. But I was up against years of scepticism on their confidence’, ‘move to a challenging environment’, and ‘func- part and cynicism. You know, another government agency coming to tion independently’. ask stupid questions. In one organisation, staff members identified their own mentor, matching ‘personality, learning and teaching style’. Conflict manager According to Hayes and Allinson (1998) organisations that match individual cognitive style promote effective learning for Conflict may occur on a number of levels, Ministerial, inter- the individual as well as the organisation. organisational, intra-organisational, with professional bodies, and with community interest groups. According to the research Concluding remarks participants the key strategy to managing conflict is to have a ‘good understanding of who are the key players’ of the This paper encourages policy practitioners to come to an agencies or interest groups they are collaborating with, and understanding of how they practice policy analysis: what do they knowing ‘who they can call’ in another agency to have a ‘frank do, how do they do it, and how do they know their practice is discussion of the issues’, and ‘sort it out’. Conflict strategies expert. Policy analysis literature describes a functionalist

Volume 28 Number 2 2005 21 definition of expertise, that is, the attainment of professional Bowerman, J. & Collin, G. (1999). ‘The coaching network: A knowledge. Expert practice in this context is the application of program for individual and organizational development’, theoretical models and technical tools for solving policy issues. Journal of Workplace Learning, vol. 11, no. 8, pp. 291–297. This description of expert practice does not satisfactorily explain Comrie, M & Cheyne, C. (1999), ‘Engaging citizens: Factors in the day-to-day practice of policy practitioners. consultation’, Public Sector, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 2–6. Identifying the characteristics of expert practice of policy Carper, B. (1978), ‘Fundamental patterns of knowing in practitioners drew on numerous themes: theories of expertise, nursing’, Advances in Nursing Science, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 13–23. educational preparation, ways of knowing, individual learning style, the domain competencies of policy analysis practice, and Choo, C. (2002), ‘The knowing orgainization as a learning analytic roles. organization’, Education + Training, vol. 43, no. 4/5, pp. 197– 205. Longevity in a policy analysis position within an organisation is Daley, B (1999), ‘Novice to expert: An exploration of how not necessarily equivalent to expertise or experience. It is how professionals learn’. Adult Education Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. policy practitioners use their knowledge and their sphere of 133–143. influence in the practice setting that identifies expert practice. Expert practitioners earn the trust and confidence of the Daley, B. (1998), Novice to expert: how do professionals learn, viewed various stakeholders, they are politically astute, they make 21/08/01. sense of a myriad of information, they make things happen, http://www.edst.educ.ubs.ca/aerc/1998/98daley.htm they act effectively on behalf of their organisation and role model expert practice. Dreyfus, L. & Dreyfus, S. (1986), Mind over machine: The power of human intuition and expertise in the era of the computer, The Free Press, New York. Notes Ericsson, K. & Smith, J. (1991), Toward a general theory of expertise: 1 Defining expert practice is not a simple task. In a review prospects and limits, Cambridge University Press, London. of the literature on expertise, four models were identi- Feldman, M. & Khademian, AM. (2002), ‘To manage is to fied: Glaser and Chi’s (1988) seven characteristics of govern’, Public Administration Review, vol. 62, no. 5, pp. 541–554. expertise, Ericsson and Smith’s (1991) specific task performance, the Dreyfus and Dreyfus (1980) model of Ferry N. & Ross-Gordon, J. (1998), ‘An inquiry into Schön’s skill acquisition and finally, Holyoake’s (1991) symbolic epistemology of practice: Exploring the links between experi- connectionism. These models provide a starting point for ence and reflective practice’, Adult Education Quarterly, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 98–108. examining the characteristics of expert practice of policy practitioners in practice. Glaser, B. (1992), Basics of grounded theory analysis: emergence vs forcing. Sociology Press, Mill Valley,California. 2 The Glaserian method of constant comparative method of data analysis requires the researcher when analysing Glaser, R. & Chi, M. (1988), ‘Overview’, in: Chi, M. Glaser, R. passages of data to ask what is going on here (Stern, & Farr, M. (eds) The nature of expertise, Lawrence Erlbaum 1991, p.220) and comparing incident to incident (Glaser, Associates, Hillsdale, New Jersey . 1992, p.40). Codes from the transcripts and other data sources were compared: similar codes were clustered Hayes, J. & Allison, C. (1998). ‘Cognitive style and the theory together, given an initial label thus forming a category and practice of individual and collective learning in organiza- tions’, Human Relations, vol. 51, no. 7, pp. 847–871. called a substantive code. These codes were not set in concrete, as new categories were generated, the codes Holyoak, K. (1991), ‘Symbolic connectionism: toward third- changed. The process of constant comparative analysis generation theories’, pp. 301–335, in: Ericsson, K. & Smith, J. ensures that the categories emerge from the data. (eds) Toward a general theory of expertise: prospects and limits, Cambridge University Press, London.

Klijn, E-H. (1996), ‘Analyzing and managing policy processes References in complex networks: A theoretical examination of the concept policy network and its problems’, Administration and Altmeyer A. Prather F. & T Thombs. (1994). ‘Mentoring-in- Society, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 90–119. public–administration scales: Construct validation and relationship to level of management’, Public Productivity & Management Pernick, R. (2001), ‘Creating a leadership development pro- Review, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 387–397. gram: Nine essential tasks’, Personal Public Management, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 429–444. Bass, B. & Avolio, B. (1993), ‘Transformational leadership and organizational culture’, Public Administration Quarterly, vol. 17, Stern, P. (1994), ‘Eroding grounded theory’, in: Morse, J. (ed.) no. 1, pp. 112–121. Critical issues in qualitative research methods, Sage, Thousand Oaks California. Benner, P. (1984), From novice to expert: Excellence and power in clinical nursing practice, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company Stivers, P. (2001), ‘The reflective practitioner’, Public Administra- Menlo Park, California. tion Review, vol. 61, no. 1, pp. 11–16.

22 Volume 28 Number 2 2005 Sullivan, E. & Decker, P. (1992), Power and politics, pp. 483– 497, in: Sullivan, E. & Decker, P. (eds.), Effective management in Lorraine Fowlie graduated with nursing, Addison–Wesley, Redwood City, California. a MMP degree from Victoria University in 2003. Lorraine is Tanner, R. (2001), ‘Future influences on public management: employed by the Office of the Some reflections on New Zealand and some international Clerk as a report writer for a comparisons’, Public Sector, vol. 24, no.3, pp. 6–9. Select Committee. Thomas, C, (1998), ‘Maintaining and restoring public trust in government agencies and their employees’, Administration and [email protected] Society, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 166–193. Wildavsky, A. (1996), Speaking truth to power: The art and craft of policy analysis, 5th ed, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, New Jersey. Weimer, D. & Vining, A. (1999), Policy analysis: Concepts and practice, 3rd ed, Prentice Hall, New Jersey.

New World Bank Education Regional Website Launched

The World Bank has launched a new website devoted as a one- stop resource for information and events related to Education in the East Asia and Pacific region.

http://www.worldbank.org/eapeducation

Volume 28 Number 2 2005 23 Viewpoint Services First

Charles Finny, Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce

For a few hours in early March this year I was heavily criticised The following by Charles Finny is the second in for what was initially seen as a head on attack on the Thailand a series of opinion pieces on current free trade CEP. Once people took the time to read my speech they agreements that the New Zealand government calmed down. Sure I was not happy with elements of the is engaged in. Charles, now with the Wellington Thailand deal, but I actually supported its signature and Regional Chamber of Commerce, was formerly ratification accepting that despite its many faults it was better an official with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for us to have the improved market access delivered by the and Trade. Editor agreement than to stand aside on principle. The early March speech and subsequent comment was designed to make people think again about our trade policy priorities and to suggest that it was time for a paradigm shift. I am delighted to now say that Government has from time to time been criticised for not the paradigm indeed seems to be shifting. listening to the private sector and of being unwilling to In June the Government announced the conclusion of the P3 consult. I therefore feel obliged to begin this article by negotiation involving Chile, Singapore and New Zealand commending Government for listening to what we at the (Brunei is joining the Agreement also to make it P4). This Wellington and New Zealand Chambers of Commerce and contains a services chapter based on a negative list. It expands Industry have been saying in recent months on the importance access for our services exporters to Singapore beyond those of trade in services and for actively seeking my views on new agreed in our 2000 Closer Economic Partnership, and creates developments – such as the new Free Trade Agreement (FTA) new opportunities and increased certainty for our services negotiation with Malaysia and on Brunei’s joining the P3 exporters in the Chilean market. Given that Singapore’s tariffs negotiation to make it P4. are non- existent, and that Chile’s were both very low, and What we have been saying is that the services sector is incred- protecting a product range which is near identical to that which ibly important for our economy now and that it is essential that New Zealand produces (in the same season) the P3 negotiation Government keep seeking new and better market access was always going to be about services. It is therefore pleasing opportunities for this sector in its international negotiations – to see that the Government has delivered a high quality in exactly the same way as we have been striving for new and services outcome. I know that this occurred against the better market access opportunities for our agriculture, forestry backdrop of considerable internal soul searching. The Prime and fisheries exports. Minister, Jim Sutton and the negotiating team lead by Dr David Walker deserve praise for sticking to the negative list The reason we have to keep delivering this message is that it format. seemed last year that the importance of expanding the internationalising of the services sector had been forgotten. In another recent development I was given a heads up by the Services were essentially left out of the Closer Economic Chief Negotiator of the Malaysia FTA. He advised that in the Partnership (CEP) that was negotiated with Thailand and there opening round of negotiations with Malaysia, New Zealand appeared to be a loss of appetite within Ministry of Foreign had stressed that the Thailand CEP should not be regarded as Affairs and Trade to pursue ambitious outcomes in the a precedent for the Malaysia FTA, that New Zealand was services area. New Zealand had for many years been arguing disappointed by the quality of the Thailand CEP and that it that services agreements should (as was CER) be negotiated wanted to achieve a higher quality outcome with Malaysia in all on the basis of ‘negative lists’ (everything is in unless specified) areas, including services. This is exactly what the New Zealand rather than ‘positive lists’ (only those sectors listed are cov- Chambers of Commerce and Industry wanted the New ered). ‘Negative list’ agreements tend to be far more transpar- Zealand negotiators to be saying to Malaysia. We hope a ent and have broader coverage than positive list outcomes similar message is being delivered to China, and to the whole which allow Governments to disguise the level of protection- of ASEAN in the separate FTA negotiations underway. We ism remaining. Yet last year we seemed to be getting cold feet. have not received quite such a detailed summary of the China Rather than being driven by the objective of seeking the best negotiation but take great heart from the emphasis placed by possible deal for our services exporters we seemed more the Prime Minister on her late May trip to Beijing on achieving concerned about avoiding domestic controversy. This was one a comprehensive outcome and high quality agreement. Again of the strongest reasons for my decision last year to resign the Government and its negotiators deserve high praise from from Government service. the New Zealand business community.

24 Volume 28 Number 2 2005 The services sector should be at the forefront of our FTA • Services – again mainly education and tourism – but with negotiators’ minds for several reasons: a fair mix of professional services – have for many years been important components of our trade with Malaysia • We are a services economy. 68 per cent of our GDP is and the rest of ASEAN. According to the Ministry of generated by the services sector (compared to 4.8 per cent Foreign Affairs and Trade’s study on the feasibility of a for agriculture and 27.4 per cent for non-agricultural FTA between Malaysia and New Zealand ‘tourism, goods). education and, to a lesser degree, engineering, construc- tion, consulting and communication services are • Our economic structure is broadly similar to the OECD New Zealand’s key interests in the Malaysian market. (and the wider developed economy norm). Our services Trade in these sectors exceeded $135 million in 2003’. contribution to the wider economy is identical to that of Canada, the EU average, Spain, Singapore and Taiwan. • Better progress has been made on goods liberalisation in Services are slightly more important for us than they are the WTO than on services. Prospects look pretty bleak for for Switzerland (64.5 per cent) but are less important than services in the Doha Development Round. Offers on the for Australia (70.2 per cent), US (72.5 per cent), UK (72.6 table – including from New Zealand are looking pretty per cent) and Japan (73.3 per cent). minimalist. If we really want to achieve better access for our services exporters it is going to have to be through the • Services make up a higher proportion of our overall FTA route – at least in the short term. exports (28 per cent) than is the case for most OECD countries. Only Hong Kong (72 per cent), Luxembourg Services are even more important for the Wellington economy (70 per cent), UK (29 per cent), Austria (29 per cent), and us at the Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce Denmark (29 per cent) and US (29 per cent) have a higher than for the rest of the country. Services companies contribute percentage of total exports made up of services. In 90 per cent of Wellington’s regional GDP and the make up of comparison, only 20 per cent of Australia’s and 12 per our membership is almost identical to the regional economic cent of Canada’s overall exports are made up of services. structure.

• The importance of services in our overall export mix has We see the development of an internationally competitive and been growing steadily (what was 23 per cent in 1997 rose export focused services sector in Wellington as critical to the to 25 per cent in 2000 and is now 28 per cent) future success of this region, and as a driver for further productivity gains in the wider economy. We were pleased to • New Zealand exported NZ$11.5 billion in services last see that the team looking at Wellington’s regional strategy also year (more than dairy and meat combined – $NZ$10.8 identified this as a key success factor in the work they did billion). benchmarking Wellington against successful cities internation- • Our largest single export item is tourism – just a bit ahead ally. Work done by MFAT last year drew similar conclusions of dairy. Transport and education are our other two big about the importance of internationalising our services sector services earners. for the delivery of the Government’s Growth and Innovation Framework strategy goals. • Our services exports to China constitute at least 40 per cent of our total exports to China. I say ‘at least’ because At the Chamber we are planning a range of activities to help we only have statistics for education and tourism. Exports our services companies export. We will be working with New to China in these two sectors alone totalled $1.18 billion Zealand Trade and Enterprise and other Government agencies last year. Overall exports of services to China would have in this effort. We hope that the free trade agreements under been significantly larger. negotiation can help this process by opening markets and making trading conditions in them more secure.

Charles Finny joined the Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce in February 2005 with 22 years experience in international trade, economics and diplomacy. His particular areas of expertise are China, Asia generally, and international trade law. He headed the New Zealand Commerce and Industry Office in Taipei from 2001 to 2004; the Government’s China FTA Task Force through 2004; and had previously served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the New Zealand Embassy in Beijing, and First secretary at the New Zealand High Commission in Singapore. Charles helped negotiate several generations of the CER agreements with Australia and the New Zealand Singapore Closer Economic Partnership. He also has considerable expertise in WTO and APEC affairs. Charles Chaired the APEC Budget and Management Committee in 2000 and was the Trade Policy Adviser to the APEC Chair in 1999.

Wellington has been home base all of Charles’ life. He is also a graduate of Victoria University of Wellington.

[email protected]

Volume 28 Number 2 2005 25 Book Review

Public Sector Information in the Digital Age: Between Markets, Public Management and Citizen’s Rights Aichholzer G and Burkert H (eds) Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, Cheltenham Gloucestershire, 2004 ISBN 1 84376 383 4 Hardback Price £69.95

Developments in information and communication technolo- tion interdependency between public and private players. This gies have allowed the separation of information from the in turn suggests that one of the most important challenges in process of its generation. This has led to information manage- our information society is to work out how to fix the border ment becoming an inherent element in public administration. between free accessibility and exclusive availability of PSI. This At the same time, questions about the functions of the state is important because political and social empowerment, as well and the extent to which some functions might be more as economic opportunity, cannot develop without the dissemi- effectively carried out by the private sector have affected the nation of information. Schartum outlines the Norwegian way in which information is managed in an environment where experience, and expresses some concerns about the power the concept of public access to government information is imbalances that derive from controls over access to informa- becoming a structural principle of democratic government. tion that are based on a request process. He proposes a system The outcome of these developments has been a series of where access by Internet publication is the priority method, tensions between free access to public sector information supported by access by request or by subscription. (PSI), ownership of that information, and rights to privacy of the subjects of information. Several chapters look at and compare the European and US experiences. In particular it is noted that the way in which the This book explores aspects of these tensions, illustrated US has combined strong laws encouraging access, limitation of primarily from European and US examples. Most of the fees to the cost of reproduction and dissemination, no discussion focuses on issues around public access and on the government copyright, and no restrictions of exploitation and challenges posed when governments seek commercial goals, reuse of government information, delivers a considerable with less attention to privacy. Raab’s chapter on privacy issues market for products based on PSI, whereas the European poses the question of how far does, or should, the fulfillment market has not taken off. The need for some consistency in of aims of accessibility override the claim or right of personal legal approach across Europe is identified by Maeve privacy. In canvassing the approaches in a range of countries McDonagh, not only for the impact on the quality of democ- to the dilemma in the context of public registries, he identifies racy, but also to allow Europe to fully exploit its information the New Zealand approach as exemplified in the Privacy Act potential. Gellman points out that in the US agencies have 1993, as ‘an interesting package of solutions because it appears learnt that building broad constituencies of information users to address several desirable requirements for change, and was more helpful than controlling information and trying to because it avoids “off-the-shelf” remedies that might be earn revenue. He confirms that the sound basis for access to applied without careful thought and negotiation.’ Raab also public information and to its use in the US, especially as places the privacy debate in the context of tensions between sparked by the growth of the Internet, has contributed to a technological, legal, sociological and perhaps cultural concepts vibrant US information marketplace. The differences between of information, and concludes that privacy and access issues the US and Europe are further illustrated in chapters providing are essentially political in nature. compelling analysis of the positive economic impact of open access policies, in particular as they relate to geospatial data The risks and opportunities provided by Digital Rights and meteorological information. Management (DRM) are discussed by some of the authors. The main risk identified is the potential for limitation of the The nature of the book (a collection of separate essays) means availability of information, primarily cultural material, which that the quality, of both language and analysis, varies substan- can currently be legitimately accessed under copyright law, but tially between different essays. It is not easy to detect a the issue of the impact of DRM on the integrity of PSI is not coherent theory emerging, possibly because the fundamental really addressed. This is an area where the State Services issues are complex and possibly intractable. Nevertheless, there Commission will continue to work with New Zealand govern- does appear to be a consensus that charging marginal cost of ment agencies, and overseas jurisdictions to develop a coherent dissemination for PSI will lead to optimal economic growth policy response to the implications of DRM on PSI. and will far outweigh the immediate perceived benefits of aggressive cost recovery. There is also a general sense that In writing about the need for constitutional recognition of open access to information, subject to limitations around rights of access to information, Prins notes that the new and privacy, is essential to effective democracy. However, the most complex techniques for gathering, processing and distributing common theme is that some form of clear framework is data and information have enabled the proactive provision of required to govern the management of PSI. This will not only government services, but have also led to increased informa- assist countries but could also contribute to the broader goals

26 Volume 28 Number 2 2005 of international cooperation put forward in the concluding long way to achieving this balance, but more work may need to chapter. be done around attitudes to ownership and exploitation of PSI. The experience of others, as outlined in this book, As pointed out in the book, e-government propounds a provides useful guidance for this work. catalogue of changes and attempts to reshape the public sector and remake the relationship between citizens and government. Overall, therefore, for analysts involved in reviewing policy A key to this transformation is the way in which the tensions frameworks for PSI, I think this is a valuable resource. over PSI are handled and how a balance can be achieved and maintained which will enhance trust in government. New Reviewed by Hugh McPhail Zealand, through the Official Information Act 1982, the E-government Unit Privacy Act 1993, and the Policy Framework for Government- State Services Commission held Information, has a set of rules and principles that go a

The World Bank’s Administrative and Civil Service Reform Website

This website is supported by collaboration between some The website aims to balance cutting-edge thinking about of the leading organisations in civil service strategy and reform with cautions about basic principles, and to substanti- management including the Commonwealth Association of ate claims with cross-national data whenever possible. This Public Administration and Management (CAPAM), the site does not advocate particular administrative models or International Institute of Administrative Sciences, the reform approaches but rather exposes the user to the main OECD Directorate for Public Governance and Territorial debates in the field and facilitate an informed evaluation of Development, and the joint EU and OECD effort sup- policy options. porting improvements in governance and management (SIGMA). http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/civilservice/

Volume 28 Number 2 2005 27 Seminar Report

New Zealand Public Service – past, present, future

Hon Trevor Mallard, Minister of State Services

The 2005 Commonwealth Advanced Seminar1 Leading Strategic Change in the Public Sector was held in Wellington from 21 February to 4 March 2005. It was organised by Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Government and the Centre for Continuing Education and Executive Development.

The Seminar was opened with the following address by the Minister of State Services, Hon Trevor Mallard, reflecting on the public management system that the Labour Government had inherited when it came into office in 1999 and the changes that had occurred since.

I’d like to begin by thanking the organisers of this Seminar for The social impacts of the reforms were also under-estimated. giving me the opportunity to come and speak to you about our Because citizens experienced the negative social effects of Public Service and about how we are trying to make it more reform so personally, it was difficult for many to accept the effective and stronger.This subject matter has been compre- change as desirable or even necessary. By the late 1990s, hensively analysed over the past years. In fact you would be peoples’ trust in Government had ebbed considerably. In late hard pressed not to find volumes written about our experi- 1999 New Zealanders voted for a significant change in ences, both positive and negative, over the years. direction.

The New Zealand Public Service has had a history since 1840, The first thing we did when we formed the Government in but I’d like to start by talking about the radical reforms that late 1999 was to assert our fundamental belief that Public took place in the 1980s and 1990s. The reforms of this period Service departments and other state agencies are critical were aimed at promoting efficiency and good management in elements of a functioning democracy. the State services. In particular: Two key themes the Government adopted early were that of • Commercial activities of government agencies were put in good faith and fairness: commercial structures (i.e., state-owned enterprises), and privatisation was emphasised; • We aimed to build good faith back into the employment environment; • Regulatory reform was pushed hard to enable a level playing field and that ‘rules of the game’ were adhered to • We also reiterated our belief that effective public services by all players in the market; and had to be inherently fair: to the taxpaying public, to Public Service employees, and to those who receive • In the Public Service, the division of functions between services. Ministers (responsible for strategy and ‘outcomes’) and Some of the other things we did were: chief executives (responsible for management, administration and ‘outputs’) was given statutory recognition. • focus on a whole-of-government approach, and also While not everyone was fully supportive of the changes, agreed on a partnership for quality with the large Public virtually all of the state’s activities became open and compre- Service union group; hensible. By the late 1990s the reforms had begun to show • emphasise our interest in seeing the public sector attract some adverse consequences for the country. These included: its fair share of bright young graduates, and

• Fragmentation, patch mentality, and stand-alone adminis- • seek better appreciation among departments and Ministers trative units in the Public Service; about how they might work together better.

• A public perception of a culture of waste and extrava- I would be remiss here if I did not talk about the first major gance within the Public Service, and more widely within stocktake of New Zealand’s public management system since the state sector; and 1996. • Unbalanced focus on improving efficiency at the expense During 2001 the Government set up an advisory committee to of other dimensions of competence. In particular, there provide an overview of the state of the public management was a sense that good people, and valuable institutional system. The Committee’s report, titled the ‘Review of the knowledge, had been lost. Centre’ (ROC) concluded that, on the whole the public

28 Volume 28 Number 2 2005 management system was sound, but work needed to be done Obviously this means keeping Ministers regularly briefed of to remedy some specific weaknesses. the risks that they are taking or that may be inherent in any advice that they give us. Those that are relevant for this Seminar’s focus include: Two risks that we will need to be particularly aware of are: • The fragmented State sector made pursuing complex objectives difficult; • Focusing on incremental changes to policies such that we miss the big picture, and • There was no systematic approach to setting and achieving goals and priorities; and • Developing a patch mentality in the public sector despite • The system was weak at developing and managing our best efforts at whole-of-government approaches. capability – people, culture, and common human Obviously, one agency cannot congratulate itself for cost resource systems. savings if the pieces then have to be picked up by another; in the end, the funds all come from the same The reform process that we have initiated as a response to pot. ROC is not dominated by aggressive restructuring. What we have tried to do instead is work from the current foundation, I also see us continuing to emphasise high standards of acknowledging that some shifts in emphasis are required to integrity and conduct in the State Services. You may very well better respond to the needs of the future. be aware that New Zealand has done exceptionally well in international rankings on this score, but we will not rest on our We took on board the ROC recommendations to strengthen laurels. the public sector. To summarise, the key ideas in our reform efforts are that: In keeping with the focus of this year’s Seminar, let me focus on two relevant initiatives that we have now put in place: the • We realise that what is central is that ultimately the Senior Leadership and Management Development strategy, reforms will have to lead to better service delivery to and the Managing for Outcomes process. New Zealanders;

We now have a new collective Public Service approach to • We have preferred a transformation process that is senior management development supported by a strong evolutionary rather than revolutionary; funding commitment from Government. The aim of the programme is to build a group of talented managers of the • There is a need to keep in mind that the service experi- required quality, quantity and diversity to meet the future needs enced by New Zealanders is much more important than of the Public Service. which agency does the delivery; and

We have also strengthened the Leadership Development • Finally, there is a need for government, and the Public Centre so that it can play a greater role in implementing the Service as a whole, to take a more proactive and values- strategy. driven leadership role in public management.

In keeping with our focus on impacts instead of outputs, We are aware that citizens have high expectations of both their Managing for Outcomes MfO seeks ongoing improvement in Government and its institutions. As you will no doubt agree, agencies’ ability to identify and deliver the interventions that citizens’ trust in government is hard won, easy to shatter, and best contribute to the outcomes and objectives Government is extraordinarily difficult to rebuild. seeking. Many of the major objectives of Government cannot be easily delivered by a single agency.

Thus, Ministers now expect that leadership will be effective Notes both within and between agencies. This is reflected in the 1 The Commonwealth Advanced Seminar is designed for ‘shared outcomes’ agreements between agencies. So, where do Ministers and senior administrators with a leadership role we see ourselves headed? We will enthusiastically – but also in in reform of their government’s public management and a measured manner – proceed with our agenda for reforms administrative processes. Participants come from both and strengthening the State Services. Commonwealth countries and from other countries in the There are several areas of interest to us and other than the two Asia-Pacific region. The Seminar began in 1996 as an I have mentioned above, our efforts will also be in risk initiative of the Commonwealth Secretariat and New management, and integrity and conduct in the State Services. Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and State Services Commission. Since then, further Seminars in the While we have pushed for innovation in the public sector, we series have been offered annually by Victoria University of will need to keep on encouraging public servants to take a Wellington For further information see http:// more informed view of taking appropriate risks. www.commonwealthseminar.org.nz/index.htm

Volume 28 Number 2 2005 29 News Annual General Meeting President, Vice-President, Board and Committee and a new Constitution for IPANZ

The President After a brief foray into event management, Marie-Claire took up a role in Statistics New Zealand and over three and a half At the Institute’s 27 June Annual years held positions supporting the Executive team, designing General Meeting, Christine strategic planning frameworks and recently as the manager of Goodman was re-elected Presi- the Programme Management Office leading a refocused dent. strategy to improve project management capability and ultimately delivery in Statistics New Zealand. Marie-Claire is Christine, a Senior Advisor now working for i-lign – an organisation providing solutions in the State Services for better organisational alignment of people, projects and Commission’s People Capability strategies. Branch, has a Master of Arts (Hons.) and a Graduate Diploma As a New Professional, Marie-Claire established the Connec- in Human Resource Management. tions series of events, designed to bring together public She has worked in the private servants in different disciplines to share experiences and career sector as well as the public sector, paths. As Vice-President, Marie-Claire is looking forward to and during 2003 was seconded to Barnardos New Zealand as being able to actively support the President in her work, and Director Strategic Policy. encouraging colleagues from local government to participate in IPANZ activities. Since then, Christine has been the programme manager for the Human Resources Framework, which aims to make the State Services an employer of choice in the New Zealand workplace. Board and Committees Christine chairs the Institute’s Professional Development Committee, which delivers the highly successful Lunchtime Management Board and Evening Seminar Series, and is closely involved in planning The following were elected, Christine Goodman, State Services for the annual Public Sector Innovation Awards co-hosted by Commission (as President); Marie-Claire Andrews, i-lign Ltd: BearingPoint. (as Vice-President), Howard Broad, New Zealand Police; Judith Johnson, Consultant; Allen Petrey; Gaylia Powell,Mental Health Commission; Joan Smith; Ross Tanner, Cranleight Ltd The Vice-President and Rebecca Web, Ministry of Health. At the AGM, Marie-Claire Andrews was elected Vice Editorial Committee President. Tom Berthold, Ministry of Social Development; (Chair), Ralph Marie-Claire has previously been Chapman, Maarama Consulting Ltd: Mynetta Erueti, Hei the convenor of the IPANZ New Taumata Ltd; , Rob Laking, Victoria University of Wellington; Professionals group, and has been Allen Petrey; Mike Reid, Local Government New Zealand and part of the Management commit- Carol Stigley, Consultant. Helen Mintrom and Allen Petrey tee for over a year. serve respectively as proof reader and editor.

Marie-Claire graduated with The Professional Development Committee honours in Philosophy from the University of Leeds in 1999 and Howard Broad; Chris Eichbaum, Victoria School of Govern- worked as an Executive Assistant in the Ministry of Agricul- ment; Allen Petrey; Rebecca Webb and Christine Goodman ture, Fisheries and Food and for a Chief Executive of a local (Chair) Higher Education Institute in Somerset, England. After The New Professionals Committee considering the options for working in the public service in the United Kingdom (London wasn’t particularly appealing!) and Marie-Claire Andrews, (Chair); Rebecca Webb and Wendy of course the lifestyle opportunities, Marie-Claire and her Adams, Ministry of Education. partner Lee immigrated to New Zealand in 2001.

Cont’d on page 32

30 Volume 28 Number 2 2005 AGM Address

A Pivotal Year Rod Oram, Financial Journalist and Commentator

In a few years’ time we might look back on 2005 as a pivotal has a dominant market share worldwide for the manufacture year for New Zealand in both economic and political terms. of artificial crystals that control radio frequencies in mobile To use a familiar phrase, it could prove to be a ‘tipping point’. phones and GPS equipment. This is the dynamic defined by Malcolm Gladwell, the Ameri- can writer, as a steady accumulation of changes small and large Further evidence includes the ability of many exporters to that reach a critical mass and then ‘tip over’ like a see-saw to have remained profitable through a long period when the establish new norms of behaviour. exchange rate was over 65c US; the good health of corporate balance sheets; and the brisk rate of job creation in recent In economics and business we’d see further progress on our years. long trek from commodities to higher value, more sophisticated products; and more pioneering work on new business Moreover, the economy grew by an average of 3.8 per cent a models and skills. Combined, they would help us earn a far year between March 2000 and March 2005, up from an average better living in the world economy. of 3.2 per cent in 1994-99 and one of the fastest rates in the OECD. By comparison in the 2000-05 period, growth in In politics we’d see more of a consensus developing around Australia averaged 3.4 per cent, the US 2.9 per cent and the some core goals and values; and greater effectiveness of the UK 2.5 per cent. MMP electoral system to ensure a more representative democracy. Combined, they would help us run our political process This strong performance is, however, presenting the business more effectively so we can continue to build the nation whilst sector with its greatest challenge. After years of progress achieving greater accountability along the way. through increased labour utilisation and cost cutting, it finds itself in an uncomfortable position. With unemployment very Taken together, these changes would be milestones in the low, there are few new people to bring into the labour force. nation’s search for greater sense of purpose, confidence and Moreover, plant capacity utilisation rates are running around maturity. 94 per cent, close to an all-time high.

We can’t, however, take any of this for granted. There are The only way business can progress from here is through a strong forces for and against such progress, with the political significant increase in investment in new plant and machinery, realm being more uncertain than the economic. new technology and in the upskilling of its existing workforce.

Here are the main arguments for a tipping point in business. This would represent a very significant shift from labour First, an increasing number of companies are beginning to intensive to capital intensive businesses. If companies develop realise New Zealand’s great opportunities in the world. I call new business strategies that reward them for this increased them ‘vanguard companies’ and I identify them by five investment, the benefits to the economy would be enormous hallmarks: in terms of increased opportunity for and profitability of companies and higher wages for their employees. • Inspired products & services offering unique value; We began to see such an increase in investment in the middle • Originality born of New Zealand roots; of last year but even this modest upturn began to falter by the middle of this year as business confidence sagged. If, however, • Smart strategies for international markets; companies can achieve sustained investment momentum, then • Astute management skills to acquire and develop human we would have reached a true tipping point. and technology skills, and capital; and The main negative forces working against this are the preva- • Confidence and skills to collaborate with partners, lence of old business models that seek nothing more than the suppliers, customers abroad. optimisations of their current strategies through constant cost- cutting and low investment. Such companies demonstrate a Some of the best known examples are Zespri which is suc- distressing lack of vision let alone understanding about the real ceeding through its strong brand and sophisticated supply world outside New Zealand where, for example, China’s chain to start to de-commodify kiwifruit by selling them as a rampant growth is changing the very nature of the global strongly branded product; Obo, a Palmerston North company economy. that makes equipment for field hockey goal keepers and has a 73 per cent market share worldwide among elite club and It is a big mistake to believe that China’s success is built on low international players; and Rakon, the Auckland company that labour costs. As its products get ever more sophisticated, the

Volume 28 Number 2 2005 31 labour content is a decreasingly small part of the story so that it can cut taxes and maintain public spending at close to cheap wages are a negligible contribution to overall competi- Labour’s levels, then politics will have taken a significant shift tiveness. Increasingly, China’s advantages are its rapid adop- to the Labour-defined centre. Voters will be supporting tion of technology and search for innovative management Labour’s philosophy of tax and spend. practices. Finance Minister Michael Cullen has articulated a very clear In the political realm, the best evidence of an approaching view of long term fiscal strategy: government spending needs tipping point is the success Prime Minister Helen Clark has to remain at around 32 per cent of GDP (the sixth lowest rate had over the past six years in running a stable minority in the OECD) – supported by taxation little changed from government. Her success in working with small parties on today’s levels – if the government is to be able to invest either side of Labour on the political spectrum is the key to sufficiently in the likes of education, health and infrastructure that success and it is a marked contrast to the unstable and to underpin New Zealand’s long term competitiveness. ineffective governments led by Prime Ministers Jim Bolger and Jenny Shipley in the first term of MMP 1996-99. If this view is entrenched either by a Labour victory in September 17’s election or by a National victory that is then Equally important has been the growing competence and constrained by a coalition agreement with New Zealand First effectiveness of the parliamentary committee process under or deteriorating economy conditions then the centre of NZ MMP. Many hard-working MPs from all the parties have politics will have reached a new definition and stability that will helped shaped better legislation in the committee stage. represent a political tipping point.

In addition, the last six years have seen a rough consensus Neither of these tipping points is as dramatic as the upheavals develop in the middle of the political spectrum on some in business and politics in the 1980s but their long-term issues. We’ve not seen the extremes of policy we had in the benefit to the nation could be equally as great. past. Perhaps one of the most significant agreements has been on the Cullen superannuation fund with National giving its backing. This has more or less put the superannuation debate to rest after a fraught decade. Rod Oram is a well known financial journalist and commentator The past two terms has seen Labour successfully redefine the and was a triple winner in the 2004 centre of politics in ways with broader appeal than the strong Qantas Media Awards as Newspa- government-owned and run ideology of Labour pre-reforms. per Columnist of the Year and There are some notable exceptions, however, particularly on Magazine Feature Writer of the Year social issues such as civil unions, prostitution and smoking in (both in the business category), and public places. By pushing on these, the government has the recipient of New Zealand Trade liberalised far more than many voters accept. & Enterprise’s Travel Scholarship in This has left National in a difficult position. In trying to recognition for his writing on New rebuild its popular support, it has adopted many positions that Zealand innovation. are only slightly different from Labour’s. Taxation has become its biggest differentiator. If, however, it fails to convince voters

News cont’d from page 30

New Constitution IPANZ positioning itself to meet the direction and future challenges outlined in the Institute’s Strategic Plan. A new Constitution for the Institute was unanimously endorsed at this year’s AGM. Specifically the new Constitution includes the establishment of a Management Board with the power to appoint committees, The old Constitution drafted to reflect the former regional set the strategic direction, and manage the general business of administrative and operational structures of IPANZ has been IPANZ and the abolition of the National Council and redundant for some years. The overall aim of the new branches. Constitution is to accurately reflect current management, administrative and accounting practices, and to facilitate The new Constitution may be viewed at http:\\www.ipanz.org.nz

32 Volume 28 Number 2 2005

Institute of Public Administration New Zealand (IPANZ)

P O Box 5032, Wellington

Phone: +64 4 463 6940 Fax: +64 4 463 6939 Email: [email protected] Website: www.ipanz.org.nz

2 Volume 28 Number 2 2005