DOCSLIB.ORG

Public Sector Sept 2006 23 Nov.Pmd

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

PUBLIC
SECTOR

Public Sector, Vol. 29, (3) 2006
Articles

Developing leadership in the New Zealand public service

New Zealand involvement in local government development in the Solomon Islands

Meeting the challenge: Elements in reducing and managing risk in social work practice

News

Annual prizes awarded at Victoria University’s School of Government for 2006

  • Volume 28 Number 2 2005
  • 1

Publisher

Institute of Public Administration New Zealand. P O Box 5032, Wellington, New Zealand. Phone +64 4 463 6940 Fax: +64 4 463 6939

Email: [email protected]

PUBLIC

The whole of the literary matter of Public Sector is copyright ©2006 – IPANZ

SECTOR

Editor

Allen Petrey

  • 2006
  • Volume 29 Number 3
  • ISSN 0110-5191

Layout

Hettie Barnard

Editorial Office

c/- The Publisher as above

Contents

Articles

Editorial Committee

Tom Berthold Ralph Chapman Chris Eichbaum Geoff Lewis

Developing leadership in the New Zealand public service

by Murray Short ............... ..................................................................................................... 2
Allen Petrey Gaylia Powell Michael Reid

New Zealand involvement in local government development in the Solomon Islands

  • by Mark Dacombe ....................................................................................................................8
  • Carol Stigley

Advertising

Meeting the challenge: Elements in reducing and managing risk in social work practice

by Rob Laking ....................................................................................................................... 15
Jay Matthes Phone:+64 4 463 6940 Fax: +64 4 463 6939

Email: [email protected]

Scope

News

IPANZ is committed to promoting informed debate on issues already significant in the way New Zealanders govern themselves, or which are emerging as issues calling for decisions on what sorts of laws and management New Zealanders are prepared to accept.

Annual prizes awarded at Victoria University’s School of

Government for 2006 ........................................................................................................18

Book Review

Roderick Deane: His Life and Times – Michael Bassett and Judith Bassett

by Judy Whitcombe ..................................................................................................................20
IPANZ arranges seminars and workshops for people to debate these issues. Much of this debate is reflected in Public Sector.

Information for Authors

See our web page at

Obituary

www.ipanz.org.nz/pub.html

R.F. (Ray) McCullagh BE, FIPENZ, MIEE 1925–2006 ......................................22

Subscriptions

The Institute welcomes both corporate and individual membership and journal subscriptions. Please see the subscription form on the inside of the back cover.

The views published in Public Sector do not necessarily represent those of IPANZ or those of the authors’ employers.

  • Public Sector Volume 29 Number 3 2006
  • 1

Article

Developing leadership in the New Zealand public service

Murray Short

Leadership Development Centre, Wellington

Personal Attributes are seen as the underlying indicators of

Introduction

leadership potential and they tend to be more innate and difficult to develop. These include agility of thinking, integrity, ability to connect with people, energy and drive, and personal strength and courage. As these are difficult to develop and indicative of potential, the Centre uses them for assessment purposes to, for example, determine who enters the Executive Leadership Programme.
The Leadership Development Centre (the Centre) considers that the quality of leadership is critical to the success of organisations. Leadership is essentially about aligning people and action with the purpose and direction of an organisation and creating energy through motivation and inspiration.

The Centre was established to develop leadership capability in the public service and it has been in operation for three years. The Centre is a Trust run by a Board of Chief Executives elected by the 40 public service and other state agency members. We offer a range of services to senior managers and the agencies themselves.
The Leadership Abilities are strategy forming, culture shaping, senior official nous, managing people, business acumen, stakeholder management, cultural sensitivity, and responsiveness to Mäori. These abilities are the focus of development for the Centre’s programmes and services.

The Centre’s funding comes from agency subscriptions, fees for services and events, and government funding of part of the cost of one service, the Executive Leadership Programme1.
Pathways and Experiences are the variety of life and career experiences that people bring to the leadership role. The Profile indicates that there is value in breadth of experience in terms of both varied career paths and other life experience. Experiential learning is also central to the development focus of the Centre’s programmes.
The Centre has seen a substantial increase in the use of its services and as a consequence has expanded its resources to match the demand. The Centre now has 16 staff, up from a

  • base of six when it was established.
  • The Profile is therefore an inclusive model of leadership in the

sense that it includes the range of management skills and competencies rather than focusing exclusively on leadership aspects. This informs the approach taken by the Centre and consequently the term leadership is used throughout this paper in the inclusive sense. The Centre considers that comparing and contrasting the two is not helpful, particularly in terms of development.
Over the three years of operation, the Centre has grown in its understanding of the nature and current state of leadership in the public service, its importance for organisational effectiveness, and the most effective ways of building leadership capability. This paper sets out some of those insights.

We prefer the approach implicit in Mintzberg’s seminal ‘The Nature of Managerial Work’, which includes key leadership behaviours as part of the management role conferred by hierarchical status.

Leadership in the New Zealand public service

Management is the role which creates suitable conditions for organisational and individual performance. It develops and communicates purpose, strategies and plans; sets up operating systems and conditions; obtains and deploys resources; and operates internal and external accountabilities.

The Centre develops leadership capability within the context of the Senior Leadership and Management Development Strategy, which is one stream of the development goals for the state services as expressed by the State Services Commission (the SSC)2. As a key part of this Strategy, the SSC developed a standard for leadership in the public service, the Leadership Capability Profile (SSC, 2003). The Profile has three main aspects; Personal Attributes, Leadership Abilities, and Pathways and Experiences. The Profile is a type of competency model and can be readily aligned with such models, although the attributes and abilities are described at a higher level.

Good managers will have a number of leadership qualities so that, in carrying out their role, they gain alignment and energy from others

(Leadership Development Centre, 2006).
In the Centre’s view therefore, leadership is part of good management. It is the set of behaviours good managers use to

  • 2
  • Public Sector, Volume 29 Number 3 2006

inspire active followership by ensuring that people are aligned with the organisation’s purpose and direction and energised to fulfil them. The outcome of such management and leadership is the achievement of results through others; results that exceed what could otherwise be achieved through the contribution of individuals.
When working with managers on their career planning, the framework is used to indicate the development emphases (based on the Leadership Capability Profile) that flow from their particular career aspirations. So, for example, if a manager aspires to lead a large and complex organisation (Organisational leadership) then the greatest emphasis needs to be on the abilities associated with ‘culture shaping’, ‘managing people’, and ‘business acumen’. In contrast, if they aspire to a senior functional leadership role such as in financial management then the technical abilities remain an important emphasis.
One aspect of leadership that the Profile does not incorporate is the concept developed by Elliott Jacques (Jacques, 1998) of different tasks and competencies at different levels of management. This concept is central to the Australian equivalent of the Profile, the Integrated Leadership System (APSC, 2002) and the Centre considers it is particularly important in terms of leadership development.
Organisational leaders cannot maintain the technical leadership role across the increasingly diverse range of functions they become responsible for as they move into more senior positions. Furthermore, all leaders need to be cautious about exercising a direct role even in the area of their own technical expertise because this can have the effect of disempowering those in the organisation who have that function, as illustrated in the following passage from a recent article in Harvard

Management Update.

The concept is that at each level of management the tasks are different and the timespan over which discretion is exercised increases. This requires different sets of knowledge and skill as leaders gain experience at the various levels. So for example, first level management is predominantly about managing the performance of staff in a 12-month cycle. The skills required include setting expectations, coaching and mentoring, giving feedback, and joint problem solving. In contrast, at senior levels there is a 5–10 year cycle of strategy development, implementation through organisational systems, and increasing focus on external relationship management.

Phelps points to a newly appointed manager in a construction company who, after being given the results of a 360-degree review, was shocked to learn that her direct reports found her demanding and unwilling to listen to their ideas. An exceptionally brilliant and talented professional, usually several steps ahead of anyone else she worked with, the woman was accustomed to coming up with the best ideas herself and then making them happen on her own. So, she simply continued that behaviour as a manager, not realizing she was stepping on team members’ toes – and making them feel incompetent

(Field, 2006).
One of the most critical factors in this process is the transition from ‘doing’ to ‘achieving through others’. It is the Centre’s view that leadership is, in essence, about creating the conditions that enable others to achieve – the larger and more complex the organisational context, the more actual results are achieved through others. This will vary with the nature and size of the organisation and the Centre has developed the following framework to illustrate this.
This is reinforced in another article that describes how a new Chief Executive Officer must learn to manage organisational

  • Public Sector Volume 29 Number 3 2006
  • 3

context and move away from the focus on daily operations, which is described as a ‘jarring transition’. The article suggests that for the successful operation of the organisation, the leader ‘…needs to learn how to act in indirect ways – setting and communicating strategy, putting sound processes in place, selecting and mentoring key people – to create the conditions that will help others make the right choices.’ (Porter et al, 2002) between objectives, vaguer personal accountability, a need for more integrative and collaborative behaviour, and higher concern with risk avoidance that may affect innovation and entrepreneurship.

The importance of good leadership

The recently published Career Progression and Development Survey, 2005 (SSC, 2005) highlights that effective management is amongst the three most important factors that motivate public servants. Of the 5235 public servants surveyed, 84 per cent rated effective management as ‘highly important’. When asked what management functions were important to them they identified effective communication, being allowed freedom to use their initiative, and being encouraged to have input into decisions that affected them.
If the leader retains direct involvement in the ‘doing’ then it is also likely that the real leadership role will be neglected. A significant portion of leaders’ time needs to be devoted to developing their team through coaching, mentoring, providing feedback ,and generally building capability. Professor Malcolm Higgs3, in a conversation at a recent Centre seminar, commented that in recent research at Henley Management College, it was noted that effective managers spend up to 60 per cent of their time developing others (using development in its broadest sense).
Because of demographic and other trends (Khawaja, 2006)

that are resulting in increasing skill shortages and intensified competition for staff, the ability of organisations to recruit and retain staff is becoming increasingly important. Organisations that are attractive to employees will succeed in recruiting and retaining talent, and leaders are ultimately responsible for creating the conditions that attract. It is clear therefore that the quality of leadership is going to be increasingly critical to organisational capability.
Central to the organisation are its people and a critical aspect of leadership is about building the ‘social capital’ which has been described as the softer side of the organisation, ‘…the informal networks, accumulated know-how, mutual understandings, and trust that make organisations effective’ (MacMillan, 2006). Social capital is seen as making organisations more effective because:

•

Conflicts arise less frequently because people trust one another, have learned to work together, and share common goals. When conflict does occur, it doesn’t fester. People get it on the table and resolve it, and they get back to work.

Leadership is also important for maintaining organisational productivity and effectiveness. The Centre considers that the two key effects of good leadership are ‘…that people are aligned to purposes or goals espoused by the leader and are energised to pursue them’ (Leadership Development Centre, 2006). Alignment involves linking the people and their roles and activities to the purpose and direction of the organisation. Energising is achieved through motivating and inspiring people and has been described as helping to tap into the discretionary effort that people are capable of when highly motivated to do so. This is particularly important with knowledge workers who have more discretion than those in more ‘production line’ environments (Patterson et al, 1996).

•

Operational issues can be handled at lower levels because manage- ment can trust employees to do the right things.

• •

Problem solving is faster because of trust and common goals. The company enjoys leadership continuity and low turnover thanks to long-term employment and a policy of promoting from within.

• •

People know how and where to get help when they need it, and don’t feel obliged to ask for permission to act when they see things that need fixing.

Alignment to common purpose creates energy on its own, but good leaders galvanise above and beyond this. Some leaders generate energy by sheer force of personality, others by compelling communication of purpose, caring for people and generating a sense of belonging, or building energetic teams, and there are many combinations of these and other behaviours. The Centre considers that there is a common core of good leadership behaviours, but that beyond this there are situational and personal differences which mean that a wide range of different and even contrasting behaviours can still constitute effective leadership.

Employees enjoy job security. Consequently, there’s less ‘looking out for No. 1’ and much greater attention to the common good.

(MacMillan, 2006)
Leadership then, in the public service as elsewhere, is in essence about achieving through others. This requires a high degree of what has been described as ‘emotional intelligence’ – the mix of self awareness and awareness of others that provides the essential ability to connect with people, motivate and inspire (Cherniss, 2001).

Perhaps for this reason, much about the nature of effective leadership is contested (Grint, 2005). However, the Centre believes that good leadership achieves results that are more than the sum of individual contributions, and forges the pursuit of goals stretched above and beyond the ordinary. This is why there is widespread agreement that good leadership is critically important to the successful functioning of organisations.
There are differences between the public and private sectors which affect how leadership operates. This paper does not address this matter in any detail but the most important differences are: the political context and the challenges it imposes on leadership; pursuit of public good; crossorganisation, cross-sector and all of government interdependencies; and public accountability. The implications of these differences include greater ambiguity and conflict

  • 4
  • Public Sector, Volume 29 Number 3 2006

••

Effective communication Managerial expertise.

The state of leadership

There is evidence of considerable room for improvement in the quality of leadership and management in the public service. The Career Progression and Development Survey is one source of such evidence. As indicated above, a high proportion of those surveyed rated effective management as highly important; but only 27 per cent rated their organisation as good at providing it. When asked how they rated their experience of management functions that were important to them, a negative picture emerged, as highlighted in the following conclusion:
These conclusions are similar to those reached by the SSC in an analysis of chief executive appointments. That analysis led the then State Services Commissioner, in a speech for Ministry of Social Development Senior Managers in 2003, to conclude that, ‘…what was emerging was a Public Service leadership that was brainy, understood their way around Wellington (the political context), could do the stakeholder relationship thing (although mainly in a Wellington context) and were enthusiastic and committed to the job. But they were poorly equipped to be managers of their organisations’ (Wintringham, 2003).

In rating their managers against a number of management support factors, respondents did not give high ratings. Of the nine factors surveyed, only five were rated ‘Good’ by more than 40 per cent of public servants.

It has also been the experience of the Centre over the past three years that senior managers struggle to commit time to their own development. There is a relatively high rate of absence on the day, of those registered to attend our seminars and clinics. Attendance at Action Learning Group4 sessions, which are universally regarded by participants as highly valuable, still runs at about 60 per cent. The strong impression the Centre has gained is that there is a ‘culture of busyness’ in which the critical role of a leader as learner and developer is given relatively low priority.

Qualitative information showed that some respondents felt that a lack of management support had made it difficult for them to develop their careers. Many staff commented on poor management in general. A few public servants felt their managers did not fully understand or recognise their work and ideas. Some public servants perceived that managers were unsupportive or uninterested in advancing their careers, sometimes because managers were too busy with their own work. Other staff indicated a lack of positive feedback or opportunities to develop. Not having performance reviews or regular feedback on performance was part of this. A small number of public servants reported they had experienced bullying behaviour by their manager (SSC, 2006, p. 50).

This is particularly important because of the effect of what they are modelling. If they are not spending time and effort on development then it is likely that neither will their teams. Without ongoing development it is also likely that leaders will need to spend time in more detailed involvement, monitoring and quality control of the work of their team than would otherwise be the case. This may then limit the time they can spend on development and become a vicious cycle that is difficult to break from.
Other research reinforces these conclusions and also indicates that the problem is not confined to the public service. A Hudson Report that highlighted the importance of people management describes research across 17 sectors in New Zealand, including Government, that revealed only 17.3 per cent of the 1500 employers surveyed rated people management as the most effective aspect of their leaders (Hudson, 2005, p. 7). A recent article in Management identifies three other research studies that indicate management in New Zealand is performing below par, and it quotes Doug Matheson as saying: ‘…many of New Zealand’s managers are not achieving the potential of the organisations they lead’ (Birchfield, 2006).
The conclusion from this analysis is that public service leaders have some of the attributes that indicate leadership potential. They are well developed in some specific areas, but in the aspects of leadership and management that ensure effective achievement through others they are not strong.

Recommended publications
  • Book Review: Roderick Deane: His Life and Times

    Book Review: Roderick Deane: His Life and Times

    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0606/S00063.htm Book Review: Roderick Deane: His Life and Times Tuesday, 6 June 2006, 12:46 pm Opinion: New Zealand Business Roundtable Roderick Deane: His Life and Times by Michael Bassett and Judith Bassett Penguin Books (NZ), 287 pp, $49.95 Reviewed by Roger Kerr First, a disclaimer. Roderick Deane has been a personal friend and professional colleague since he first taught me economics at Victoria University in 1967. I admire him as a person, and for his enormous contributions to business and government in New Zealand. I hope this association does not bias my views of this book, or that readers will discount them if it does. Michael Bassett, arguably New Zealand’s leading political historian, and his wife Judith have written a book about Roderick Deane’s “life and times”. The two parts deserve equal emphasis. They had access to Deane’s large and orderly collection of personal papers now passed to the Alexander Turnbull Library, as well as to many of the players in New Zealand’s recent economic history. The book chronicles Deane’s life from his formation as an economist; his work at the Reserve Bank where he rose to deputy governor; his eventful year and a bit as chairman of the State Services Commission overseeing public sector reforms; his five years as CEO of the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand running a state-owned enterprise, followed by seven years heading the privatised Telecom Corporation; and his subsequent business career as a chairman or director of several major New Zealand and Australian corporates.
  • Economic Adjustment: Policies and Problems

    Economic Adjustment: Policies and Problems

    Economic Adjustment: Policies and Problems ©International Monetary Fund. Not for Redistribution This page intentionally left blank ©International Monetary Fund. Not for Redistribution Economic Adjustment: Policies and Problems Edited by Sir Frank Holmes Papers presented at a seminar held in Wellington, New Zealand, February 17-19, 1986 International Monetary Fund • 1987 ©International Monetary Fund. Not for Redistribution © International Monetary Fund, 1987 Reprinted July 1989 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Economic adjustment: policies and problems: papers presented at a seminar held in Wellington, New Zealand, February 17-19, 1986 / edited by Sir Frank Holmes. p. cm. Bibliography: p. ISBN 0-939934-98-1 1. Oceania—Economic policy—Congresses. 2. Korea (South)— Economic policy—1960—Congresses. 3. New Zealand—Economic policy—Congresses. I. Holmes, Frank Wakefield, Sir, 1924— II. International Monetary Fund. HC681.E28 1986 87-30382 338.99-dcl9 CIP Price: $16.00 ©International Monetary Fund. Not for Redistribution Foreword Economic adjustment continues to be a major issue demanding the attention of the authorities of developed and developing countries alike. This volume, which contains the proceedings of a seminar held in 1986 in Wellington, New Zealand, focuses on the adjustment problems faced by countries in the South Pacific, and particular attention is devoted to the situation of the small island economies in the South Pacific. One of the most important aspects of adjustment for these countries, as well as for New Zealand and Australia, is the formulation of liberalized trade and exchange policies in the face of increasing worldwide protectionism, and a number of participants in the seminar addressed themselves to this issue.
  • JB Munro – a Tribute

    JB Munro – a Tribute

    JB Munro – A Tribute John Baldwin Munro QSO JP, known to everyone as JB, was a remarkable man. He made a huge contribution to the lives of many New Zealanders. JB suffered from polio as a youngster and he was a foster child from birth. Coping with these setbacks was not only to reveal JB’s enormous courage and strength of personality but also to ignite his inexhaustible drive to help others in the community and particularly those with disabilities. He truly understood the wish of people with both intellectual and physical disabilities to be able to lead normal lives in the normal community. JB had huge empathy with the disadvantaged in our society and he worked tirelessly to help them overcome their challenges. In turn, they thought the world of him. In her biography on JB, “JB Munro Community Citizen” 2019, Hilary Stace encompassed the great diversity of the contributions JB made to New Zealand and New Zealanders. He played leading roles in local, national and international forums across a wide spectrum of important organisations, all of which are represented in this biography. JB’s crowning achievement was of course to lead a huge improvement in political and community attitudes towards those with disabilities and to enable them to lead normal lives in normal communities. This required unswerving commitment, great energy, strong leadership, warm people relationships, and high quality communication skills, all of which JB had in abundance. Throughout his life he devoted his wonderful set of talents to the service of others. Hilary’s book captures that life in all its fullness.
  • Roger Kerr: Do Economists Agree on Anything?

    Roger Kerr: Do Economists Agree on Anything?

    Do economists agree on anything? Roger Kerr The New Zealand Business Roundtable is an organisation comprising primarily chief executives of major New Zealand businesses. The purpose of the organisation is to contribute to the development of sound public policies that reflect overall New Zealand interests. This book contains commentaries written by Roger Kerr that were published by various newspapers in New Zealand and Australia between 2002 and 2007. First published in April 2008 by New Zealand Business Roundtable PO Box 10-147, Wellington 6143, New Zealand http://www.nzbr.org.nz ISBN 978-1-877394-17-1 (online) c 2008 edition: New Zealand Business Roundtable ii Contents About the author ............................... ix I 2007 1 1 Can the media help promote economic literacy? ........... 2 2 The real downsides of remoteness ................... 4 3 Good institutions and policies account for Australia’s prosperity . 6 4 The priority for tax reforms: a flatter tax scale ........... 8 5 Productivity: New Zealand’s biggest economic problem ...... 10 6 Do economists agree on anything? Yes! ............... 12 7 Scoring our schools: what makes for a good education ....... 15 8 New thinking needed on local government .............. 17 9 Climate change: minefields ahead ................... 19 10 Back to basics on election funding .................. 21 11 Public policy riddles .......................... 23 12 Auckland airport not a political plaything .............. 25 13 Catching up with Australia: policies must match goals ....... 27 14 Kiwis and tigers: lessons in conservation ............... 29 15 Confusion around inflation putting monetary policy framework at risk .................................... 31 16 Reining in the regulatory madness .................. 33 17 Welfare: more a band-aid than a solution to poverty .......
  • 'Deep in the Heart of Taxes'1

    'Deep in the Heart of Taxes'1

    New Zealand Journal of History, 49, 2 (2015) ‘Deep in the Heart of Taxes’1 FOURTH LABOUR, THE GST AND FISCAL RECONSTRUCTION, 1981–1986 IN SIX YEARS A HANDFUL OF MINISTERS in the Fourth Labour government initiated momentous changes to fiscal and budgetary management, monetary and export policy and the operations of the public service. Many measures remain in place; others have been modified, but the initial legislation set the direction. This ambitious government in a hurry implemented certain domestic measures more adroitly and responsibly than others.2 The Goods and Services Tax (GST) stands out as a first-rate achievement that sets the yardstick for assessing the quality of consultation and preparation for other measures.3 Its implementation harmonized public service research, community reactions and politicians’ will. Most of Fourth Labour’s major initiatives engaged specialized expressions or common words whose particular use in Economics and Finance required definitions. The far-reaching changes often strained common discourse. Language underscored the break from the past, making it essential for post mortems to explain terms and relate them to how things were to work. For example, the subject matter here is an indirect tax; the definition of such a tax specifies that it is collected by an intermediary and then remitted to the government. If a tax is applied to the purchase of goods and services, consumption tax is the apt term. Advocates of tax reform in 1981–1986 sought a consumption tax that would be collected indirectly. They envisioned a European-style indirect tax whose features and variations will soon be explained; there were optional ‘bells and whistles’.
  • The Dollar-Wall Street Regime and New Zealand: the Political

    The Dollar-Wall Street Regime and New Zealand: the Political

    The Dollar-Wall Street Regime and New Zealand: The Political Implications of Financial Market Liberalisation for Macroeconomic Management in New Zealand, 1994 to 2011 Byron Richards A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. December, 2015 Abstract ii Abstract This is a study of New Zealand’s retention and entrenchment of a neoliberal policy regime, focusing on the role played by international finance. The study examines the influence that international private financial markets and institutions exerted over the macroeconomic policy formulation of New Zealand governments during the period from 1994 to 2011. It is argued that the emergence of international private financial markets and New Zealand’s subsequent integration into these markets was instrumental in successive governments retaining and entrenching all of the core features of a neoliberal macroeconomic policy nexus. This includes, most prominently: a monetary policy regime focused on maintaining low, stable inflation; an independently floating foreign exchange regime; and a conservative fiscal policy oriented towards surplus-generation and public debt reduction. The study utilises a sophisticated neopluralist theoretical framework that also draws on neo-Marxist analyses developed in the field of international political economy. Within this theoretical framework, neopluralism identifies the key sources of business power within contemporary liberal democracies. Respectively, neo-Marxist international political economy identifies the major sources of the power of private financial capital within an increasingly inter- connected global economic system. This theoretical approach provides a coherent and empirically-grounded explanation of the crucial role played by international private financial markets in successive New Zealand governments’ retention and entrenchment of all of the key features of the neoliberal macroeconomic policy nexus.
  • Download File (PDF Format 69KB)

    Download File (PDF Format 69KB)

    Sir Roderick Deane KNZM, PhD, BCom (Hons), FCA, FCIS, FNZIM, Honorary LLD Sir Roderick Deane has had an extensive career in business as Chairman and as a Director of a number of major New Zealand, Australian and Canadian companies and earlier top level roles in the public sector, central banking, and economics. He has a substantial involvement with charitable and cultural organizations. He was appointed a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours 2012 for services to business and the community. He is a Trustee of the Deane Endowment Trust, a trust funded by his wife Gillian and himself and of which Lady Deane is Chair. This trust provides financial assistance to a wide range of arts and culture organizations, including in the fields of classical music, opera, ballet, dance, theatre and the visual arts; to art galleries and museums, particularly in the Wellington region and principally for the sponsorship of exhibitions and publications; to outstanding young people to study abroad and/or in New Zealand and further their careers, particularly in the fields of classical music, both voice and instrumental, opera, ballet, dance and some other areas; to people with rare disorders and intellectual and other disabilities and the organizations which support them; to publications in the fields of the arts, and Maori and New Zealand history; to scientific research particularly in the area of rare disorders, and to outstanding young students, usually at the postgraduate level, to study and assist with research in working with some of New Zealand’s leading scientists, particularly by way of Summer Scholarships; to a number of environmental areas especially those associated with the preservation of wetlands and conservation of the native plant and native bird environment; and to a number of specific community projects.
  • Asymmetric Information ISSUE NO.46 April 2013

    Asymmetric Information ISSUE NO.46 April 2013

    ISSN 1177-6366 (Print) ISSN 1177-634X (Online) Asymmetric information ISSUE NO.46 April 2013 A newsletter to promote the exchange CONTENTS of information, news and ideas among Editorial 2 members of the New Zealand Association of Economists (Inc). An Interview with Sir Roderick Deane 2 From the 2B RED File 7 PAST ISSUES 'Frames' 8 9 All past issues are now available for downloading (or for Fine Lines citing in scholarly publications) free of charge from: Blogwatch 10 http://www.nzae.org.nz/newsletters/ (Motu) Exchange Rate Pass-Through 11 New Zealand Association of Economists Inc. The Government Economics Network (GEN) 12 JOHN CREEDY Editor email: [email protected] or The Five Minute Interview 13 [email protected]. http://www.nzae.org.nz The AR Bergstrom Prize 13 Research in Progress 14 NZEP 15 NZAE Information 15 Conference 2013 3 – 5 July in Wellington http://www.nzae.org.nz Asymmetric Information, Issue No. 46 / April 2013 | 1 EDITORIAL John Creedy ([email protected]; [email protected]) This issue of AI begins with the third in our series of interviews ‘Fine Lines’ is contributed by David Fielding. The subject of the with eminent New Zealand economists: Grant Scobie interviews ‘Five Minute Interview’ is John Gibson. News of the Government Sir Roderick Deane. The regular contributions follow from Economics Network (GEN) is again included, and the economics Grant Scobie (‘2B Red’), Stuart Birks (‘Frames’), Paul Walker department at The University of Auckland provides this issue’s (‘Blogwatch’), Mark Holmes (NZEP) and Motu. In this issue, report of Research in Progress.
  • Roderick Deane Has Seen Much of His Good Work Undone by Rising Government Interference

    Roderick Deane Has Seen Much of His Good Work Undone by Rising Government Interference

    Roderick Deane has seen much of his good work undone by rising Government interference. Frustrated, but certainly not bitter, he’s moved his focus to areas where he can still make a difference. ZILLA EFRAT reports. For many people, New Year’s resolutions are made with the best intentions and then slowly forgotten as the year progresses. But this was certainly not the case for Roderick Deane, well at least not this year. As 2005 drew to a close, he decided it was time to quit any commitments he felt negative about so that he could concentrate on the more exciting and stimulating aspects of his life. And he did, resigning in June from two of New Zealand’s most coveted corporate roles – that of chairman of Telecom Corporation of NZ and as a director of the ANZ National Bank. However, those who have known or have watched him closely over the years wouldn’t have been surprised by Deane’s moves. Anyone who has heard Deane speak in recent times, including delegates to the recent INFINZ Conference in Taupo (see report on p?), would have sensed his frustration at the increasing size of the New Zealand public service, the Government’s accelerated regulatory activity and its retraction from market oriented economic policies. These moves, he told delegates, were choking New Zealand’s international competitiveness and productivity growth. Productivity growth, for example, had slowed under the Labour Government to 1.1 % a year since 2000, compared to 2.5% year between 1992 and 2000. Deane has long been known for his strong beliefs in free market forces and devoted the first part of his illustrious career working towards reform.
  • New Zealand Model’: How Free Markets Destroy a Nation

    New Zealand Model’: How Free Markets Destroy a Nation

    Click here for Full Issue of EIR Volume 24, Number 25, June 13, 1997 EIRPolitical Economy The ‘New Zealand Model’: How free markets destroy a nation by Marcia Merry Baker In its first issue of 1997, the New Citizen, a quarterly put out by international financial interests which set up self-serving by the Citizens Electoral Council, the Australian associates systems to suck out “income streams” through the privatiza- of Lyndon LaRouche, published a groundbreaking report on tion of all basic economic sectors, including health care, air- how New Zealand has been ripped apart by free trade and lines, railways, energy, ports, and so on, and deregulating privatization “reforms,” beginning in 1984. The study, “Nazi any rules which limited takeovers and mergers, or protected ‘Reforms’ Rip New Zealand—Australia Next,”1 uses 65 farmers, labor, the sick, elderly, or other sections of the popu- graphs, interviews, and historical analysis to document the lation. ruination of the New Zealand physical economy, to the point This looting process began in 1984, when the new Labour that New Zealand suicide rates now rank among the highest Party government began what was euphemistically called “re- in the world. forms.” On page 22 is a timeline of the key “reforms” each Figure 1, which was run on the front page of the New year to date, that account for the catastrophic effects on the Citizen’s report, is an irrefutable indicator of the misery and economy and population documented in the figures. political-economic crisis in New Zealand. Since the release of that report, new data show that the rate of suicide doubled Who is responsible? over the past five years among young women, and for youth At the center of the web of individuals, banks, and compa- overall, climbed 14% in just one year from 1994 to 1995.
  • Economic Reform in New Zealand

    Economic Reform in New Zealand

    The Otemon Journal of Australian Studies, vol. ῑ῎,pp.῔ΐ ῌ ῕, ῐ῎῎ῒ ῍ῌ Economic Reform in New Zealand : Radical Liberalisation in a Small Economy Shaun Goldfinch University of Otago New Zealand provides a dramatic example of rapid and farῌreaching economic liberalisation. A comparatively wealthy country for much of the ῐ῎ th century, New Zealand has a long history of Westminsterῌstyle democracy with developed systems of property rights and business law, reflecting British colonisation and settlement in the nineteenth century. Under an ostensibly social democratic Labour Government it comprehensively liberalized its economy in a process beginning in the early ῏῕῎s and extending into the ῏῎s. Changes included the floating of the exchange rate ; extensive liberalisation of financial, capital and other markets ; lowering of trade protection ; fiscal restraint and monetary deflation ; changes to the machinery of government ; corporatization and then sale of some government assets ; broadening of the tax base ; and changes to industrial relations frameworks including a radical liberalisation of the labour market. Change was extensive. New Zealand moved from being what the Economist claimed was one of the more ‘hidebound’ economies outside the former communist bloc, to amongst the most liberal in the OECD. From having some of the highest manufacturing tariffs in the world in ῏῔῎, New Zealand has now amongst the lowest levels of trade protection, particularly for agricultural products. One of the key initiators of this reform was the Labour Minister of Finance ῌ῏῕ῒ ῌ ῕῕῍ Roger Douglas, and consequently the period of the reform is often known as ‘Rogernomics’. Acknowledgements: Professor Paul Dalziel supplied much of the economic data for this study.
  • Webprinted-Annual-Report.Pdf

    Webprinted-Annual-Report.Pdf

    Acting Director’s Report 2005/06 was another successful year for Motu. One of the many highlights was securing funding from the Foundation for Research Science and Technology (FRST) for a major 4-year research project into aspects of New Zealand’s infrastructure. Dr Arthur Grimes will lead this project which will include New Zealand and international experts on infrastructure, regional economic analysis, and economic development. We continued to make good progress on our major research programme “Adjustment and Inequality”, which forms the core of our population and labour economics research and research on local markets. Dr Dave Maré and Dr Steve Stillman lead this programme. During the year they held a very useful workshop for key stakeholders to review the research to date, to seek input into the balance of the programme, and to discuss effective ways to report on and disseminate the research outcomes. Dr Steve Stillman led our research into a range of labour and migration issues including the impact of immigration on the geographical location and mobility of New Zealanders. Together with Dr John Gibson, he also analysed the impact of migration on the wealth and health of Tongans and Fijians who migrate to New Zealand. Dr Arthur Grimes led a major research project that examined aspects of New Zealand’s housing and rental markets. The key streams of work analysed regional housing markets, the behaviour of house prices, land prices and housing supply, and the relationship between rents, house prices, and socio-economic characteristics of communities. While on sabbatical in Chile, Dr Suzi Kerr continued to lead Motu’s major research programme studying human-induced land-use change processes and their implications for the environment, and modelling possible management systems at national policy level.