IPANZ E-Update - 11 June 2024
Kia ora |
PERSPECTIVES
“Slow is smooth, smooth is fast”
Liz MacPherson (IPANZ President) is concerned at the rush to implement, too often without enough evidence. She claims that the three-year political term incentivises governments to invest in the short term rather than medium or long term, and to move fast. She believes our system of governance defaults to rushing and this worries her.
Evidence of effectiveness, particularly in the social sector, is demonstrated after collecting evaluative evidence over quite a long period of time. To seek that evidence, we need data, research, analysis, and evaluative capability, and these are just the kind of skills that agencies are cutting as part of their cost savings exercises.
As she says, “slow is smooth, smooth is fast”. You can read this opinion piece now, and keep an eye out for the full Public Sector journal that will be avaliable on 18 June.
Getting effective investment in infrastructure
A report on how to fund and finance infrastructure will be released by Mahi a Rongo I The Helen Clark Foundation and WSP on 26 June. This article in The Conversation summarises some of the key points:
- Get multi-party support for a long-term infrastructure plan which does not change with political cycles. It is political will, not money, that is holding Aotearoa NZ back.
- There are several ways to fund infrastructure, but a significant portion will be debt financing. There will also be taxes, rates and user charges.
- There will be significant savings, productivity and efficiency improvements, increased certainty for all, if governments commit to a 30-year plan.
Regulation – “there’s too much, so let’s cut it”
This article from the upcoming issue of our Public Sector journal raises a gentle warning – do not make things worse by creating unintended consequences.
Some of the points made:
- We have at least 200 regulatory regimes and the quality is patchy – the burden on people who interact with many of these regimes can be heavy.
- There are complex interactions between these different regimes, sometimes with interdependencies and, if you cut one, it can have interactions across the system.
- Removing the wrong regulation can induce failure (remember leaky buildings).
- Best to focus on cross-cutting issues, e.g. how to enable digital approaches to compliance.
- Ensure sector and industry organisations are strongly involved.
- Build on the work that has already been done to understand the system.
Upside down and inside out – new organisational structures
The structure diagrams of public organisations put leaders and managers at the top (as well as their minister/s) and front line people at the bottom.
In this article, Geoff Mulgan describes an opposite model that “imagines the department as sitting in the middle of a circle. Instead of emanating authority, it aims to support the work of the doers. It regularly asks them – the schools, hospitals, police forces, charities – what help they need to do their jobs better and tries to provide it. The things the doers need may include money, knowledge, training, infrastructure and many other things (or just being left alone). The quality of the department is judged by how useful the doers find it.”
It may be impossible to imagine this, we who are so used to these hierarchies, and it will not work for everything, but this idea prompts consideration of a better mix of top-down and bottom-up.
Time for an Integrity Commission?
Bryce Edwards notes that conflicts of interest are the common theme in a growing number of stories lately about alleged corruption, political appointments, and poor political processes. He notes this is problem for all governments, not just the current government.
A conflict of interest is defined as “where you’re in a position to decide something for the greater good, but your personal interests get in the way, or could be seen to get in the way”. He asks, for example, should Auckland City councillors who own shares in the airport vote on its sale? Should investment property owners in parliament recuse themselves from votes on capital gains tax?
He fears that too many politicians think that conflict of interest doesn’t matter.
Australia has also experienced many of the same problems and, as a result, has established an anti-corruption agency to monitor such conflicts of interest. It might well be that there is a need for a more systematic regime of rules and regulations to ensure integrity is maintained. He suggests the possibility of establishing something like an Integrity Commission to do this.
Building capability in the public sector in a different way
The CEO and Dean of the Australia and NZ School of Government (ANZSOG) has a strong message. Public sector capability must be built, but it is not by employing and training more people to work in the sector. It is about working entirely differently with new partnerships.
“Local communities often have the best understanding of why they are struggling and what to do about it. Business has practical and effective ideas on how to unlock the potential of digital technologies to lift productivity, improve people’s lives and safeguard against risks. Academia can and does discover and validate emerging trends and innovative policy solutions.”
There may be a diminishing number of public servants but still enormous demands – for example, to facilitate knowledge transfer, deliver vital services, manage risks and assure accountability. The way to achieve this may be through collaboration and partnerships.
Are you tired of “change-washing”?
This is a nice piece about what the authors call “change washing”. They describe two types of change: one is just superficial tweaks and the other deep and sustained reforms. Change-washing occurs when public sector reforms are presented as deep, sustained change but in reality are superficial tweaks.
They say that change that genuinely builds new mindsets can be good, but not when implemented in a rapid, shallow manner – there are no quick fixes for organisational change.
This article gives three excellent references to help you. And it finishes with the quote “teams need to do radical things at a non-radical scale, rather than doing non-radical things at a radical scale” – which is quite a profound idea when you think about it.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Ethnic leadership in New Zealand’s public sector - current and future -Tuesday 18 June, 12.00 - 1.00pm, online webinar
Aotearoa New Zealand’s demographics are evolving, and so too are the expectations around diversity and inclusion in the public sector. This webinar seeks to inspire future ethnic leaders about a public sector that is ethnically inclusive and diverse, and encourage them to drive system change.
For more information or to register for this event visit our website.
Ian Axford Fellows In Public Policy report-back seminar - Thursday 20 June, 2.00-3.30pm, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington
Fulbright New Zealand and IPANZ bring you this year’s Ian Axford Fellows in Public Policy report-back seminar. At this event the two 2024 Fellows will present an overview of their research projects Government social media monitoring: Policy and risk landscape and Maintaining trust when exploring generative AI in social service delivery.
For more information or to register for this event visit our website.
New Professionals: Budget 101 - Insights into the process - Thursday 20 June, 4.30 - 6.00pm, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Focused on the development of new professionals, join the team in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland to delve into the intricacies of the New Zealand budget process.
For more information or to register for this event visit our website.
Artificial Intelligence and the Public Sector: Opportunities and pitfalls - Tuesday 25 June, 12.30 - 1.30pm, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington and online
IPANZ, and the Wellington School of Business and Government at Victoria University of Wellington | Te Herenga Waka, present “Artificial Intelligence and the Public Sector: Opportunities and pitfalls”. An active discussion between academics and practitioners – focused on what is useful and realistic in practice.
For more information or to register for this event visit our website.
Demystifying the Budget process - Wednesday 26 June, 12.00 - 1.00pm, online webinar
Budget Day was 30 May this year – what exactly does this mean, and what is involved in preparing the Budget? To address these questions, IPANZ brings you a webinar that will shine a light on this critical process of government including the key principles of a Budget, the challenges involved, and observations about the ‘reality’ of landing the Budget.
For more information or to register for this event visit our website.
Social Investment - Wednesday 10 July, 12.00 - 1.00pm, online webinar
The Government intends to further develop and apply a social investment approach for the public sector. Join us for a webinar where we will hear from our expert panel about social investment. Learn what a social investment approach looks like, what the different approaches offer and what we’ve learned from past practice.
For more information or to register for this event visit our website.
Parliament in Practice - Wednesday 14 August, all day, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington
This introductory seminar is designed for departmental and Crown entity kaimahi. It provides attendees with a unique opportunity to learn about the operations of Parliament from those working within Parliament walls and who are tasked with overseeing the roles and functions of Parliament.
For more information or to register for this event visit our website.
OPPORTUNITIES
Westpac Financial Wellbeing Series - Online
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- Spending & budgeting : Tuesday, 11 June. 11am-12pm. Register here.
- Weathering the storms (Savings, debt, insurance, Power of Attorney’s and wills): Thursday, 13 June. 11am-12pm. Register here.
- Preparing for the future (Kiwisaver/Retirement): Tuesday, 25 June. 11am-12pm. Register here.
- Special topic: Economic Update : Thursday, 27 June. 11am-12pm. Register here.
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