PSA Media Release

Major report on changes needed to New Zealand public services released

A report outlining major changes needed to New Zealand public services has been released today by the Public Service Association.

The report commissioned by the PSA from UK based think-tank, Demos: Re-imagining Government: Putting people at the heart of New Zealand’s Public Sector calls for a national debate about how to renew the systems, purposes and ways of working in the public sector.

“A major re-think of the structure and operations of the public sector is needed if public services can successfully tackle big issues like poverty, obesity and climate change in the future,” said PSA National Secretary Richard Wagstaff commenting on the report.

“We still have public services which operate in complete independence and in competition with each other which is both inefficient and ineffective.”

“The report refers to the need for a new professionalism where the experience of frontline workers is used to develop innovative policy which meets the needs of local communities.”

Demos and the PSA have spent the last year running workshops with PSA members, academics and policy-makers to discuss how public services need to change.

“We know that our members, Government Ministers and Chief Executives have been looking forward to the release of this report. The report marks the start of an important debate about the changes needed to make New Zealand public services ready for the challenges of the future.”

The report will be formally released by Tom Bentley and Simon Parker from Demos.

ENDS

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