Bloodbath on the agenda

Tomorrow marks the 111th anniversary since the Public Service Act was passed.

The purpose of the act – which created a framework for New Zealand’s bureaucracy that would remain entrenched for 76 years – was to root out the political patronage that too frequently dictated which personnel were appointed to the country’s public service [long-serving premier Richard “King Dick” Seddon was considered a prime offender when it came to such interference, his attitude well illustrated by his response to a Reform politician who complained about jobs being given to Seddon’s mates and allies: “Do they expect us to give them to our enemies?”].

Introduced by lawyer Alexander Herdman, who was a senior minister in the new Reform Party government at the time, the act was intended to replace such institutional nepotism with “scientific management” by way of making state servants the responsibility of a Public Service Commissioner who had authority over the whole public service, and the introduction of a much more codified approach to bureaucratic appointments and advancement.

The wider aim of the legislation was to ensure a much greater degree of “efficiency and economy” in the way the public service performed.

In 1988 the Public Service Act was replaced with the State Sector Act, which – among other things – clarified that ministers were responsible for choosing policies while departments were responsible for advising on and implementing them, and introduced a different appointment process for departmental chief executives that was run by the State Services Commission.

One of the intentions of the new legislation was to introduce private sector practices to the public service in an effort to increase efficiency and improve how public service delivery was measured by “creating agencies empowered to drive operational delivery” [by this stage, the reform of 1912 was being held at least partly to blame for New Zealand’s decades of low growth and relative economic decline].

Fast forward 32 years and the Public Service Act was repealed and replaced by – in an honest-to-goodness back-the-future moment – the Public Service Act 2020, which was rushed through Parliament in the midst of the pandemic and has attracted criticism from some quarters for appearing to eliminate the legislative link between the operation of the public service and accountability to ministers by further centralising the Public Service Commissioner’s authority over the public service.

To paraphrase the late, great WB Yeats, we have the makings of a new coalition government, its hour come round at last, slouching towards Wellington to be born and – notwithstanding some unexpected negotiation outcomes – it’s odds on that the public service is about to receive another good going over, once again in the name of “efficiency and economy”.

Both National and Act campaigned on major cuts to the public service during the election and given that a quick keyword search of NZ First’s policies only turns up a promise that “all public service departments, Crown Entities and SOEs will be required to communicate in English except those specifically related to Māori”, it appears unlikely that Winston will stand in their way.

National says it wants to make an average cut of 6.5 per cent, while Act’s aim is to reduce headcount to 2017 levels, which would theoretically save about $1.2 billion a year at the cost of approximately 15,000 jobs.

One can only hope this doesn’t result in the bureaucratic baby being thrown out with the bathwater.