NZ Herald on Civil Service neutrality

Some worthwhile points in the Herald editorial today:

A certain righteousness pervades the Party that leads it to believe its policies and political interest are indivisible from the public interest. That assumption underlay the election-card spending controversy after the last election and was evident in the explanation for the political hirings and firings at the Environment Ministry in recent years.

One can not over-estimate how much this is true.

The ministry, it was said, had become politically important because “sustainability” was to be a central theme of Labour's next election campaign. The implications of that explanation have been overshadowed by ministers' problems.

Since when did a department became an instrument of an election campaign?

Indeed.

Our confidence in their tradition has been shaken but not shattered by the present . Public servants whose personal sympathies probably lie with Labour for the most part have had few problems serving National Governments. It must be a great deal harder to preserve their proper distance from a Labour programme. The Government needs to help them. Instead, it seems hardly aware of the damage it has done.

The next State Services Commissioner needs to implement a culture change starting with CEOs.  Maybe they could publish helpful booklets such as “How to say no to your and still have them respect you in the morning” 🙂

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