The ninth Public Service Senior Management (PSSM) Conference will be held in Wellington on Thursday 30 September 1999.

The purpose of the PSSM conference this year is to explore important issues and next steps that have implications for the leadership of the New Zealand Public Service. Senior public sector, private sector and eminent academic leaders from New Zealand, Australia and Hong Kong will speak on these issues.

The conference will look at the issues from perspectives that reflect:

• New Zealand's unique characteristics in policy advice and public service;
• the aspirations of communities of New Zealanders (eg ethnic, geographical and cultural) in policy advice and public service; and
• New Zealand as a member of the Asia-Pacific community.

This is a conference for public sector leaders who recognise that high-quality public policy requires a wide understanding of the needs and aspirations of all New Zealanders. Those needs and aspirations are expressed in a variety of ways - from objective analysis based on empirical data to subjective or highly personal perspectives from a group of New Zealanders representing a cross-section of cultural and academic disciplines. Each is valid; each has a place in public policy development; each has a place at this conference.