1984 Quiz Result
Trevor Mallard
Minister of State Services(A copy of Trevor Mallard's powerpoint presentation is available in PDF format here (2.16M).
Thank you for inviting me to speak to you today.
I note that the focus of your conference this year is "Facing the future - the evolution of the Public Service to meet the challenges ahead".
This Government, too, recognises the importance of planning for the future today.
Today, I will outline some forward-looking initiatives the Government has underway. In particular, I wish to discuss the Review of the Centre, managing for outcomes, and the E-government programme.
But first, I thought it would be worthwhile to look back several years. And to share with you my views on where we were then, and on how far we have come.
Many speakers today have referred to the increasing pace of change in New Zealand. The contrast between our society of the mid-1980s and that of 2002 is dramatic.
The 1980s were a turbulent time for New Zealand's Public Service.
The Public Service had been enjoying a relatively stable period, which had lasted some 70 years - since the 1912 Public Service Act had established our non-political career Public Service.
The 1988 State Sector Act radically reordered this landscape. The Act's associated reforms transformed the shape of the Public Service and to some extent also changed its culture.
For the Public Service, the cultural changes of most significance probably proved to be those flowing from the movement away from the concepts of a career service - and from the profound changes in the shape and size of the Public Service.
Years of State sector restructuring resulted in fragmentation - both in terms of individual departments and agencies operating in isolation from each other, and of policy development being split from service delivery.
State sector reform also led to a number of government functions being contracted out of the Public Service, and the loss of long-term operating capacity within the public service.
This Government has a commitment to rebuild the Public Service.
We recognise that if we want a strong future as a country we have to get the foundations right. A strong and effective State sector is key to the country's economic and social performance.
This Government aims to rebuild a cohesive, effective, quality Public Service that:
- delivers for its citizens;
- provides quality advice to government; and
- is seen as a desirable place to work.
Achieving this goal will require the involvement of citizens, voluntary organisations, unions and state sector management and frontline. It will require building partnerships and working in collaboration to find solutions and encourage innovation.
In the last term of Government, the Minister of Finance and myself commissioned a comprehensive review of New Zealand's public management system in order to see how well it responds to the needs and expectations of Ministers and of citizens - be they individuals, communities, businesses, or Maori.
The advisory group's report, the Review of the Centre, provides a roadmap for the Public Service over the coming years.
The Review did not focus on constitutional, structural, or management arrangements. Rather, it started by looking at the perspectives and needs of the various players in the system.
Citizens, communities and businesses want more effective, accessible, and responsive services. They also want services in their area that are easy to deal with.
Public Service managers and staff want satisfying work and good management. You also want the opportunity to make a difference.
Lastly, Ministers want it to be easier to make things happen. To see more flexibility and innovation. A greater inclination to take some risks and try some new things.
The Advisory Group reported that, whilst some of the fundamentals of the Public Service were sound, there was significant scope for improvement.
Its report recommended some priority areas for change. I understand the State Services Commissioner has already outlined the programme of work underway.
One Review of Centre work programme is especially relevant to this audience.
Later this year I hope to announce a new Public Service's senior leadership and development initiative. This will be great improvement on the existing (but defunct) Senior Executive Service and is vital to the long term rebuilding of New Zealand's Public Service.
One aspect on this initiative, which the State Service Commissioner has already mentioned, is the establishment of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government. This is an extremely positive step for both our nations. I am sure that by 2020 many senior managers attending the PSSM equivalent of the day will be graduates of this new programme. I encourage you and your staff to make the most of this new training and development opportunity.
In partnership with the Review of the Centre, Cabinet agreed in late 2001 to a significant change in the way departments manage their business. The initiative requires departments to adopt a more results and 'outcome' focused approach to planning, management and reporting, while still remaining accountable for the delivery of outputs.
As part of the new approach, departments are to develop Statements of Intent (SOIs) to describe clearly how what you are doing (your 'outputs') relates to the results you are trying to achieve (your 'outcomes').
While it may take time, it is expected that the new approach will make a real difference to the way in which the Public Service operates by providing a stronger link between public management and the results that the Government wishes to achieve.
Outcome management involves you having to think hard about the future. It involves chief executives and managers projecting forward and working out what services need to be delivered to meet the needs of future generations.
This does not necessarily equate to asking for more resources in order to deliver more services. I am aware that many departments have had their baselines held over the past years and that many departments are experiencing some cost pressures.
However, the Government is not in the position to write big cheques. What the managing for outcomes process should reveal is the true priorities for departments. This may mean some adding some services, but it will also mean dropping some current services.
As a whole, we are not good at deciding to stop things. It is easier to just try and do more and more with less. I would like to encourage you to use the managing for outcomes process to take a fresh look at your activities and how they relate with other departments.
In order for this new planning approach to reach its full potential it is important that Ministers are drawn into the planning process. Ministers should be involved in deciding the priority outcomes, and asked to support your choice of outputs.
This may involve some frank discussions with responsible Ministers. I encourage you to be honest and courageous in your approach.
Like the Review of the Centre, the E-government programme starts with an out-of-Wellington, citizen-first and service-based view of the business of government.
Technology is changing the way Government and the State sector engages with, and delivers to, its citizens.
Despite our small country status - much like the Tall Blacks - we have boxed above our weight in the technology area.
New Zealand has always been an early adopter of new ideas and technology, from open-heart surgery (pioneered at Auckland's Greenlane Hospital in 1963) to the conversion to digital telephone exchanges beginning in 1981.
In technology there comes a point where usage goes through the fifty percent mark and it becomes the "norm" rather than the exception. Over the past two years this milestone has occurred with New Zealanders' enthusiastic adoption of computer technology.
This represents a significant culture change. And it will drive a radical change in government through the growing public demand for online government services.
When a recent United Nations survey of e-government put New Zealand at number three in the world, few in New Zealand were surprised.
The transition to e-government in New Zealand began informally and without coordinated planning. As the Internet began to take off in the mid-1990s most government agencies established a basic Web presence.
However there was no overall government plan to move to an interactive phase or to begin coordination between state agencies - or to achieve a single point of access to government e-services.
Secure communication between agencies, metadata standards, citizen authentication of external access to their personal information on agency databases and so forth had barely been thought of.
Today, these issues are the responsibility of the E-government Unit of the State Services Commission, which is now into its third year of operation.
Broadly, the two key objectives of e-government are - first, the improved efficiency in the use of citizen's taxes through increased sharing and rationalisation of systems, technology, delivery channels and the integration of business processes across agencies.
Second, the Government aims to make life simpler and more efficient for citizens and businesses. Nobody here needs to be reminded of the complexities which can arise when citizens interact with government.
Take an 18-year old setting out on life's journey - personal identification details have to be provided, separately, for a driver's licence, passport, university enrolment, taxes, voting, medical records, welfare entitlements and so forth. In an ideal e-government model that process should occur but once.
It is worse for businesses - the compliance costs of running a business are frequently identified as a major impediment to business start-ups, or expansion.
So far, true e-government transaction services are available from only a limited number of government agencies - such as Land Information New Zealand and the Companies Office.
For a wider audience the E-government Unit has built a new government portal, with a wide range of 2,500 products and 1,200 services and providing access to 90 agencies, many of them local government.
Designed to be a 'one-stop shop' entrée to government for whatever purpose, the portal will eventually provide access to all services from a single point of entry. This has important implications for the delivery structure of all government agencies.
In theory at least, there will eventually be no need for each agency to have its own downtown and suburban offices. The potential exists for them all to be integrated into a single location, with staff re-trained to assist citizens to access any desired government service.
If that ideal were to be achieved, then the vertically integrated government agency, the worldwide norm for a century, becomes obsolete.
In the long run, this is the most fundamental outcome of e-government, which, as it matures, could become the catalyst and enabler of a sweeping transformation of government.
At this point, back office staff will find that in using the common elements of the e-government infrastructure they will be operating, to all intents and purposes, in a virtual "all of government" environment.
I don't believe that many of New Zealand's 30,000 public servants have thought about the revolutionary implications of the adoption of e-government.
The traditional silo structure of government agencies is under challenge. Rather than using traditional restructuring to affect change, technology will provide future governments with more flexibility and more options as to how it organises itself to deliver services.
Besides the e-government programme, a number of state agencies also have forward-looking Internet-related products and services in development.
This reflects the Government's recognition that all sectors of society should move into an electronic environment at much the same speed.
The Ministry of Economic Development is the primary agency for driving the development of e-commerce and it has a number of initiatives underway.
The Department of Labour is tackling the so-called "digital divide". A huge task faces the Ministry of Education. Besides working with MED to get broadband access to all schools it has to assist school administrators and teachers to move into the digital age.
While it might be tempting for New Zealanders (particularly politicians) to attribute our third place in a worldwide e-government survey to 'local brilliance', it would be more impartial to point out that this country has a special set of circumstances which aid e-government development.
Besides being small and having an advanced technology infrastructure, we have a much simpler government structure than most other advanced countries.
Our standard of literacy and computer skills is the much same as the United States or Western Europe, and our uptake of new technology has always been high. The business environment is also conducive to technological change and our economy is very open and is characterised by far fewer regulations and restrictions than most OECD countries.
Those factors suggest that New Zealand is likely to maintain its e-government leadership position well into the future.
By 2020 we will be able to look back and find out.
I understand the State Services Commission asked the conference committee to put together a day that would unify, uplift and challenge you. Today you have heard many different points of view, and some frank messages from the frontline. You have had the brickbats - but you have also had the bouquets. I want to leave you with a final message - which is that an efficient, unified and forward thinking Public Service is vital to New Zealand's future growth as a nation.
Thank you for your time today.
