Public service watchdog left toothless

new-zealand-labour-party

Fri Mar 20 2009 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Public service watchdog left toothless

Friday, 20 March 2009, 10:05 am
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

Grant Robertson
State services spokesperson

20 March 2009 Media Statement

The decision to slash the budget and staff of the State Services Commission is another bizarre step in the National Party’s campaign to cut public services, Labour’s state services spokesman Grant Robertson says.

“The National Party claims to be seeking efficiency and effectiveness in public services, but they are now taking the scalpel to the very agency that works to ensure that happens. The State Services Commission (SSC) should be leading the way in developing a modern public service, instead it is set to become a toothless watchdog.

“The National Party plans to scale back the SSC budget by 45 per cent and cut at least 30 staff, in the latest job cuts in the public service. In the last few weeks the National Government has overseen hundreds of job losses in agencies such as the Ministry for the Environment, Tertiary Education Commission, Ministry of Justice and the National Library,” Grant Robertson says.

“At a time when the Government’s focus should be on keeping Kiwis in jobs, National is responsible for putting hard working people out of work. Public servants are being treated as second class citizens by National. These are real people with families to support and they deserve better from the Government.”

In the election campaign John Key paraded around New Zealand saying there was no need for major changes and that tax cuts would not come at the expense of public services. It is clear that either this was not true, or Mr Key has been rolled by Bill English, who is on a crusade to cut services by at least 10 per cent,” says Grant Robertson.

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“The SSC should be working to break down the silos that limit cooperation among government agencies, and develop an innovative and responsive public service that uses new technologies and approaches to provide services the public need and deserve.

“Instead under National they are reduced to looking over the shoulder of chief executives. This is typical of the short-sighted approach of this Government and in the long run it is the public of New Zealand who will suffer,” Grant Robertson says.

ENDS

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