A great day at Parliament yesterday for the Taranaki Whanui ki te Upoko o Te Ika with the passing of legislation to finalise their Treaty claim. It is well worth folks from Wellington and beyond reading some of the historical account of that lies behind the settlement. There are some unique elements to this settlement. One is that in additional to the Crown apology for actions that breached the Treaty, the Taranaki Whanui have offered a statement of forgiveness. This is an incredible gesture, and gives a positive platform for the future relations between the city and iwi. The legislation also contains an opt-out clause for one of the iwi represented (Ngati Tama). This is not something that anyone wants to see become a practice in settlement legislation, but is reflective of the unique nature of the settlement covering Taranaki iwi, Te Atiawa, Ngati Ruanui, Ngati Mutanga and Ngati Tama.
We in Wellington all owe a huge debt of gratitude to Ngatata Love and his team, as well as all the officials and Ministers who have worked so hard on this claim. I said in my speech in the Third Reading yesterday that I intend to send the full Deed of Settlement to all schools in the city. I think this is something everyone growing up in Wellington will benefit from understanding.
Posted in Maori and Wellington. |
Bill Ralston has had a couple of goes at the public service in his recent blogs. In particular he has come out swinging in support of Treasury Secretary John Whitehead’s speech on Monday. I will write a full response to Bill’s comments in next few days, but I just wanted to note that there is a bit of a contrast in analysis between Bill and John Armstrong in today’s Herald.
Bill was pretty critical of my statement that the speech was a precursor for privatisation and deeper cuts to the public service. Today Armstrong says
Whitehead’s sugar-coated prosletyzing for what is clearly intended to be holus-bolus privatising of services delivered by state agencies went way beyond a chief executive’s brief.
and
Clearly, however, both the Treasury and English - who this week revealingly said he wanted the reforms in the state sector to “stick” so that no future government can unravel them - are using the recession as cover to reduce the role of the state and strip back the public service to some kind of skeletal level that will make it difficult to rebuild.
He also picks up the theme of my stalking horses post the other day, with a slightly different take, but certainly emphasising that this was an unusual speech for the Treasury Secretary to make. Hopefully get my full response to Bill up tomorrow.
Posted in Public Servants and Public Service. |
A quick lunch before I head into a Select Committee. Out in the electorate this morning, the rising tide of anger about the cuts to Adult and Community Education shows no sign of abating. Letters, emails etc are pouring in to all MPs. I think Anne Tolley will have to do something as the campaign is not going to let up. In the meantime here is an extract from one of the letters I received this week that sums up a lot of the feelings out there.
I have been involved in adult learning as a student on and off for nearly ten years and would like to tell you how much these programmes mean to me. Over the years I have learnt how to make a mosaic, I’ve dyed silk scarves, built pots out of clay, extended my knowledge of French and been taught the skills to run a small business. These courses have enabled me to learn new things and meet lots of people but they also offer me so much more. Although these things may just be considered hobbies, to me they give me a greater sense of self-esteem and a feeling of connection to my community. Night classes have taught me new skills, but also give me the opportunity to meet people from many diferent walks of life who I wouldn’t otherwise meet. Boredom is the cause of everything, and I’d hate to think what would happen if we weren’t to have such a wide range of accessible classes available to us.
The value of this kind of education is not just of in terms of increasing skills and contributing to the economy, it is about developing communities and improving the well-being of individuals. Limiting access as National are doing will do great damage to our communities.
Posted in Uncategorized. |
The speech by John Whitehead, the Secretary of the Treasury, is another example a strategy of the National Party to push controversial ideas out through a series of stalking horses. We saw it with Mark Weldon on SOEs, Whitehead has already done it, and here we go again. This time, however, it is all a bit odd.
John Whitehead is a good public servant. He was a loyal servant of the Labour Government, as he has been of all governments in the 27 years he has been at Treasury. He would simply not do a speech like the one he did yesterday without a clear direction from government. But why John Whitehead, why not Iain Rennie, the State Services Commissioner? Rennie refused to totally endorse Whitehead’s speech in his interview with Kathryn Ryan this morning. Given numerous opportunities to say he supported everything in the speech, he would not do it.
It looks as if SSC and Tony Ryall have largely been left out of what Bill English tells us is a programme for “significant and lasting change to the public service’. Treasury and English are in charge. It certainly is not what John Key said in October last year:
I also want to reassure people - and this is my second point - that a new National Government is not going to radically reorganise the structure of the public sector… Few problems are solved by significant reorganisations- in fact many more tend to be created.
If we look back over the last few weeks, English has really been upping the ante in terms of state sector. He went out of his way to suggest that teachers and nurses should not expect a pay rise when their agreements expire next year. Now we have him hammering the message about cuts and potential privatisation in the public services. But why? Word has it that some Chief Executives are not going fast enough or deep enough for Mr English and he think a further shot needed to be fired across the bows. This will be interesting, because the current State Sector arrangements do put the power in the hands of the CE. Could some of them be on a collision course with the government?
Posted in Public Servants and Public Service. |
Back after a little bit of a break, I wanted to put something in writing about Seddon Bennington, the Chief Executive of Te Papa who passed away in tragic circumstances last week. I have known Seddon through work for the last six years, and have always found him to be a total professional, absolutely committed to his role as protector and promoter of our nation’s heritage.
Being the Chief Executive of Te Papa is not an easy job. Everyone has an opinion on our national museum and how it should operate. On top of that Seddon inherited a workplace that was not a particularly harmonious environment. He worked hard to bring people together. Not everything worked perfectly, but he was always sensitive, thoughtful and concerned for those around him. He drove Te Papa to new standards in terms of hosting touring exhibitions and in upgrading, within budgetary constraints, the permanant collection.
He was a terrific ambassador the museum, and for our arts, culture and heritage in general. The last time I saw him was at a recent exhibition opening, where we laughed about the inter-connected lives of a Wellington MP and the Te Papa Chief Executive. Seddon was a presence at many Wellington community events, always supportive and always promoting the place, our place, that he led so well.
On a personal note, having just recently lost my Father in sudden circumstances, I know that Seddon’s sons will be experiencing enormous grief, and tumult of emotions. It is a tough time and my deepest sympathies go out to them, the rest of his family, and the friends and family of Marcella Jackson as well. May they rest in peace.
Posted in Arts. |
