Public Services archive at Grant Robertson

Archive for the 'Public Services' Category

Abandoning the Provinces (again)

September 9th, 2011

The National led government released its latest public service staff statistics yesterday. They show that they have overseen almost 2,400 Kiwis losing their jobs since 2008. That is thousands of families with people who make the money to put food on the table out of work. Things really are starting to follow the 1990s pattern- the gutting of the public sector, followed by the decline in services and confidence from the public, followed by the hiring of consultants and contractors to fill the gaps…

The figures announced today do not cover the full impact most recent jobs losses announced for DOC and the IRD. In both cases its not the people I look after in Wellington Central bearing the brunt, it is the provinces. Wanganui, Rotorua, Napier, Invercargill, Nelson, New Plymouth. Did someone say “frontline services”.

Two stories related to this came my way today. The first from the Daily News in New Plymouth who quoted one of the staff saying that they had been warned that if they talked publicly about the job losses they would go even quicker.

“They told us there was to be absolutely no discussion of anything to the media. If anyone spoke to the media it could be a code of conduct issue,” an employee told the Taranaki Daily News on condition of anonymity. Penalties for breaching the code of conduct could include being sacked, they said.

The worker also said something that will be familiar to many in the public service. He said “morale was in tatters”. It is, in almost every government agency I speak to- and the end result of that is poorer services for us all.

Meanwhile over in Whanganui they are facing the effect of the cuts to the Department of Conservation, the latest in a line of cuts including to NZTA, child advocacy services and the baliffs. I got a note passed on to me from a local teacher who said

I feel awful today as I hear from children I teach that their their families will be shifting out of Wanganui because of the cutbacks and the gutting of the local DOC office.which once served the region from Taranaki to the Manawatu and over the Ruahines. Going are the scientists, an engineer, cartographers and other skilled workers whose children have been really special to teach.

This is one aspect of the abandoning of provinicial New Zealand, the breakdown of communities. Another is the loss of health services in places like Temuka and Rangiora. John Pagani has written a good blog on another aspect of it. The absence of any real focused regional development from this government that will give people a sense that there are jobs and a future for them and their town. I think we owe these towns that have been the backbone of our country some support and some hope.

Posted in Provincial New Zealand, Public Services and Job Losses. | 0 Comments

National Putting Kiwis out of Work

August 27th, 2011

When MAF made the announcement of the loss of 241 positions, that will end up putting 144 people out of work, it was a continuation of this government’s policy of putting more than 1500 people out of work in the public service. In my media release I made the point that those put out of work are real people with families and themselves to look out for.

That hit home to me yesterday when the daughter of one of the women who found out she was losing her job visited me in my electorate office yesterday. She was upset. Her mother is in her early 60s, and faces the prospect of trying to find work in an environment where jobs are few and far between especially for someone of her age. She has written a letter to John Key. She asked me if I thought he would actually get to read it. I said I didn’t know, but I want to make sure people get to know the real impact of losing jobs. Here are some extracts from the letter.

My mother who raised her children on her own and started work part time when my younger brother started school has worked her guts out for her family and paid tax to a government that has basically shitted on her.

She also lives on her own in a small privately rented one bedroom flat. Now faced with unemployment and the prospect of having to move out of the flat that she will no longer be able to afford and go on the unemployment benefit and move into a state flat.

The reality is employers are not looking for workers of her age the the prospect of her getting a decent paying job is very slim. This has terrified her and she is in turmoil and worry about her future something that a woman of her age does not need in her life. My mother is a loving and vibrant woman who now seems depressed and anxious.

I know from talking with other people facing the same issues that she is not alone. People in this country continue to struggle to buy food and clothe their children or themselves.

Cutting the public service is not the answer. People’s livelihoods depend on their jobs and the retail sector depends on people spending their money. This government should be creating jobs which I do not see them doing. When cutting budgets and jobs is the only method a government has to reduce debt that government will not survive in an election.

She goes on in the letter to talk about some of her personal circumstances which I won’t put in the public arena. But the reason she wrote was not for herself, but for her mother. Its a real story about the real impact of unemployment, and I think it deserves to be heard.

Posted in Public Services and Jobs. | 0 Comments

Shared Services- Across the ditch

July 19th, 2011

There is a lot of work going on inside the public service in New Zealand around the idea of shared services. On the surface this looks like a good idea. There are sure to be efficiencies to be found in bringing together systems and some purchasing practices. But we need to go into this with our eyes open. For instance some of the government’s purchasing contracts are shutting out smaller New Zealand companies.

And now a second Australian state has run into trouble with trying to merge payroll, HR and finance systems. This time it is Western Australia where the government has been forced to pull the plug on the new state wide payroll and finance system. It was meant to cost $82 million to set up and save $50 million a year, instead it has cost $440 million since 2003, and “saved” $42 million over the whole eight years. Premier Colin Barnett has called it “one of the great bungles of public administration.” In Queensland there was another massive cost blowout when their new payroll system collapsed.

DIA is leading the work for some massive shared services projects here. The Health sector is alive with them. Treasury, SSC and DPMC are about to launch into a shared services arrangement. Other big arrangements are in the wind. There might well be good value in some of these but there should be a good dose of caution as well.

Posted in Shared Services, Australia and Public Services. | 0 Comments

Making Sh*t Up

May 18th, 2011

I know sometimes people find it hard to understand why some of us, especially Labour MPs, get so upset with that “nice Mr Key”. Of course we disagree on policy, but in part I think it is because we see a side of him in Parliament others don’t. Also for me its about his tendency, to use the phrase of the moment, to “make sh*t up”.

An article in yesterday’s Dominion Post on the likelihood of further public service cuts included the following statement from John Key.

They have typically been having higher levels of wage increases prior to National coming into office; public sector wages outstripped private sector wages for a long period of time.

The problem is this is just not backed up by any evidence. Actually the Treasury told them the opposite just after the election. Ruth Dyson as Labour’s State Services Spokesperson released that document yesterday, which Labour had obtained under the OIA. It says

Public sector wage increases have not outstripped the private sector with the exception of the education and health sectors, which arguably address legacy problems and respond to international markets

The reference to education and health is to pay increases for doctors, nurses and teachers that occured under Labour. The PM in the article is talking about the core public service. In actual fact under the last Labour government the pay for “core government administration” was almost exactly in line with private sector wage increases. The PM has just made something up to suit his agenda. He needs to be called out on this, and its good the Dom Post have done so.

The NZ Herald also has an article that covers the PMs (deliberate?) vagueness, with the news that he is not sure if he is a member of Kiwisaver.

Prime Minister John Key yesterday could not remember if he was a member of KiwiSaver. “I’m a member of whatever that Government scheme is that applied to members [of parliament] that came in in 2002. “I think it might be [KiwiSaver] but I’m not 100 per cent sure.”

The register shows that Mr Key has an “individual retirement plan”.

I am sure there are a few Kiwis who would love to be in a position when you are not really sure if you are in Kiwisaver!

All over the details, that’s our PM.

Posted in Kiwisaver, John Key and Public Services. | 0 Comments

Why select committees are worth it

October 13th, 2010

oday I had a real privilege at select committee. We were hearing submissions on the government’s bill to, among other things, merge Archives NZ and the National Library into the Department of Internal Affairs. Now, sometimes hearing submissions, while great for the democratic process, can be tough going. But not today. We heard from some of foremost former public servants; a former Chief Archivist, a former Parliamentary Librarian, plus people who care about Archives and Library and give their time to support them.Their submissions were coherent, passionate, challenging and had practical suggestions for changes to a Bill that they all oppose in principle. Have a listen to the piece from Checkpoint today (at 18.54)

The key message we got was that the Bill and the proposed structure that will see the Chief Archivist and National Librarian as third tier managers at DIA will undermine the indepdendence of these key constitutional and democratic institutions. This is not just opinion. Archives was part of DIA in the 1990s, and the Chief Archivist at that time told us today that he had little influence over decisions and wasted a huge amount of time trying to be heard internally.

There is more to come on this issue next week, but the government has just plain got this one wrong. There is no justification for the change in terms of savings, or improved quality of service. The only reason seems to be to reduce the number of government agencies. The problem is these are agencies that are doing a good job and are well supported in their community.

Posted in National Library, Archives NZ and Public Services. | 0 Comments