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Editorial Note
Volume 8 – Issue 4 – November 2012
Policy Quarterly (PQ) is targeted at readers
in the public sector, including politicians and
their staff, public servants and a wide variety of
professions, together with others interested in
public issues. Its length and style are intended
to make the journal accessible to busy readers.
The journal welcomes contributions of
about 4,000 words, written on any topic
relating to governance, public policy and
management. Articles submitted will be
reviewed by members of the journal’s Editorial
Board and/or by selected reviewers, depending
on the topic. Although issues will not usually
have single themes, special issues may be
published from time to time on specific or
general themes, perhaps to mark significant
events. In such cases, and on other occasions,
contributions may be invited from particular
people.
Subscriptions: The journal is available in PDF
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victoria.ac.nz/publications/publications/list/10.
Readers who wish to receive it by email should
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This service is free.
For all subscription and membership
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Permission: In the interest of promoting debate
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use of all or part of the papers appearing in
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Editors: Jonathan Boston and Bill Ryan
Editorial Board: Guy Beatson, David Bromell,
Valentina Dinica, Don Gray, Peter Hughes,
Gerald Minee and Mike Reid.
ISSN: 1176 - 8797 (Print)
ISSN: 1176 - 4325 (Online)
Volume 8, Issue 4 – November 2012
Copy Editor: Rachel Barrowman
Design & Layout: Aleck Yee
Cover Photo: Aleck Yee
Production: Alltex Design
Proof Reader: Vic Lipski
The first three items in this issue of Policy Quarterly revisit
a central aspect of relationships among Westminster-derived
executives, namely, the obligation of officials to give advice
to ministers.
Of course, that advice – to use the New Zealand phrase
– must be 'free and frank'. The values-based partisan
preferences of ministers in the government of the day are to
be balanced with the non-partisan, technical, evidence-based
advice of professional bureaucrats. Fears have recently been
expressed in New Zealand, Australia and Britain that officials
have allowed themselves to become more responsive to
ministers' wishes than maintaining an independence of mind.
Richard Mulgan explores this issue with particular emphasis
on the present and future. Amongst other things he foresees
a plural model of advice for governments coming from various
sources not just the public sector and a lesser emphasis on
the confidentiality of that advice.
The IPANZ/IGPS roundtable at which that paper was
presented was attended by over 40 past and present
practitioners, parliamentarians, ministers, academics and
commentators. Their subsequent discussion, conducted
under the Chatham House rule, was recorded by John R.
Martin, which appears as the second item in this issue. Some
of it revolved around a sly and pointed question, namely,
evidence-based policy or policy-based evidence Other
issues attracting attention included incentives provided by
the Official Information Act to provide quality advice, whether
advice should be proactive and short or long term, and the
stewardship role of public officials in advising the government
of the day.
Taking his cue from a previous paper by Mulgan,
David Bromell considers the role that public value could
or should play in policy advising. Thinking from a front line
advisory perspective, he draws upon the work of Mark
Moore, particularly in his recent collaboration with John
Benington, who argue that public servants have particular
responsibilities as co-creators and guardians of public value –
defined as 'what the public values'. David reflects upon recent
experience as a basis for thinking about how policy analysis,
development, and advice that is focused on public value might
need to be organised and enacted and what would need to
change relative to the present.
The next item is the text of a speech given by political
columnist and commentator Colin James on Day One of
the 2012 IPANZ Young Professionals Conference, held in
Wellington in early August. He draws a parallel between the
situation in 1912 when the Public Service Act came into being
and that applying now, one hundred years later, as a call for
'better public services' rings through the public sector. Back
then there was good cause for young professionals to be
optimistic notwithstanding the challenges in the economic,
technological and social contexts. Now, Colin argues, we are in
an equally interesting, intriguing, scary, and energising period
of change. It presents significant challenges and opportunities
for officials with the wit and resilience to explore and meet
them. It could also be the time when a great deal goes bad,
wherein, he notes, lies the irony of the challenge.
Deborah Te Kawa and Kevin Guerin ask, “what does the
Performance Improvement Framework (PIF) challenge us
to think about” The PIF process has now been running for
three years and has recently been upgraded and refocused.
Moreover, with a significant number of first round reviews
of departments now complete and published, it is possible
to start analysing the results and noting patterns. Two that
stand out are that agencies are clearly responsive and do
what the government of the day wants but sustained delivery
and strategic building for the future continues to be rare.
Internal leadership is another weakness as is the ability to
collaborate in achieving policy goals and objectives. Lessons
to be drawn, the authors argue, are that results and capability
are connected; agency size does not matter in relation to
performance; purpose, vision and strategy do matter; and
that efficiency continues to evade New Zealand's public
organisations.
The next article turns to an entirely different matter, one
that might well concern everyday customers of the major
banks in this country. Geoff Bertram and David Tripe draw
attention to a particular aspect of the regulatory framework
being developed by the Reserve Bank in relation to losses or
failures in the banking system. Their concern is the 'covered
bonds' provisions whereby not all depositors are treated
equally in carrying losses. Large depositors are afforded
greater protection. Created from a ring-fenced pool of
dedicated good-quality housing loan assets, this type of bond
provides security to the covered bondholder and could be – as
economists put it – 'looted' by the bank owners in the event
of financial crisis. Retail depositors would then be left with a
reduced collection of lesser quality assets against which they
could make their claims.
Family Planning International (FPI) examines New
Zealand's aid to the Pacific in terms of the 2014 goals set
out by the plan of action regarding sexual and reproductive
health following the UN's earlier International Conference on
Population and Development, in which this country was a
participant. In FPI's view, some recent funding decisions have
benefitted Pacific family planning efforts but, whilst important,
remain relatively ad hoc. It calls for a more systematic and
sustained commitment from New Zealand to ensuring that all
women in the Pacific are able to have their family planning
rights and needs met particularly since doing so also leads to
a range of positive health and development outcomes.
The final item in this issue of Policy Quarterly represents
an innovation. There are several recent and forthcoming
conferences of interest in relation to governance and
public policy. For various reasons, many readers of Policy
Quarterly have been or will be unable to attend them, so
a ready-available review of proceeding would be useful.
Thus Philip S. Morrison and Dan Weijers present Well-being
in Wellington: A Report on the June 2012 Well-being and
Public Policy Conference. As they note in their introduction,
well-being and its measurement is a subject of extensive
debate and development in this country as elsewhere. They
overview the keynote conference and supporting papers in
terms of operationalising national well-being frameworks,
measurement issues, the well-being of children and poverty
and well-being. Across Australasia, they argue, the theory is
solid but academic researchers and policy makers have made
only tentative steps towards developing useful indicators and
analysing local data sets.
Bill Ryan
Co-editor
Page 2 – Policy Quarterly – Volume 8, Issue 4 – November 2012