2 April 2013
The centenary yesterday of the most substantive provisions of the Public Service Act 1912 coming into force seems to have gone largely unmarked. The cause is probably the Easter holiday, not any association with April Fool’s Day. The New Zealand chapter of Transparency International recognised the occasion with a reminder to New Zealanders that good governance cannot be assured and used the anniversary to anticipate the findings of a review of the National Integrity System. A media statement records a number of improvements since the initial NIS was undertaken in 2003, but foreshadows inevitable criticism when the report is made available, that more can, and should, be done.
The TINZ media statement was widely distributed but only scoop.co.nz seems to have considered it newsworthy. But then the State Services Commission, as the successor to the Public Service Commission doesn’t appear to have marked the centennial of the first Commissioner’s powers taking effect either. An account of the Public Service Commission, begun on the anniversary of the enactment of the Public Service Act last November, was to have been progressively enlarged on the SSC website http://www.ssc.govt.nz/ps-centenary but it too seems to have faded from focus.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1304/S00005/no-complacency-for-corruption.htm
Integrity Talking Points 