Speech
IPANZ Gen-i Public Sector Excellence Awards Launch
May I greet everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand - English, Maori, Cook Island Maori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language.
Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and as it is the afternoon (Sign)
May I specifically acknowledge you: Ross Tanner, President of the Institute of Public Administration New Zealand; Chris Quin, General Manager of Gen-i; chief executives from the wider state sector and local government; Distinguished Guests otherwise; Ladies and Gentlemen.
Thank you for inviting my wife Susan and myself to attend the launch of the IPANZ-Gen-i Public Sector Excellence Awards.
I speak this evening as Governor-General but also as an erstwhile lawyer Judge and Ombudsman each of which has furnished exposure to differing parts of the public sector and exposure to different kinds of public administration.
Earlier this year, I spoke at the 12th Commonwealth Advanced Seminar entitled "Good Governance—Good Government" Symposium in Wellington. That event or series of events involving a number of New Zealand public sector organisations was attended by a number of Civil Servants from throughout the Commonwealth as well as here.
In my address I outlined what I considered to be the principles and mechanisms that help us strive towards good governance and good government - and the relationship between the two.
Like the age-old philosophical debate about the relationship between means and ends, good governance and good government are like two sides of the coin.
I would seriously question anyone who might suggest that you could have bad governance but still get good government. It would be very much like having an apple that, while appearing wholesome on the outside, was actually rotten within.
Like Moses and the Promised Land, good governance and good government will perhaps forever be items glimpsed in the distance but never fully achieved. They will always be goals that we need to work towards.
The matters to which I referred in February form a foundation from which good governance can be advanced towards. They included the role of a participatory democracy, the checks and balances between the three branches of government, the need for transparent appointment processes, the rule of law and the role of neutral bodies—such as the Ombudsmen and the Auditor-General—to whom citizens can lodge complaints about the activities of a public entities.
At the conclusion of the address, I outlined three wero or challenges. I urged the participants to be always looking for ways to improve the public sector and governance methods and to avoid complacency in so doing. In tandem with that, I then suggested that they needed to be willing to appraise and accept new approaches and methods.
Finally, I urged everyone to share knowledge and take the combined wisdom generated by the symposium home with them, so they could use it to improve the public sector in their home country.
Those challenges applied as much to politicians and public servants in New Zealand as it did to those attending the seminar from overseas.
It was with pleasure then that I have subsequently learned of the inaugural of the IPANZ Gen-i Public Sector Excellence Awards, being launched tonight.
The awards, by recognising the profession of public administration and encouraging excellence in the public sector, are an excellent means of meeting all three challenges.
The awards reflect the spirit of service in the wider public sector and will celebrate excellence across five categories: developing capability; managerial leadership; Crown-Mori relationships; joined up government; and working together. The nominated projects will be assessed for excellence in terms of vision, innovation, and results.
From those award winners, the recipient of the IPANZ Supreme Award will be selected as well as a separate media award to recognise excellence in public sector media coverage.
I would therefore encourage the chief executives from central government departments, local government organisations, Crown entities and State-owned Enterprises to nominate projects and work teams within their organisations.
Within each organisation, the selection process that sees projects or teams nominated will be an honour in itself. To then be named as a finalist or to win an award will not only bring kudos to the successful teams, but also to their organisation and the wider public service.
These awards will thus not only serve as a means of celebrating success and the spirit of service, but will be a form of role modelling of successful strategies and work practices for others and will offer motivation for others to do better.
In conclusion I wish to congratulate IPANZ for establishing these awards and Gen-i for supporting them. As a key player in the New Zealand public sector for more than 70 years, the awards fit well with IPANZ's mission of elevating public sector skills and knowledge.
On that note I will I close by speaking in Maori issuing greetings and wishing you good health and fortitude in your endeavours.
No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tena koutou katoa.