"New Zealanders pay for the public service to deliver better education, healthcare, public safety, infrastructure, and essential government services. This Government has gone some way to fixing it with the Need not Race circular, but years of previous governments embedding co-governance and race-based approaches mean there's still much more to do.
To unlock New Zealand’s potential we need one law for all, and one future together.
ACT will reset the public service around the basic principles of equal treatment, individual freedom, political and religious neutrality, and accountability for results.
First, ACT will end race-based hiring requirements by repealing section 73 of the Public Service Act. The public service should have the same employment rules as any other business. Health and safety, non-discrimination and and disability rights are already covered elsewhere in the law.
Public service jobs should go to the best person for the job, regardless of race. Hiring and promotion should be based on merit, skills, experience, and what the role actually requires.
Second, ACT will legally enforce need before race in the delivery of public services.
There is already a Cabinet expectation that services should be delivered according to need rather than race. ACT will give that principle real teeth by writing it into the Public Service Act.
Agencies will be required by law to follow the principle, and decisions that breach it could be challenged through judicial review.
If two New Zealanders have the same need, they should be entitled to the same treatment from government.
Third, ACT will separate spiritual practices from public service work.
Nobody should be expected to take part in a prayer, karakia, or other spiritual practice because they work for the Government. Taxpayers should not be required to fund staff time or other resources for employer-initiated spiritual activity either.
ACT will prohibit public service employers from initiating or resourcing cultural or spiritual practices as part of the workplace.
Public servants will remain free to practise their own religion, culture, or traditions in their own time, with reasonable accommodation where appropriate.
Fourth, ACT will remove irrelevant cultural requirements from public service jobs.
A person applying to work for the Government should be judged on whether they can do the job, not their knowledge of particular cultural concepts, values, or worldviews unless there is a genuine occupational reason for doing so.
ACT will direct public service agencies to remove those requirements from job advertisements and position descriptions where they are not relevant to the role, through a clear letter of expectations to the Public Service Commissioner and a Cabinet circular.
We will ensure a public service capable of unlocking the potential of all New Zealanders. It will be neutral, professional, focused on results, and treat every person as an individual."
To unlock New Zealand’s potential we need one law for all, and one future together.
ACT will reset the public service around the basic principles of equal treatment, individual freedom, political and religious neutrality, and accountability for results.
First, ACT will end race-based hiring requirements by repealing section 73 of the Public Service Act. The public service should have the same employment rules as any other business. Health and safety, non-discrimination and and disability rights are already covered elsewhere in the law.
Public service jobs should go to the best person for the job, regardless of race. Hiring and promotion should be based on merit, skills, experience, and what the role actually requires.
Second, ACT will legally enforce need before race in the delivery of public services.
There is already a Cabinet expectation that services should be delivered according to need rather than race. ACT will give that principle real teeth by writing it into the Public Service Act.
Agencies will be required by law to follow the principle, and decisions that breach it could be challenged through judicial review.
If two New Zealanders have the same need, they should be entitled to the same treatment from government.
Third, ACT will separate spiritual practices from public service work.
Nobody should be expected to take part in a prayer, karakia, or other spiritual practice because they work for the Government. Taxpayers should not be required to fund staff time or other resources for employer-initiated spiritual activity either.
ACT will prohibit public service employers from initiating or resourcing cultural or spiritual practices as part of the workplace.
Public servants will remain free to practise their own religion, culture, or traditions in their own time, with reasonable accommodation where appropriate.
Fourth, ACT will remove irrelevant cultural requirements from public service jobs.
A person applying to work for the Government should be judged on whether they can do the job, not their knowledge of particular cultural concepts, values, or worldviews unless there is a genuine occupational reason for doing so.
ACT will direct public service agencies to remove those requirements from job advertisements and position descriptions where they are not relevant to the role, through a clear letter of expectations to the Public Service Commissioner and a Cabinet circular.
We will ensure a public service capable of unlocking the potential of all New Zealanders. It will be neutral, professional, focused on results, and treat every person as an individual."
Hon David Seymour is the Minister for Regulation and the Associate Minister of Health, Finance, Education , and Justice. He was first elected to Parliament as MP for Epsom in 2014, at which point he became Leader of the ACT Party. This article was sourced HERE
5 comments:
Interesting that the journalist asking questions assumes that “Māori” want all this bs in their public servants too. Most maori just want to get on with life - it seems to be the middle aged white women that the public service is full of are the ones driving the bs
Why is this considered so right wing? The question is why the current government allowed these racist practices to continue when that is what they were voted in to change.
Yaaaaaaayyyyy, shouldnt even need to be discussed, JUST DO IT
It will need to be a bottom line for any coalition agreement. Also the Maori seats need to go immediately(also a bottom line). All traces of separatism need to be expunged this time around, for the good of New Zealand as a democratic country. There are many other avenues to help those who are disadvantaged, whatever their ethnicity.
No racial privileges and no mumbo-jumbo.
Is this really such an original idea? Not really - appointment procedures a hundred years ago were more meritocratic than they have been for the past decades and mumbo-jumbo was not on the "Things to do today" list for public servants. We have been going backwards and need to catch up with where we were to begin with.
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