Category: Speeches, Papers & Briefings

The last labour Prime Minister. The first New Zealand Prime Minister

Fabian Society conference on Norman Kirk, 3 November 2012

When Norman Kirk took office much was settled and much was unsettled — and much that was settled was shortly to become unsettled. In that light the abrupt untimeliness of his exit might be seen as allegory. Kirk was the last of the small-l labour Prime Ministers (if you exclude Mike Moore, which I do). read more

The next public service

Comments by Colin James at launch of Bill Ryan and Derek Gill, Future State, 1 March 2012

This book comes at an opportune time, shortly before John Key announces what the government is doing with the “Better Public Services” advisory group’s report. Some talk of this report having been as groundbreaking as in the 1980s when, some say, including in this book, we led the world with new public managerialism, separation of functions, chief executives in charge of resources, a focus on outputs, accrual accounting, more transparent fiscal policy, and inflation targeting by an independent Reserve Bank. The public service got much more focused on “clients” and “customers” (end-users), which improved service delivery. It got more efficient. read more