Criticising the public service

The good judge speaks out again. Principal Youth Court judge Andrew Becroft makes an occasional habit of grabbing some headlines. But this is a departure from his usual message.

In 2002, 2003 and 2004 he produced statistical reports, the third being largely an update on the data contained in the first two. In all three he comments;

Is violent offending by under 17 year olds increasing?

Yes. And no.

Violent offending attributed to 14-16 year olds has increased since 1991 but much less so since 1995.

Now he is saying;

"Violent offending is increasing. There has always been severe violence, but it is hard to get an accurate picture. We need to have much better statistics from the Ministry of Justice. We need to know [what is happening] early and the extent it's happening."

He is complaining about the lack of information from a government department. This was at the heart of a conversation I was having with a friend last evening as we prepared to listen to an address by David Parker, Minister of State Services, about (and to) the public service. I have appealed to the Ombudsman twice over the past three years (to no avail) because requests previously met under the Official Information Act have been denied.

Parker referred to the OIA saying that it "put a curb on a lack of transparency" but then in a more jocular fashion quipped that it was something of a "curse" because it meant "a lot more work" for departments. Well, no, actually. It doesn't mean a lot of work because the common response is a refusal to generate the requested information under section 18(g) or 18(f) which lets them off the hook. But, as my friend points out, we have paid for them to do exactly this through our taxes.

I discern a distinct closing down on information release over the past three years. Yet Parker waxed lyrical about how independent, efficient, professional, accountable and transparent the public service is. There are, apparently, no "excesses". Oh really. According to the NZ Herald, In Wellington, the public sector workforce leapt from 11,940 in 2000 to 18,530 last year. A 55 percent increase isn't excessive? Then Parker had the gall to claim that "The public service has grown at a slightly lower rate than the private sector as a whole." To put that into some kind of perspective the total number of people employed in NZ has grown from 1.88 in December 1999 to 2.17 million - 15 percent.

It leaves one wondering, if New Zealanders are so delighted with their public services why has Labour failed to cement itself as the natural party of government? That was their overriding ambition. To become like the Social Democrats of Sweden which has held power for most of the last 70 years.

Looks like the damned public just don't appreciate the swag of public servants trying to run their lives for them. Even the judiciary is seeing fit to criticise their performance.