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Speaker 1: Another look at the public service, where the government asking

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Speaker 1: whether the work provides value for the tax payer. We

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Speaker 1: got thousands of workers having been required to identify areas

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Speaker 1: for further cost cutting across every government agency. The Internal

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Speaker 1: Census also looked at the use of TERRAO and the

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Speaker 1: work from home arrangements. The results are expected later on

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Speaker 1: this year. The Public Service Minister Judith Collins isn't chargeable

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Speaker 1: of this and she's with us.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, oh and good morning to you mate.

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Speaker 1: And what have we got going on here? Is this

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Speaker 1: a fishing expedition? Do you have a path you already

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Speaker 1: want to follow? What are we doing well?

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Speaker 2: The Public Service Commission has previously done a survey of

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Speaker 2: public servants and this is one which is very focused on,

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Speaker 2: first off, a few things, one how to save tax

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Speaker 2: payer money. Are there opportunities that the public service servants

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Speaker 2: can actually see themselves. But it's also around saying things

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Speaker 2: like sexual and harassment and bullying are not acceptable the workplace,

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Speaker 2: so let us know if your concerns are being met.

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Speaker 2: So there's a two way thing, but there's other things too.

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Speaker 2: It's quite a wide ranging sensus.

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Speaker 1: I've been through these things before. When you say are

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Speaker 1: there savings to be made, They come back and say,

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Speaker 1: we'll have different buns at morning tea and we'll save

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Speaker 1: on paper clips. It's a waste of time.

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Speaker 2: Well, I don't know that it is actually the public

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Speaker 2: service when when we took over and government just over

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Speaker 2: a year ago had grown in six years by thirty

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Speaker 2: four percent, as well as consultant spending is going right

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Speaker 2: through the roof. So no, I don't think so, I

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Speaker 2: think what there are. There will be some people who

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Speaker 2: think this is a bit of a joke. But the

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Speaker 2: words that are used in this sense is that all

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Speaker 2: the way through it are taxpayers money. That's something that

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Speaker 2: needs to be rammed home every single day that there

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Speaker 2: is no money from government. It's taxpayers money, either taxpayers

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Speaker 2: now or taxpayers in the future. So that's a message

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Speaker 2: that's very clearly all the way through the census.

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Speaker 1: Why don't you just doze them, get in their bulldoze

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Speaker 1: the place, clean it up.

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Speaker 2: I don't think we've got quite the same situation as

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Speaker 2: the federal government in the US. And the other thing too,

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Speaker 2: is that we're going to have a we've asked for

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Speaker 2: savings on consultants outside consultants, we're looking for four hundred

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Speaker 2: million dollars. I think Wednesday this week the results we out,

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Speaker 2: I'm expecting that to be considerably more than that. So

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Speaker 2: we are looking for the savings and a lot of

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Speaker 2: the public servants they want to be efficient, they want

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Speaker 2: to be effective, and they want to be proud of

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Speaker 2: their work.

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Speaker 1: Well, I'm not sure about that because I've read the

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Speaker 1: Roche report and I've read the deloittees report into the health.

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Speaker 1: The Roche report said the public service is not fit

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Speaker 1: for purpose, So don't you have the ammunition you need.

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Speaker 2: Well, we've got the Roach in charge of it now,

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Speaker 2: so we are sorting it and you're going to find

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Speaker 2: that there are going to be big changes. So Brian

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Speaker 2: wrote to the Commissioners of Public Service. He's been pretty clear.

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Speaker 2: There are some things he thinks we should get rid

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Speaker 2: of auto together. There are other things that he's been

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Speaker 2: done more effectively. We are absolutely working on that. At

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Speaker 2: the same time, we have to keep things moving and

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Speaker 2: we are and you know, I people want a doze

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Speaker 2: and all that. We have to work within the law.

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Speaker 2: And the other thing is we've got changes to the

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Speaker 2: Public Service Act which are coming up because under Chris Hipkins,

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Speaker 2: when he was in government. What they did is they

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Speaker 2: put all this rubbish into the key concerns for chief executives,

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Speaker 2: the public service or bringing everything back to basics. Do

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Speaker 2: the job, do it well, do it efficiently, and remember

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Speaker 2: someone else's pain and by the way, that someone else's youth.

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Speaker 1: When you talk about the Deloitte's report into Health New

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Speaker 1: Zealand and their problems and I watch both here over

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Speaker 1: the weekend talking about Health New Zealand being a problem

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Speaker 1: around the freedom of information, is that individual units that

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Speaker 1: are more problematic than others.

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Speaker 2: Well, health is not my portfolio. I'm happy to give

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Speaker 2: you my view that when you take was it twenty

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Speaker 2: eight eight, mostly dysfunctional organizations, put them together. Nobody loses

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Speaker 2: their jobs. Everyone keeps a job and gets a new

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Speaker 2: title of manager, you're going to get a problem. And

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Speaker 2: that's what they did, Labor did. So it is being sorted,

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Speaker 2: but it is going to take some time. But you know,

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Speaker 2: it's like merging dysfunctional agencies never brings about instantly. A

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Speaker 2: better functioning agency just doesn't work.

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Speaker 1: No, it does not. I wish you were were that.

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Speaker 1: Judith Collins, Public Services Ministry. For more from the Mic

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Speaker 1: Asking Breakfast listen live to news talks that'd be from

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Speaker 1: six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio