Treasury boss Caralee McLiesh won’t seek reappointment, plans to return to Australia

Treasury Secretary Caralee McLiesh. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Chief executive and secretary to the Treasury, Caralee McLiesh, isn’t seeking to renew her contract once it ends on September 15.

She informed Treasury staff of her position earlier today, having previously told Finance Minister Nicola Willis and the Public Service Commission.

The Herald understands McLiesh, who is Australian, is planning to move to Canberra, where her children are due to start university and family members live.

She told Treasury staff she would have more to say about her next role in due course.

In a statement, Willis thanked McLiesh for her five years of service.

“Dr McLiesh guided the Treasury through the Covid-19 pandemic and worked with this government to deliver the 2023 Mini Budget and Budget 2024 in a shortened timeframe,” Willis said.

“I am grateful to Dr McLiesh for her professionalism and calm leadership during difficult economic times, and I have valued our positive working relationship... I wish her all the very best for her future.”

The acting Public Service Commissioner has appointed Treasury’s deputy secretary Struan Little to the top job while a search for a new secretary is undertaken.

McLiesh was appointed to the role in 2019 when Grant Robertson was finance minister.

She helped embed Robertson’s “wellbeing” approach to the management of Government finances, and played an instrumental role in the Government’s response to Covid-19.

The Treasury is currently advocating for the Government to consolidate its spending and consider broadening the tax base – by introducing a capital gains tax, for example – to make the country’s finances more resilient and help fund looming costs associated with an aging population.

Before taking one of the highest-paid jobs in the New Zealand public sector, McLiesh spent 10 years in various deputy secretary roles at the New South Wales Treasury. Earlier in her career, she worked at the World Bank, International Red Cross and Boston Consulting Group.

While Willis recently reappointed Neil Quigley chairman of the Reserve Bank board, a clashing of heads between the Coalition Government and parts of the public sector has led to a number of high-profile departures, including at KiwiRail and Kāinga Ora.

Jenée Tibshraeny is the Herald’s Wellington Business Editor, based in the Parliamentary press gallery. She specialises in government and Reserve Bank policymaking, economics and banking.