REGIONAL CO-OPERATION: Some of the country’s top civil servants visited Gisborne last week. They are pictured with some of the people they met with during their time here. Back, from left, are Daniel Williams, Trust Tairawhiti chief executive Gavin Murphy, Tim Egan, Doug Jones, Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss, MSD chief executive Debbie Power and Ronald Nepe. Front, from left, GDC chief executive Nedine Thatcher Swann, NZ Public Service head Peter Hughes, Rongowhakaata Iwi Trust general manager Amohaere Houkamau and MBIE chief executive Carolyn Tremain. Picture by Liam Clayton
REGIONAL CO-OPERATION: Some of the country’s top civil servants visited Gisborne last week. They are pictured with some of the people they met with during their time here. Back, from left, are Daniel Williams, Trust Tairawhiti chief executive Gavin Murphy, Tim Egan, Doug Jones, Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss, MSD chief executive Debbie Power and Ronald Nepe. Front, from left, GDC chief executive Nedine Thatcher Swann, NZ Public Service head Peter Hughes, Rongowhakaata Iwi Trust general manager Amohaere Houkamau and MBIE chief executive Carolyn Tremain. Picture by Liam Clayton
NEW Zealand’s top public official led a high-profile delegation to Gisborne last week to look at how people here could get better access to government services.
Public Service Commission head Peter Hughes said the visit, which also involved the chief executives of Oranga Tamariki, Ministry of Social Development and theMinistry of Business, Innovation and Employment, was intended to look at how government departments could operate in a more joined-up way across the region.
Mr Hughes said with 33 separate government departments in operation, the aim was to ensure people could utilise “a single face” of government, with “no wrong door” so people were not passed between government departments to access services.
“These days with technology, a lot of the business you do, you do online and you should be able to that with government . . . tell the whole story once and get the whole service once.
“We have to organise ourselves into government departments but we can link together better and get joined-up around some common customers and clients.”
Discussions with the region’s representatives on Friday, were at a detailed and practical level, focusing on how to get more flexibility across the different government programmes.
“It was a really great discussion,”
“It’s great to be able to see the energy and activity here, it’s really encouraging.
“People here have got organised and mobilised with their leadership. We are not here because it’s broken, we’re here because stuff is happening and we can learn from that and look at how we go further, faster.”
