“The role is really about relationships and bringing all the pieces of the puzzle together,” Smits-Murray said.
“We have amazing teams with incredible passion and drive across Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti in the public service, and an incredible community that has shown a huge amount of resilience through the unexpected challenges they have faced in recent years.
“The important thing to remember is that each player is just one part of a complex system in the region, and it’s only with the collaborative effort of all the other players that we will be able to achieve anything.”
RPSCs help enable joined-up public services in the region to improve local service outcomes.
They have a mandate to resolve issues at the regional level and escalate issues to relevant national decision-makers.
RPSCs also support other public service leaders to work with local government, iwi, Māori and Pacific organisations, non-government organisations and regional stakeholders.
Auckland-born Smits-Murray has extensive leadership, governance and consultancy experience across Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand.
He has worked in sectors such as finance, technology, renewable energy, agriculture, food production and iwi-led enterprise.
The office of the Public Service Commissioner said the impact of a unified regional Public Service was seen in the collective response to Covid-19, known as Caring for Communities.
“Successful delivery of locally led responses under the Covid Protection Framework required considerable co-ordination of efforts and resources.”
