Commissioner won’t rule out absorbing Ministries for Women, Pacific Peoples into larger organisations

Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche said all options are on the table, but ruled out changes to Te Puni Kōkiri. Photo / Mark Mitchell

By Mihingarangi Forbes of RNZ

The Public Service Commissioner is considering a major shake-up of several government agencies, including the Ministries for Women and Pacific Peoples.

Sir Brian Roche is refusing to rule out that they would be absorbed into larger ministries and said “all options are on the table” and he was “not going to get into ruling things in or out”.

That was despite ruling out any changes to Te Puni Kōkiri, and indicating the ministries’ functions and branding would remain.

RNZ approached the Prime Minister’s office for comment about possible changes to the Ministries for Women, Disabled People, Pacific Peoples and Māori Development (Te Puni Kōkiri) but the request was referred to the public service commissioner.

Roche confirmed he had been looking at improving public service efficiency and performance “including how to strengthen the resilience and impact of some functions”.

“I have said publicly that there are questions around the size and organisation of the public sector, and that there is scope to reduce fragmentation and strengthen individual agencies to focus on their core business,” he said.

“There is considerable variety in the way some communities are represented in the public service.”

He appeared to rule out completely disestablishing the ministries, saying “any proposal, if progressed, would retain these functions and their associated branding, thereby ensuring their voice and perspective is maintained in both policy development and service delivery”.

His response did not specifically address potential changes to the four ministries listed, other than to say he was “not proposing any changes to Te Puni Kōkiri”.

The Act Party in 2023 campaigned on “abolishing demographic ministries”. Party leader David Seymour said he had not spoken with the commissioner about the ministries and their role.

“I suspect that I’m sometimes not asked about things because one of my strengths in most people’s view is that where Act stands on an issue is pretty clear and easy to discover,” he said.

Any changes to the ministries would be for the minister and commissioner of public services to make, he said, “however it’ll be no surprise that Act has long questioned what is the purpose of a ministry for a specific type of person when all government services should be delivered with all people in mind”.

“The variety of ministries and the amount of funding that’s predicated on a person’s identity being more important than their inherent value as a human being a New Zealand citizen and taxpayer – that concept is wrong, and therefore we believe that if anything, the emphasis should be on every department serving every person.”

With the Commissioner talking about strengthening the agencies, Seymour said it would be a step backwards if the approached ended up going further in “treating people differently based on their demographic markers”.

Public Service Minister Judith Collins did not respond to requests for comment.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis on Wednesday told RNZ’s Morning Report it was too soon to comment and that no decisions had been made.

– RNZ