The NZ Herald Editorial today follows up on last week's thinking by New Zealand's most influential political lobbyist Barrie Saunders, and like Barrie, the Herald suggests that the public service needs help. We repeat the final three paragraphs from the Editorial:
The reliability of public service advice and information is the first casualty of politicisation. The public needs to trust the material it receives from officials and, just as important, needs to know those elected to power are receiving sound, neutral advice, not having their political preconceptions reinforced at every turn.
The term "public servant" is a misnomer in a narrow sense. The service's first duty is to serve whatever Government is elected; officials cannot brief Opposition parties, let alone the public, without the Government's approval. But with a tradition of political neutrality, public servants can resist a Government prone to making egregious partisan requests of them.
Our confidence in their tradition has been shaken but not shattered by the present Government. Public servants whose personal sympathies probably lie with Labour for the most part have had few problems serving National Governments. It must be a great deal harder to preserve their proper distance from a Labour programme. The Government needs to help them. Instead, it seems hardly aware of the damage it has done.
