Waikanae woman recognised in New Year Honours List

MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Liz Sinclair.

Liz Sinclair has become a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the state in the New Year Honours List.

The Waikanae based woman, humbled to receive the honour, was quick to praise others.

"Throughout the time I've been a public servant I have had the good fortune to work with and for public servants and ministers who are genuinely inspiring because of their talent, and commitment to serving the people of New Zealand, sometimes in the most difficult of circumstances, and I hope those people too receive the recognition and appreciation they deserve."

A citation said Ms Sinclair was a deputy commissioner at the State Services Commission from 2012 to 2016.

"In this role Ms Sinclair was responsible for leading central agencies' co-ordination of the government response to the Royal Commission on the Pike River mine disaster, leading the commission's team responsible for establishing the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, and contributing to the working party to refocus Te Puni Kokiri and the establishment of Te Matawai.

"She has led the commission's sector and agency performance group and was a member of the commission's senior leadership team."

It said from 2004 to 2011 she was deputy secretary, operations at the Ministry of Justice.

"In this role she led a significant service improvement programme for New Zealand's courts.

"She was also responsible for the successful implementation of several new jurisdictions and services, including the transfer of the Employment Court, and new tribunals including the Weathertight Homes and Immigration Protection Tribunals.

"She was jointly responsible for developing a package of proposals for criminal procedure simplification, which in conjunction with the resulting Criminal Procedure Act 2011 modernised, simplified and improved criminal procedure in New Zealand.

"From 1993 to 2003 Ms Sinclair held executive leadership roles at the Inland Revenue Department supporting technology and business changes to improve service to taxpayers."

Ms Sinclair said she was very proud to have been in the New Zealand public service and "fortunate to be given the opportunity to work in areas where there were people with ability wanting to make a difference".

"The values of public service were instilled in me by my parents at an early age, and reinforced by the colleagues I was privileged to work with.

"If I've been able to make a difference as a result of the work I've been involved in, then it's really down to the teams that I've been part of and the support I've had from my beloved husband and my family.

"New Zealand has a public service to be proud of, and I've always felt it was my job, in whatever role I happened to be in, to try and make lasting improvements and leave whatever I was responsible for better than I found it."