Government criticism of the public service could backfire, making public servants harder to recruit and less loyal, says Victoria University law dean Dr Matthew Palmer.
Prime Minister Helen Clark recently criticised the payment of bonuses and perks in the public service, and has vowed to end them.
A State Services Commission report found the practice had been going on since the 1980s, and particularly since the State Sector Act was introduced by Labour in 1988.
Most public servants spoken to said Helen Clark was attacking the public service to gain political mileage and they did not believe she and other ministers were unaware that bonuses were standard practice.
Dr Palmer agreed that MPs' attacks on public servants were for political reasons.
"There are constitutional dangers to that."
Dr Palmer, who was Deputy Secretary of Justice for five years, said there was a convention that public servants were loyal, and did not criticise the Government. In return, politicians would not target them.
"But if, as appears to be the case, there is a trend for politicians to criticise them publicly, public servants may not be as loyal.
"An atmosphere of criticism will make it difficult to attract the best people to the public service."
Dr Palmer said that, under the State Sector Act, departmental chief executives could make employment decisions as they saw fit, including bonuses. Helen Clark was a cabinet minister at the time the legislation was passed in 1988.
Asked if she would have known that under this legislation bonuses could be handed out, Dr Palmer declined to comment.
- NZPA
Hardline on public servants a 'danger'
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