“My suggestion is to leave the acronyms at the door.
“Keep your superior language skills for those who will appreciate them.”
Collins inherited the portfolio from Finance Minister Nicola Willis, a Wellington-based MP who faced ongoing criticism over cuts to the public service workforce.
Collins justified the need to cut costs saying New Zealand did not have sufficient taxpayers to support the level of growth in recent years.
She said in the six years from 2017 to 2023, the number of people employed in the core public service grew 34%, to 63,117 fulltime-equivalent employees. Total salary costs for the public service workforce had grown 72% to about $6.1 billion a year over the same period.
She had more advice for the chief executives, saying that the more complex their challenges became, “the more simple we need to keep it”.
“Here’s a simple question I would urge you and your staff to ask themselves: if this was my money, would I spend it this way?
“This is the simple question that I ask myself when I am making funding decisions. It’s what I need you to do and to enforce.”
They should think of the sharemilker who got up at the crack of dawn every day whatever the weather; of the aged care worker doing their best to give the elderly the care and respect they deserved.
“Think of the bus driver. The taxi driver. The truck driver.
“All these people want – and deserve – to know that their money is being spent in a way that delivers the services they need in the best way possible.
“They want results. They don’t want flow charts, frameworks, roadmaps, or bubble diagrams.
“They want you to treat their taxpayers’ dollars as though it came out of your bank account.”
Not doing so could harm the reputation of the Government, an agency and the public service.
Building trust and confidence was a slow and laborious task over many years. But it could be destroyed with one seemingly innocuous act.
She said she could not state enough how important it was that they provided free and frank advice to ministers.
“Public servants who speak truth to power by telling ministers their pet policy ideas are crazy and unworkable don’t get far. But neither do public servants who nod along and promise to deliver the undeliverable. That is a betrayal of the responsibilities of a public servant and it results in policy disaster.
“Ministers do want free and frank advice. Tell us how we can implement our priorities and policies. Tell us how we can improve our policies. Tell us how we can improve outcomes for individuals, families and communities. Tell us when intervention is necessary. And tell us when to stop or change a policy.”
The best public servants knew how to use analysis to persuade. They knew how to reconcile the vision with realism. And they knew how to square the hole. “I’ve worked with some fine public servants … some of you here.”
She said she planned to tighten the Public Service Act in regard to chief executive responsibilities.
“The way I see it is that your responsibilities have become too diffuse and roles have become confused. Instead of telling you that you have to comply with certain named laws brought in by a previous Government, why not just require you to implement the law. Laws change. Standards should not.
“It seems to me that you are getting weighed down with things that don’t have much to do with your core responsibilities and where everything becomes a priority.
“Your core role is to serve the Government of the day and focus on the basics, and the act should reflect this.”
