Public service 'must save more'

Bill English. Photo / NZ Herald

After two tight budgets the Government and the public service face an even more challenging task of finding further savings so that services can improve, Finance Minister Bill English says.

"It's not an option for the public service to wait out these challenges," he said today.

"Hope is not a strategy. And it won't work, because the New Zealand public want to see evidence that the public sector is living within its means as New Zealanders are themselves."

Mr English said in a speech to the Australia New Zealand school of Government in Melbourne that the Government faced five more years of budget deficits.

"Even when we get back to surplus, there will be strong competing demands on government spending," he said.

"High government debt will need to be repaid and, when surpluses permit, we will resume contributions to the New Zealand Super Fund."

Mr English said public sector restraint and innovation would be needed for years to come to improve the quality of frontline services while debt and deficits were controlled.

"We are laying the foundations for a public service that chooses innovation and change," he said.

"We have left existing structures largely in place and pushed responsibility for managing resources clearly on to public sector chief executives."

- NZPA