Conference on Public Service

Press, 10 July 1979, Page 26

Conference on Public Service

PA Wellington A conference examining the future of New Zealand’s Public Service in the 1980 s will be held in Wellington next month.

The conference is being organised by the Institute of Public Administration and the Planning Council. About 150 people from all over New Zealand, both inside and outside the State services, are expected to attend. The chairman of the organising committee, Mr K. Cooper, said the obvious drawcard at the three-day seminar would be the chairman of the commission that has reviewed New South Wales Government administration, Professor P. Wilenski. Professor Wilenski will present his committee’s report to the New South Wales Government just days before he arrives in New Zealand.

A joint paper by the chairman of the Planning Council (Sir Frank Holmes) and one of its directors, Mr K. Piddington, will also be presented the day the conference begins. It is called “The Public and its Servants —- the New Zealand Environment reassessed.”

Probably the most important local speaker would be the member of Parliament for Waipa, and chairman of the Government Public Expenditure Committee, Ms Marilyn Waring, Mr Cooper said. She will speak about allocating resources within the Public Service, and commentators on her paper will be Dr I. Ball, a senior lecturer in accountancy at Victoria University, and Mr J. Robertson, the Secretary for Justice.

Other speakers will be Dr R. Williams, chairman of the State Services Commission; Professor G. Palmer, professor of law at Victoria University; and Mr I. Shirley, a lecturer in sociology at Massey University.■