N.Z. and Australia ‘ruled by ageing men’

Press, 21 August 1979, Page 3

N.Z. and Australia ‘ruled by ageing men’

PA Wellington New Zealand and Australia are “patriarchal gerontocracies,” or in other words ruled by ageing men, according to an Australian specialist in public administration, Professor P. Wilenski. . Addressing the annual convention of the Institute of Public Administration in Wellington yesterday, Professor Wilenski said the New Zealand Public Service system was unlikely to be responsive to changing community needs. The “closed shop” Public Service with its security of tenure was no longer democratically accountable in many activities, and was unlikely to be efficient and effective in dealing with modern problems, he said. Professor Wilenski is the sole member of a commission of inquiry into the New South Wales Public Service, and the head of the Australian Graduate School of Management at the University of New South Wales. Figures he had read on

the representation of women in the senior levels of the New Zealand bureaucracy, were something no community concerned with efficiency of social justice should tolerate, said Professor Wilenski. There was considerable evidence that when social problems were considered by male, non-migrant, middleclass public servants, the special problems of women or ethnic groups were not as adequately dealt with as if they were represented in the bureaucracy. Assertions about the need for a neutral, professional, and continuous Public Service were justifications which attempted to hide the political role of the Public Service in making policies. An ' insulated, anonymous career service was appropriate in nineteenth century Britain, but not today. The idea that an elected Cabinet Minister could control the activities of his department might have been realistic then, when he might be expected to know personally

the relatively few public servants in his Ministry. Planning decisions being made by public servants were not simply technical issues, but were political, and based on the values of the decision-maker or the institution involved. “While Ministers are held personally democratically accountable for their power, permanent officials are noj.” Professor Wilenski suggested possible reforms: — Reinforce the influence of Ministers so they make the really vital decisions. — Openly acknowledge the political role of senior public servants, and have them appointed by the Government of the day as in the United States. — Pass a Freedom of Information Act, and reduce the anonymity of public servants by encouraging them to communicate directly with the public. However, he concluded that the resistance to change from those with vested interests in a career Public Service might be too great.