P.S.A.’s condemnation of Minister criticised

Press, 12 May 1984, Page 2

P.S.A.’s condemnation of Minister criticised

Wellington reporter The State Services Commission will not prosecute the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Cooper, for his “heads must roll” edict on Ministry of Works staff in Dunedin. In a letter to the general secretary of the Public Service Association, Mr W. E. B. Tucker, the commission’s chairman, Dr M. C. Probine, said Mr Cooper had not been in breach of section 76 of the State Services Act, 1962. However, Dr Probine also launched an attack on the P.S.A. for its attitude to the affair. “I want to express again the grave concern of the commission at the way in which the P.S.A. has approached this matter,” Dr Probine said. “Your letters and other communications with the commission have, on the whole, been uncommonly vi-

tuperative and your unwarranted attacks on the commission through the public media, and in various P.S.A. publications, have caused us to wonder at your motives in waging this campaign.” The commission had assured the P.S.A. as long ago as February 24 that it had acted in the matter independently of Mr Cooper, he said. Subsequently, the High Court had judged that the commission’s decision to transfer the Ministry of Works employees from Dunedin had been made for administrative and not disciplinary reasons. The commission frequently received, directly or indirectly, approaches from groups and individuals which might appear to be in breach of the terms of section 76 (4) of the 1962 act in making “representations to the commission on any matter affecting the salaries,

wages, or conditions of employment of any employee or class of employee.” Yet not once in its 72year history as a commission in the Public Service had the commission prosecuted anyone under section 76, Dr Probine said. This was because there had been a general acceptance by all political parties and the public at large that the commission ought to act independently in all its dealings with individual public servants. The commission would only prosecute if there were no doubt that the offender was in breach of section 76 by, in fact, undermining the commission’s independence, he said. “Mr Cooper’s comments were an embarrassment to the commission, but do not unequivocally put Mr Cooper in breach of the act,” Dr Probine said. “Should any occasion

arise on which the commission believes that its independence is clearly being threatened, the commission would most certainly take steps to ensure that the provisions of the law were being enforced,” he said. However, while the commission had wanted to deal with the Dunedin affair in confidence, the question of transfers and related matters (such as Mr Cooper’s remarks) had been kept in the public arena chiefly by the “vigorous role” of the P.S.A. He said that there had been “innuendoes,” “veiled counter-threats,” “emotional outbursts,” and “unsubstantiated charges” from the P.S.A. The commission was seriously concerned that the “continuous public haranguing” from the P.S.A. might cause the concept of a poli-tically-neutral public service to be jeopardised.