Meeting with Chris Hipkins
TINZ has been working with Te Kawa Mataaho (TKM - the Public Service Commission) and other Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to jointly develop themes and priorities for inclusion in the 4th National Action Plan (NAP4) for Open Government. The work from several joint workshops was presented to Hon Chris Hipkins, the Minister for the Public Service on 28 October with more than 30 attendees from government agencies and CSOs.
The Minister expressed his appreciation of the joint approach. He understood the desire for the plan to include a few bold initiatives.
The Minister highlighted the community support for the COVID-19 response, and that research had shown a correlation between this support and trust in government.
CSO attendees noted that the Public Service Act 2020 requires Chief Executives to foster a culture of Open Government.
They also suggested that NAP4 could benefit from an adjustment of the language used – to move away from international terms like “Participation” and “Civic Engagement”, which are a barrier to involvement for some communities, to language suitable for Aotearoa using terms such as “social justice”. Attendees further suggested that Climate Change could be another instance for building community empowerment and involvement in change.
The Minister planned to take a close look at the NAP4 options over the summer, and looked forward to seeing the results of the joint work with CSOs being led by TKM.
Addendum: Several of the organizations involved have compiled their points from the discussion and produced the Civil Society OGP Briefing for Minister Hipkins Dec 2021.pdf
