Advice: Ombudsmen
24/7/2023
The Ombudsmen asked us to assist him with his systemic investigation into Ara Poutama Aotearoa | Department of Corrections.
He found four key issues affecting Ara Poutama’s ability to make the changes that oversight agencies have been calling for: the way the institution managed reports and recommendations from oversight agencies; insufficient attention to obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act, and international, law, including the Mandela Rules; challenges with culture and leadership; and the need to bring its workforce on the journey.
The report is here: https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/resources/kia-whaitake-making-difference-investigation-ara-poutama-aotearoa-department-corrections
Comment: Regulatory Standards Bill
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the regulatory standards bill. As someone involved in regulatory systems and policy, I want to talk about their design and likely impact. Let me be direct: these proposals lack any supporting evidence that they would improve our regulatory environment. Instead, they demonstrate a troubling pattern of overreach. The fundamental problems are st...
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Note: This analysis was initially prepared as a commissioned piece for a local private sector client in December 2024. With their permission, I am sharing these insights more broadly to contribute to the ongoing dialogue about public service reform. While the core analysis remains unchanged - at the time this post was published - from the original submission, it has been formatted for wider circu...
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