“Release it,” says the Minister, pushing the report back across his desk. “All of it.” The Chief Executive stares at the thick document – six months of analysis on prison reform. “Minister, our advice is clear. The proposed changes carry significant risks.” “Yes,” the Minister says, leaning back. “Your advice is clear, thorough, and I…

From my position by the door, I watch four Ministers from three parties circle the Cabinet committee room like wary cats. Housing from Labour, Finance from Labour, Infrastructure from NZ First, and Local Government from the Greens – each armed with different advice about the urban development legislation and housing. “My officials are clear,” the…

From my usual seat at the far end of the table in the Minister’s office, I watch another tense briefing unfold about Māori unemployment statistics. Being a Private Secretary means I see these moments play out daily, but this one feels different. “Show me what’s really happening,” the Minister demands, drumming fingers on the latest…

“This is censorship,” the Principal Advisor declares, waving his draft journal article. “I have two PhDs and twenty years of expertise. The public needs to hear my critique of the government’s trade policy. What happened to free speech in this country?” The Chief Executive suppresses a sigh. The Principal Advisor works for me. This is…

I sit at the far end of the table in the Minister’s office, watching this particular piece of political theatre play out. The morning meeting has all the familiar props – the polished conference table, the cabinet paper, the untouched coffees growing cold. The Minister drums her fingers on the paper. “I understand the statistical…

My fingers tremble on the doorknob as I force myself to open it gently, though every instinct screams to burst in. The sound still cracks through the office like a gunshot. The Minister’s shoulders stiffen before he turns, and I catch the flash of irritation in his eyes, the muscle working in his jaw. “Minister,”…

In the crowded waiting room outside the main Cabinet room, I shift my appointment paper on my lap, watching senior officials trade whispers. I’m item fourteen on the agenda. It’s a theoretically straightforward paper until you factor in the Treasury official’s frown at me when I walked into the room and that pointed cough from…

I wrote an opinion piece for the Public Sector Journal. It tracks the contributions of the Institute of Public Administration of New Zealand to the discourse on free and frank advice. There is more heat than light about free and frank advice. I wanted to acknowledge one of the few institutions in Aotearoa-New Zealand that…

As some of you know I am getting close to finishing my PhD on free and frank advice: what it is, why it matters and which institutions enable it and which institutions are a barrier. By “close” I mean closer than I was yesterday. Here are some thoughts on free and frank advice for those…

I deleted my Bluesky account today. I posted a few thoughts this morning. The first thought was dialling down the performative outrage and getting to work. The focus was on personal healing and supporting the most vulnerable in our communities. The second set of thoughts were around why ACT’s anti-Māori and anti-Tiriti policies might produce…

My Phd puts the convention of free and frank advice under the microscope. Through an agonistic theoretical framework, the thesis examines the nature, importance, and future of free and frank advice in Aotearoa-New Zealand. It investigates how officials and ministers navigate their advisory relationships within an increasingly complex governance environment. It addresses the fundamental question:…

I have ditched Twitter for good (again). The left criticises me for not having blind allegiance or for not engaging in their performative activism, and well, the right demands free peach while resorting to cyberbullying, misogyny, pushing racism, and running weak ideological arguments from the 80s that most of the literature has disproven. Both sides…

The practice of courage is an important trait for public servants worldwide and a quality and attribute necessary for ethical behaviour in most institutional settings. In the literature, courage is described as a virtue, with managerial courage being depicted as a leadership attribute that encourages others to take the morally right course of action, given…