Policy-making
Under Pressure
To our daughters Tess and Molly
Policy-making
Under Pressure
Rethinking the policy process in
Aotearoa New Zealand
Edited by
SONIA MAZEY
and
JEREMY RICHARDSON
CANTERBURY UNIVERSITY PRESS
First published in 2021 by
CANTERBURY UNIVERSITY PRESS
University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800, Christchurch
NEW ZEALAND
Text copyright the authors as named 2021
Editorial matter copyright Sonia Mazey and Jeremy Richardson 2021
The moral rights of the authors and editors have been asserted.
Every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge owners of
copyright material. If notified of any errors or omissions the publisher
will be pleased to rectify them at the earliest opportunity.
ISBN 978-1-98-850324-0 (print)
ISBN 978-1-98-850329-5 (e-book)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
National Library of New Zealand.
This book is copyright. Except for the purpose of fair review, no part
may be stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including recording or storage in any information
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. No
reproduction may be made, whether by photocopying or by any other
means, unless a licence has been obtained from the publisher or its agent.
Book design and layout: Smartwork Creative, www.smartworkcreative.co.nz
Published with assistance from the University of Canterbury
Contents
Contributors
Foreword
John Key
Preface and acknowledgements
Sonia Mazey and Jeremy Richardson
P art I: Reflections on the Aotearoa New Zealand policy process
Chapter 1: Governments stuff up all the time: why expect Aotearoa New Zealand to be different?
Sonia Mazey and Jeremy Richardson
Chapter 2: Aotearoa New Zealand postwar governments: changing policy styles
Brian Easton
Chapter 3: The promise of rangatiratanga: Te Tiriti o Waitangi, a major source of the New Zealand constitution
Lisa Tumahai, with James Harding
P art II: Insider perspectives
Chapter 4: Making policy perform: insights from hindsight
Rod Carr, with James Carr
Chapter 5: Dynamic change and the adaptive state
David Cunliffe
Chapter 6: The helicopter view and the political will: how good policies become law
Lianne Dalziel
Chapter 7: Public servants respond best to bold challenges
Peter Dunne
Chapter 8: Managing so the Prime Minister can lead: the role of the Prime Ministers Office in the policy process
Wayne Eagleson
Chapter 9: Better public policy via feedback thinking
Bill English
Chapter 10: Both outside and inside: reflections on the Wellington policy farm
Peter Gluckman
Chapter 11: Ensuring our public policy ecosystem is healthy and thriving
Nikki Kaye
Chapter 12: High autonomy, high alignment: coordinating a more unified public service
Peter Hughes and Rodney Scott
Chapter 13: Environmental policy in New Zealand: tracing the roots of dysfunction
Catherine Knight
Chapter 14: Why didnt it work? What goes wrong between ministers and officials in making public policy
Anneliese Parkin
Chapter 15: Policy-making in New Zealand: a perspective from close at hand
Maarten Wevers
P art III: Outsider perspectives
Chapter 16: Building failure: how broken local government financing models lead to housing policy failures
Eric Crampton
Chapter 17: Non-governmental organisations and the policy process
Kevin Hague
Chapter 18: The right to develop and the right to manage: is the New Zealand policy system broken?
Kirk Hope
Chapter 19: Organising against poverty: national policy-making and local policy implementation
Ricardo Menndez March
Chapter 20:Intramural policy-making and innovative change to healthcare delivery
David Smyth
Chapter 21: The emerging tripartism: co-designing policy solutions
Richard Wagstaff
P art IV: Conclusion
Chapter 22: Beyond muddling through: a reform agenda
Sonia Mazey and Jeremy Richardson
Contributors
James Carr is completing a PhD at the University of Canterbury on exploring the connections between the leaders of organisations, the regional innovation ecosystem and the dynamic capabilities of the organisations they lead. As former programme manager at Canterbury Universitys Centre for Entrepreneurship (UCE), James facilitated learning around innovation, entrepreneurship and commercial creativity for students from all backgrounds and disciplines, from engineering to history and everything in between. He has also worked with an English language services start-up in Budapest, a hydro-turbine engineering firm in Christchurch and studied experimental condensed matter physics in Montreal.
Dr Rod Carr served as chair and non-executive director of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, as well as deputy governor and acting governor of the bank. He was founding chair of the National Infrastructure Advisory Board and for over a decade a non-executive director of the Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce. As vice-chancellor of the University of Canterbury from 2009 to 2019, he led the universitys recovery from the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011. Rod is currently chair of the Climate Change Commission, a director of ASB Bank Ltd and of tkaro Ltd, a trustee of the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust and of the Arts Centre of Christchurch. Rod holds a PhD in insurance and risk management, an MA in applied economics and managerial science, an MBA in money and finance, and honours degrees in law and in economics.
Dr Eric Crampton is chief economist with the New Zealand Initiative, where he has served since 2014. From 2003 to 2014 he was lecturer and senior lecturer with the Department of Economics and Finance at the University of Canterbury. With the New Zealand Initiative Eric has worked in policy areas including freshwater management, earthquake preparedness, civic knowledge, housing, local government, student loans and digital regulation. He provides fortnightly columns for the Dominion Post and Newsroom , and features regularly in economic commentary in major media outlets. He blogs at Offsetting Behaviour and can be found on Twitter @ericcrampton.
Hon. David Cunliffe QSO is a founding partner at Polis Consulting Group. He was a Labour MP from 1999 to 2017, representing Titirangi (19992002) and New Lynn (200217). He held a number of portfolios in the fifth Labour government: minister of health (200708), minister for communications (200408), minister for immigration (200507), associate minister for state owned enterprises (200507), associate minister for revenue (200507), associate minister for economic development (200507), and associate finance minister (200305). He served as Leader of the Labour Party in opposition (201314), opposition spokesperson for finance (200811), economic and regional development (201215), innovation and science, and fisheries (201517). He holds an MPA from Harvard where he was a Fulbright scholar, and a BA Hons (politics) from the University of Otago. He chairs the Selwyn Foundation, a social enterprise caring for older New Zealanders.
