PSA MEDIA RELEASE July 26, 2007

PSA Pleased Commission Does Not See Need for Conflicts of Interest Registers

The PSA is pleased to have an assurance from the State Services Commission that it does not see a need for state sector agencies to keep a formal register of their employees' political and personal views and those of their partners, family and close friends.

The PSA has 55,000 members working in the state sector. The union is concerned to hear that the Environment Ministry is planning to establish a conflicts of interest register involving staff recording their own political and personal views and those of their family and people with whom they have a close relationship. The idea of having a register is included in guidelines issued by the auditor-general for 'public entities' on managing conflicts of interest.

The National Secretaries of the PSA, Brenda Pilott and Richard Wagstaff, today met with the acting State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie.

"We made it clear that requiring state sector agencies to maintain a formal register of the personal and political views of their staff and of the staff's partners, family and close friends, goes too far and would be unworkable," says PSA National Secretary, Brenda Pilott.

"We were pleased to have an assurance from the State Services Commission that it does not see a need for a formal register of state sector employees' political and personal views and those of their partners, family and close friends," says Brenda Pilott.

The PSA expects that state sector agencies will take note and will drop any plans they have to establish registers that involve possible conflicts of interest concerning political and personal views and personal relationships.

Brenda Pilott says the commission made it clear that it's committed to upholding the principle of a politically neutral public service and that it believes public servants do currently successfully manage potential conflicts of interest.

"It was also good to hear that the commission is going to clarify the situation concerning potential conflicts of interest in the wake of the Madeleine Setchell case," says Brenda Pilott.

Madeleine Setchell, lost her job as a head of communications at the Environment Ministry after three days. This was due to what was seen as a potential conflict of interest because her partner is the press secretary of National Party leader, John Key.

"The PSA has many phone calls and emails from members concerned about the way this case was handled and how it might impact on their employment in the public service in the future," says Brenda Pilott.

"We welcome the commission telling us today that it's going to develop some information on how possible conflicts are handled by state sector employers and on how the Auditor-General's guidelines are applied." "We also welcome the commission's commitment to involving the PSA in developing that information and in presenting it to state sector workers," says Brenda Pilott.

"The PSA can see the need for state agencies to be aware of possible financial conflicts of interest involving their staff," says Brenda Pilott. "But we draw the line at registers that involve possible conflicts of interest concerning political and personal views and personal relationships."

ENDS

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