Productivity Commission appointments bolster

Productivity Commission appointments bolster labour, health, environment credentials

By Paul McBeth

June 17 (BusinessDesk) - Finance Minister Grant Robertson's two newest appointments to the board of the Productivity Commission will beef up its credentials in the economics of labour and health issues, and environmental policy.

Former Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet environment policy adviser Andrew Sweet started a three-year term on the board at the start of the month, and labour and health researcher Gail Pacheco will join him from July. They join chair Murray Sherwin, who was head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and a former Reserve Bank deputy governor, and Victoria Business School professor of management Sally Davenport.

"Gail Pacheco and Andrew Sweet bring a range of experience to the Productivity Commission’s board, including around labour and health economics and environmental issues like the RMA (Resource Management Act) and climate change," Robertson said in a statement.

Former Treasury secretary Graham Scott retired from the board at the end of May.

The commission's inquiry into local government funding and financing is due for a final report at the end of November, and its work on technology and the future of work is due in March next year. Previous inquiries include urban planning, new models of tertiary education, low-emissions economy, state sector productivity, using land for housing, and more effective social services.

The commission was set up as part of the 2008 support arrangement between the National and Act parties, and was modelled on the Australian Productivity Commission.

(BusinessDesk)

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