Public Service Fale Newsletter

The Public Service Fale leadership Hon. Luamanuvao Dame Winnie Laban DNZM QSO – Governance Board Chair, Peter Hughes - Te Tumu Whakarae mō Te Kawa Mataaho | Public Service Commissioner, Head of Service [NZ], Tania Ott - Deputy Commissioner Public Service Fale.

Pictured here with Hon. Nanaia Mahuta, Minister of Foreign Affairs and

Hon. Aupito William Sio. Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs

A word from the Chair - Hon. Luamanuvao Dame Winnie Laban DNZM QSO

Welcome to the first Pacific Public Service Commissioners’ newsletter for 2021. I hope you and your aiga are all keeping well and safe.

Firstly, I want to express my condolences and honour two great Pacific men who have been instrumental in serving our people throughout the region.

Sir Michael Somare

It was with great sadness we heard of the passing in February of The Rt Hon Sir Michael Somare GCL, GCMG, CH, CF, SSI, KSG, PC. My sincere condolences to Lady Veronica Somare, her five children and wantoks.  Sir Michael led Papua New Guinea to independence in 1975 and was the last of the first generation of post-colonial Pacific Island leaders. He was Prime Minister for 17 years, serving in three separate terms. Known locally as Papa blo kantri, Father of the Nation, Sir Michael represented the East Sepik in Parliament. He will be greatly missed by Papua New Guineans, people of the Pacific and around the world.

I met Sir Michael a number of times. He had a deep sense of history and a love for the connections between Pacific peoples. When he heard the story of my Samoan missionary great grandfather dying in PNG, he told me that I belonged to PNG because ‘my bones were burried there’. Manuia lou Malaga Sir Michael.

Rt. Hon Saufatu Sopoanga

Last December, we also mourned the loss of our colleague the Rt. Hon. Saufatu Sopoanga OBE, Chair of Tuvalu Public Service Commission. Saufatu Sopoanga was Tuvalu’s eighth Prime Minister serving from 2002 to 2004, then Deputy Prime Minister from 2004-2006. As Prime Minister he gained international attention due to his strong advocacy at international fora for the impact on rising sea levels on small island states.

Saufatu Sopoanga was a civil servant in the Ellice Islands Administration before Tuvalu’s independence and studied in the UK completing a Master's degree from the University of Liverpool. He held a wide range of senior civil service positions and then represented Nukufetau, his home island, in Parliament from 2000. Saufatu Sopoanga was a champion of the Fale and deeply engaged with the Fale staff.

Peter Hughes has sent a letter of condolence, on behalf of our team, to the staff of the Tuvalu Public Service Commission. Fa’afetai lassi lassi, Manuia lou Malaga Saufatu Sopoanga.

I want to thank the Working Group for the one-to-one meetings we had in February.

The Working Group has officially become the Governing Board of the Pacific Public Service Commissioners. Functions largely remain the same, but what it does mean is that the Governing Board has a membership and rotation with countries after a term has been fulfilled by a member. The Board will continue to oversee and guide the work of the Fale on behalf of all our Pacific Public Service Commissioners.

At the beginning of my piece I honoured our wonderful Pacific men and as I end this piece, I want to acknowledge International Women’s Day, early this month. The campaign theme was #ChooseToChallenge, a call to action to create an inclusive world. This is very much the ethos and values of the Pacific – working collectively and inclusively to meet the needs of our people.

The Fale women took on the call to action with the campaign’s hand signal expression showing their support.

[Right] Tania Ott, Deputy Commissioner Public Service Fale

and Tina McNicholas, Principal Advisor, Relationship Manager

I celebrate all women for their achievements and encourage more Pacific women and all women across the globe to lift each other up, work hard to embrace each other and show our strength in including all women. Well done, Samoa Public Service Commission women for supporting International Women’s Day campaign in your office.

Women at the Samoa Public Service Commission.

Enjoy reading about the wonderful work you are all doing in the Pacific region for our people.

Ia manuia

Luamanuvao Dame Winnie Laban

Chair

Pacific Public Service Commissioners’ Governance Board

A word from Tania Ott, Deputy Commissioner, Public Service Fale

The Public Service Fale has started the year with tremendous energy and focus and firing on all cylinders! After a busy six months getting the Fale properly established we are now well underway with Pacific Public Service Commissioners [PPSCs] priorities front and centre of our Fale work programme. This year the focus for us is delivery and ensuring we are meeting the aspirations and requirements of the PPSCS in the areas of enhancing digital connectivity, investing in leadership development, and supporting governance strengthening. We will also be developing an evaluation framework that will help us measure whether we are on track including our key focus of a Pacific-led agenda.

You will read in this issue the work requested by our PPSCs in developing a portal to support their work. The portal provides a chance to connect with each other in real time and share key documents and stories with each other.

There’s an update on a Mentoring programme that we are testing and how the first mentee-mentor sessions have been going for Victoria Kalauni, Niue Public Service Commissioner.

And we have various stories across the public service in the Pacific region.

I will let the PPSCs newsletter speak about their work and their work with the Fale.

Ia manuia

Tania Ott, Deputy Commissioner

Online Portal – Toachel [a working title]

The Pacific Public Service Commissioners (PPSCs) requested a space to connect, collaborate and share with each other, and learn from one another.

To support this shared space, the Fale has developed an online portal for Commissioners to work together in a virtual digital environment to be able to share resources securely with each other.

As a working title, this portal has been named Toachel – a Palauan word for a deep channel through a reef into the lagoon. This signifies the users entering a sheltered tranquil space, protected from the ocean waves and currents – where users can calmly dive into the lagoon of knowledge.

Through Toachel, the PPSCs and their staff will be able to:

• Access and share resources about public service delivery
• Access documents from previous Public Service Fono from 2005 and for an upcoming Fono
• Connect and collaborate with other PPSCs and staff through chat, video calling, and email
• Request support from the Fale
• Access training, leadership development and mentoring resources
• Have their own country pages where only relevant country users can see and share information with their own staff and the Fale
• Easily communicate with the Fale using the chat function

From April 2021, the Fale will be reaching out to your Commissions to set up access to Toachel. The Fale will help PPSCs and staff to create a secure log on and to demonstrate what the portal can do. The Fale will initially contact all IT staff so they can guide PPSCs and other staff in setting up the secure log on. The Fale will first invite staff of the Public Service Commissions they have been working with, and later you can request staff from other relevant government agencies to also be granted access.

Toachel is an online portal made specifically for our Pacific Public Service Commissions. So, as we dive into the lagoon together, we welcome any feedback you have to ensure this space best works for all of you.

An interview with Victoria Kalauni, Niue Public Service Commissioner

During 2020, Victoria Kalauni, Niue Public Service Commissioner, made a request to the Fale team about pairing her up with a mentor. The Fale team worked with Victoria and mentor Brendan Boyle, an experienced former public service Chief Executive in New Zealand for Ministry of Social Development, Department of Internal Affairs, Land and Information New Zealand and Secretary of Local Government.

The Fale caught up with Victoria in an exclusive interview about her experience.

In addition, we have a Kickstart mentoring session with the Leadership Development Centre in New Zealand and the Niue Public Service Commission.

Samoa and Australia Public Service Commissions working together

In February, the Samoa Public Service Commission attended a virtual meeting hosted by the Australia Public Service Commission with lead Government investigators on handling misconduct in the public service.

Assistant CEO of PSC’s Legal and Investigation Services, Mr Maiavatele Timothy Fesili, valued the opportunity to exchange ideas with Australian counterparts saying: “In this line of work, we often deal with disciplinary matters that are highly sensitive and controversial, so when opportunities arise it is always important to learn, participate and draw on the experiences of our international partners to help inform and strengthen our own policies and procedures in managing misconducts and investigations in the public service. It was a great benefit and exposure for all our participants to listen and learn from the experiences of the APSC,”

Serving Our Communities

In the Cook Islands this month Te Marae Ora health ministry started consultation meetings to advise their citizens on their government’s plans to roll out the coronavirus vaccine.

“We want people to be fully informed on the process to be followed once the vaccine is available to us. To date, with the ongoing help of New Zealand, and the buffer that New Zealand provides as the only entry point into the Cook Islands, we have managed to remain Covid free. But we must continue to be vigilant and follow the public health rules and procedures put in place,” says Minister of Health Vainetutai Rose Toki Brown.

For the full story, see Cook Islands News.

Serving the Government of the Day

Early this month, Peter Hughes, authored an article responding to recent media comment that the NZ public service is highly politicised.  He rejects this assertion and reminds readers that New Zealand public servants operate on the principles of political neutrality, free and frank advice, merit-based appointments, open government and stewardship. These are long standing principles that guide New Zealand’s work.

Here's the link to Peter’s article.

Solomon Islands meets with the Fale team on their Performance Management Process

The Solomon Islands Public Service Commissions’ Governance Performance Management Division requested the Fale review their Performance Management Process [PMP].

The Solomon Islands Public Service Commission team sits around the table to discuss with the Fale team [Jo Lealiifano, Sara-Anne Raea and Tina McNicholas] their request to review their Performance Management Process

A report was produced by the Fale followed by an online meeting to discuss the findings. It highlighted key areas of focus and the Fale will continue to support the Solomon Islands Public Service Commission with this work.

Key Public Service Fale upcoming dates

Please note: These dates are subject to change as we work together with the countries to serve their requirements for these events.

Key Regional upcoming dates 2021

NZ Pacific language weeks 2021

The dates for NZ Pacific Language Weeks are now published on the Ministry for Pacific Peoples website.