Progress of counterterrorism agencies against Papa Pounamu priority areas

We have looked at these 12 agencies as a group to provide baseline information on how they are performing as a subset of the 33 Public Service agencies covered by the larger report. [In addition to their Papa Pounamu progress, we have also looked at useful demographic information from our workforce data that is available.]

Agencies involved in counterterrorism efforts

The agencies with specific roles and functions in counter-terrorism efforts have around 17,500 full-time equivalent (FTE) roles; it should be noted that not all of these people, will be involved in work related to counterterrorism efforts.

The agencies involved in counterterrorism efforts are:

• Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet
• New Zealand Security Intelligence Service
• Government Communications Security Bureau
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
• New Zealand Customs Service
• Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment
• Ministry of Defence
• Ministry of Justice
• Ministry of Transport
• Department of Internal Affairs
• New Zealand Defence Force
• New Zealand Police

Counterterrorism agencies made similar progress against the Papa Pounamu priority areas as the 21 other agencies:

Addressing bias

• The vast majority of agencies provided unconscious bias training to all staff, with significant uptake among senior leaders.
• New Zealand Customs Service requires all recruitment panel members to complete bias training yearly.
• Ministry of Justice strengthened recruitment guidance and processes to reduce bias.

Cultural competence

• All agencies have a whāinga amorangi plans referencing bicultural frameworks and projects, that guide their efforts to upskill their kaimahi (staff) in te reo Māori, Te Tiriti and Mātauranga Māori.
• There was significant uptake of the ‘Wall Walk’ by kaimahi in these agencies as well as agencies providing mana ‘aki training to support the increase of cultural competency in their workplace. 

Employee-led networks

• Agencies continued to support networks, with at least two agencies reporting an increase in the number of networks.
• Agencies have networks for women, Māori, rainbow, Asian, people of faith, new professionals, disabled kaimahi, Pasifika and men.

Inclusive leadership

• To support leaders being more inclusive, agencies reported efforts to explore inclusive leadership coaching techniques. These techniques included greater focus on behaviours in leadership frameworks and incorporating inclusive leadership principles and practices.
• The Ministry of Transport uses surveys to assess its progress in building inclusive leadership.
• The Department of Internal Affairs intends to introduce a new leadership development system (that leaders will be required to complete) that will uplift the capability of its leaders and ensure they are equipped to lead inclusively in the first half of 2023/24.
• The New Zealand Customs Service-Ministry for Primary Industries joint Asian Network researched inclusive leadership at Customs for Pan-Asian staff and  presented their findings in forums across Customs to encourage awareness and understanding of the impact of inclusive leadership.

Building Relationships

• Seven of the 12 CT agencies reported on progress under the ‘Building Relationships’ priority area.a
• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has trained a group of people representing various roles, groups, and posts as Frontrunners to build greater connections within the Ministry. People leaders are encouraged to discuss workplace culture with the Frontrunners, and they are encouraged to have culture conversations around the organisation. 
• For the period covered by agency annual reports – the financial year from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023 – the fifth Papa Pounamu priority area was ‘Building Relationships’. This has been replaced in the 2023/24 financial year with fostering diverse leadership.

Inclusion

Efforts to foster more inclusive workplaces are evident in the following work of CT agencies:

• Agencies have taken part in Unconscious Bias training modules to increase understanding and awareness of inclusion in the work place.  
• Ministry of Transport conducted a deep dive bias and discrimination survey of its staff (the results of which were being analysed at the time of publication of its annual report). 
• MBIE’s foundational level module focused on fundamentals about including the LGBTQIA+ community being available to staff is an example of an initiative to make Public Service workplaces more inclusive for rainbow people.
• A growing emphasis on disabled public servants was evident in a number of agencies launching their Reasonable Accommodation policy alongside their neurodiverse and disabled staff. 
• The Disability Network at the Ministry of Justice advocated to make specialist software available to support people with dyslexia and now all staff have access to Microsoft Editor.