Ngā hoa kōtui o Te Ratonga Tūmatanui nō Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa Public Service in the Pacific

The world has changed. People today expect their public services and their governments to help them with many of the significant issues in their lives. Generally, one agency cannot do this alone. Our services need to join up around citizens, families and communities and we need new tools and new ways of organising ourselves to deliver.

The effectiveness of a country’s Public Service is one of the most important factors of wellbeing of the people of that country. Pacific Public Service Commissioners (Commissioners) lead the public services in their countries, to preserve public trust and confidence, deliver high quality services, and ultimately to improve outcomes for their people.

Pacific countries often have smaller, dispersed populations and resources can be scarce. This has brought Pacific Public Service Commissioners together to share information and knowledge around managing public services in unique Pacific contexts. New Zealand’s Public Service Commissioner is also part of this group.

From a Pacific regional perspective, there are challenges in the scale and pace of change — particularly climate change — but also in areas of technological, demographic, and geopolitical change. These challenges impact the capability and capacity of decision-makers to determine and implement effective responses.

To add to this context, in early 2020 all countries globally were impacted by the outbreak of COVID-19. Many countries in the Pacific region went into a lockdown, closing borders, businesses, and schools. COVID-19 shone a light on the Public Service, how best to organise to provide support and services for citizens and information across the wider Pacific including Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia.

As part of the Pacific whānau, Aotearoa New Zealand is committed to supporting the aspirations of our region’s nations. Our histories and peoples are interconnected through the generations and our Public Service is building on that legacy.

The Public Service Fale (the Fale) was established in January 2020, at the request of the Pacific Public Service Commissioners, as a regional centre of excellence. The role of the Fale is to support the Commissioners’ collective aspiration to strengthen public sector effectiveness and governance, and contribute to improved wellbeing, prosperity, and regional stability for their people.

The 16 member countries are the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu, with Australia and New Zealand supporting.