Seminar Friday 18 May 2012
Measures for the Future we Want - contributions to Rio+20 - a seminar presentation by the New Zealand NGO Rio+20 Platform

Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development to be held in Rio de Janeiro mid-June, marks 20 years since the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. This Conference will focus on two themes: (a) a green economy in the context of sustainable development poverty eradication; and (b) the institutional framework for sustainable development for "The Future we Want".

The New Zealand NGO Rio+20 Platform is a coalition of national non-governmental and civil society organisations working together on input and sharing information in the lead-up to this conference.

In this, the first of two seminars hosted by IPS, the RIO+20 Platform considered development of indicators or measures of "The Future we Want". The Rio+20 draft outcomes document 'recognises the limitation of GDP' and pushes for developing indicators that 'complement GDP' requesting the 'Secretary General establish a process of consultation' on this. This paragraph in the section on Accelerating and Measuring Progress, as the entire Zero Draft document, is under international discussion.

Two speakers shared perspectives on what we need to consider in finding alternatives to GDP and sustainable development indicators.

Sarah Meads (Oxfam New Zealand) will discuss humanity's challenge in the 21st century to eradicate poverty and achieve prosperity for all within the means of the planet's limited natural resources. In the run-up to Rio+20, Oxfam has presented its ideas in a discussion paper, A safe and just space
for humanity- Can we live within the doughnut? which identifies the essential framework for sustainable development and its measurement. Sarah will present key aspects of this approach.

Download Sarah Mead's presentation here

Download the Oxfam discussion paper A safe and just space for humanity CAN WE LIVE WITHIN THE DOUGHNUT? by Kate Raworth here

Rachael Milicich (Statistics New Zealand) will be discussing her work in the Official Statistics Forum measuring New Zealand prosperity using a sustainable development approach, and how New Zealand is progressing in adopting alternatives to GDP.

The NZ NGO Rio+20 Platform was formed in 2011 “To establish an inclusive NGO platform as the collective voice to work with all relevant NGOs and the NZ Government in preparation for Rio+20”. See www.angoa.org.nz/

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Seminar Friday 11 May 2012
Better Public Services: From Practice to Theory - and back again - a seminar presentation by Bill Ryan, School of Government, Victoria University

Compared with some recent reports elsewhere (e.g. Australia, Britain), the 'Better Public Services' Advisory Group Report appears to be driven more by selected practical learnings than theory or some overarching vision.

At a deeper level, several aspects of the report are consistent with certain key ideas emerging in public management (e.g. networked governance; an outcomes orientation). Whilst not constituting a whole 'theory' even at the applied level, these aspects of the report do represent 'practical theorising' and point to some of the key directions in which practice in New Zealand must head. What should be noted, however, is that these signal significantly different ways of conducting public management. In that respect, they are welcome and should be taken seriously. However, they should not simply be plastered over the top of what already exists. Some aspects of current practice will need to be explicitly altered or repudiated for them to work.

Whether Better Public Services proves to be influential and durable depends on how effectively it is implemented - rather, whether the principles underpinning the report are made to permeate throughout the public sector and become the basis on which new forms of practice are created. The report itself offers only a few pointers in this regard. This seminar identified some things that must be done to enable emergent implementation, discussing possibilities that should be pursued and constraints to be removed before this can occur.

Bill Ryan is an Associate Professor in the School of Government at Victoria University. Bill has been involved in various ways in public sector reform in Australia and New Zealand for more than 20 years and is a co-editor of and contributor to the recent book Future State: Directions for Public Management in New Zealand (Victoria University Press, 2011)

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Seminar Wednesday 9 May 2012
Green Growth or greening growth? - a seminar presentation by Phil O'Reilly, Chief Executive of Business NZ

Phil O'Reilly is Chief Executive of Business NZ, New Zealand's largest business advocacy group, representing thousands of businesses of all sizes.

Internationally, Mr. O'Reilly represents New Zealand employers at the International Labour Organisation, contributes to the governing body of the ILO, and is a Board member of the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD.

Nationally, he chairs the Government's Green Growth Advisory Group, the Capitalising on Research & Development Action Group and the Redundancy & Employment Transition Advisory Group, and is joint chair of the New Zealand Workplace Health & Safety Council and board member of the Innovation Board of the Ministry of Science & Innovation and the Council of the Royal Society of NZ. He serves on a number of other Ministerial and advisory groups.

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Seminar Friday 4 May 2012
Planning for the Impacts of Marine Commercial Vessels on Marine Ecosystems
- a seminar presentation by Dr Michael Vincent McGinnis

Our dependence on marine commercial vessels to transport goods and resources across the world's ocean is well known. Yet, we have underestimated the ecological consequences of this dependence on coastal and marine systems. In many ways, the impacts associated with marine commercial vessels represent a primary risk to island countries, maritime communities, and sensitive coastal and marine areas. These impacts should be carefully considered in future marine planning and decision-making. The presentation provided an overview of examples of these impacts and risks from marine commercial vessels, and described the various policy and planning responses to these pressures, including the use of marine zoning strategies. 

Dr Michael Vincent McGinnis received a PhD in Political Science in 1993. He is an Associate Professor in International Marine Policy and Science at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and the National Center for the Blue Economy in California, USA. He is also a Senior Associate of the Institute of Policy Studies in the School of Government at Victoria University of Wellington. He recently completed a study on New Zealand's marine governance framework funded by the Emerging Issues Program.

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Seminar Friday 27 April 2012
'Thinking, Fast and Slow' and the architecture for a new theory of health behaviour -
a seminar presentation by Jaikishan Desai, Deputy Director, Health Services Research Centre, Victoria University

Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman’s new book Thinking, Fast and Slow is a fascinating summary of recent research on decision-making and judgement, and provides an appropriate framework for re-thinking how individuals make decisions about their health.  Some re-thinking is required because while self-management of health is critical to public policy aimed at improving health outcomes, the underlying behaviour is poorly understood.  As a result much of health reform tends to be aimed at reconfiguring the delivery of health services - a “build it and they will come” approach - which is inefficient in the use of limited resources.  This talk summarized the main findings of Kahneman’s book and elaborated on how these insights factor into Dr Desai's own ongoing theoretical research on health behaviour. 

Dr Jaikishan Desai is an economist/demographer/biostatistician by training but a non-disciplinary, social scientist in practice.  He is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Government at Victoria University and the Deputy Director of the Health Services Research Centre since November 2009.  His current research encompasses theoretical work on health behaviour and econometric analyses of health, poverty, gender, and violence in various countries (New Zealand, India, Vietnam, and Mexico). 

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Conference Wednesday 18 April 2012
Conference on the Funding of Student Finance - Rutherford House, Wellington

Evaluating the Current New Zealand Policy Framework:
Evidence, Issues and Perspectives
James Hyatt, Julie Keenan and Roger Smyth (Ministry of Education) – Assessing the current student loan scheme

Professor Stuart McCutcheon (University of Auckland) – Perspectives on student finance

James Zuccollo (New Zealand Institute of Economic Research) and Associate Professor Sholeh Maani (University of Auckland) – Private returns to tertiary education: How does New Zealand compare?

Download James Zuccollo's presentation here

Download Sholeh Maani's presentation here

Download the Mediasite presentation: Student Finance Conference Part 1
Duration: 1:51:57
Link: http://mdsweb.vuw.ac.nz/Mediasite/Viewer/?peid=66704e5b534a4c479eb387d57b3ecd56

Lessons from Other Countries
Professor Richard James (Melbourne University) – The Australian tertiary funding and regulatory framework: lessons for New Zealand

Professor Bruce Chapman (Australian National University) – Income-contingent loans schemes: conceptual issues and international comparative lessons

Download the Mediasite presentation: Student Finance Conference Part  2
Duration: 1:42:50
Link: http://mdsweb.vuw.ac.nz/Mediasite/Viewer/?peid=9483479fc93443d0b6a672be50c754ac

Other Perspectives and Issues
Arena Williams, Andreas Triandafilidas and Dr Laura Dimock – Student perspectives and survey data

Download Arena Williams's presentation here

Download Laura Dimock's presentation here

Roger Smyth (Ministry of Education) and Richard Owen (Inland Revenue Department) – Evidence on overseas borrowers

Download Roger Smyth's presentation here

Download Richard Owen's presentation here

Professor Richie Poulton (University of Otago) – Evidence from the NZ Graduate Longitudinal Study (GLSNZ)

Download the Mediasite presentation: Student Finance Conference Part 3 
Duration: 2:13:41
Link: http://mdsweb.vuw.ac.nz/Mediasite/Viewer/?peid=2b8bba24207846e495be66d1c6cc4775

The Policy Options for Student Finance: Contrasting Perspectives
Norman LaRocque (Asian Development Bank)

Download Norman LaRocque's presentation here

Associate Professor Susan St John (University of Auckland)

Download Susan St John's presentation here

Download the Mediasite presentation: Student Finance Conference Part 4 
Duration: 1:41:38
Link: http://mdsweb.vuw.ac.nz/Mediasite/Viewer/?peid=bf6bfa0e97dd4123aa247e111758f24b

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Seminar Friday 13 April 2012
Paths not taken in electricity restructuring: alternatives to the asset sale programme
-a seminar presentation by Geoff Bertram, Senior Associate, Institute of Policy Studies

As the three state-owned electricity companies are moved towards privatisation, this seminar looked back over the past three decades of electricity sector restructuring and deregulation, and reviewed a number of ideas which have been set aside by successive governments, but which are likely to re-surface as potential buyers carry out due diligence on the companies and the potential regulatory and policy risks they may encounter in future.

Geoff Bertram was until 2009 a Senior Lecturer in Economics at Victoria University.  Since his retirement he has been Senior Associate at the Institute of Policy Studies and Adjunct Researcher at the Climate Change Research Institute. His research interests include regulation of public utility industries such as electricity, gas and telecommunications, and he has published extensively on the issues surrounding electricity sector regulation in New Zealand.

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Workshop Friday 30 March 2012
Ethics at Work: Challenges and opportunities in working ethically in the public, corporate, professional and voluntary sectors - a workshop led by
Simon Longstaff of St James Ethics Centre, Sydney

Sponsored by IPS, School of Government at VUW, the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul,
St Peter's on Willis and ‘Faith in the City’

In the first part of the workshop, Dr Longstaff provided an overview of the challenges and opportunities in organisational ethics, supplemented by insights from the local Wellington and New Zealand scene. In the second part, he offered a framework for the implementation or further development of ethical practice in participants’ own organizations. He sees good leadership as defining a culture of 'common intent' rather than mere compliance.

Simon Longstaff’s distinguished career includes being named as one of ‘True Leaders’ for the 21st century by the Australian Financial Review’s ‘Boss’ magazine noting "I don’t know one CEO or chairman in corporate Australia who has not worked with Simon Longstaff".
Dr Longstaff has a PhD in Philosophy from Cambridge University. Prior to becoming the inaugural Executive Director of St James Ethics Centre in 1991, he worked in the Northern Territory in the Safety Department of a BHP subsidiary, lectured at Cambridge University and consulted to the Cambridge Commonwealth and Overseas Trusts.

Read more about the work of St James Ethics Centre at http://www.ethics.org.au/

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Seminar Friday 30 March 2012
The Practice of Ethics in the Public and Private Sectors: A Case of Constructive Subversion - a seminar presentation by Simon Longstaff of St James Ethics Centre, Sydney

hosted in association with Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, St Peter's on Willis and
‘Faith in the City’

Drawing on mainstream Western philosophical traditions, Dr Longstaff provided an introduction to ethics as being both 'the architecture of choice' and the source of 'organizational DNA'. This introduction involved a clarification of the distinct roles played by values and principles and be located In a wider discussion of what constitutes effective (ethical) leadership and the role of such leadership in defining a culture of 'common intent' rather than mere compliance.

Simon Longstaff has a PhD in Philosophy from Cambridge. Prior to becoming the inaugural Executive Director of St James Ethics Centre in 1991, he worked in the Northern Territory in the Safety Department of BHP subsidiary, lectured at Cambridge University and consulted to the Cambridge Commonwealth and Overseas Trusts.

His book Hard Cases, Tough Choices was published in 1997.

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Seminar Monday 26 March 2012
Unilateral climate policy in Europe - competitiveness concerns and policy options
- a seminar presentation by Andreas Loeschel, University of Heidelberg

Competitiveness issues have been a central concern in the design of climate policy in Europe, especially in Phase 3 of the European Union Emission Trading Scheme. The presentation discussed the implications of unilateral climate policy for competitiveness and carbon leakage. It also looked at different policy options proposed to address these issues, especialle border carbon adjustments.

Andreas Loeschel is head of the Environmental and Resource Economics Research Department at the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) and Professor of Economics at the University of Heidelberg. Since 2011, he has chaired the government's Energy Expert Commission to monitor energy transformation in Germany. He is Lead Author in the Working Group III contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report.

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Seminar Wednesday 21 March 2012
A Bolt from the Blue: examining the National Government changes to the NZ aid programme in 2009 and what they mean now - a seminar presentation by Jo Spratt of NZADDs

Jo Spratt is the Coordinator for NZADDs. She currently works as a consultant in the Pacific. She has a background as a nurse, followed by Director roles with Family Planning's international unit - Family Planning International, and in Fiji with the Sub-Regional Office of the Pacific for International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). Jo has qualifications in nursing, political science, development, public health and NGO management. Her areas of interest include public policy, aid, development, health, women's rights, and organisational change and management.

Seminar presented in association with NZADDS (New Zealand Aid and Development Dialogues). NZADDs is an independent think tank devoted to expanding analysis, discussion and understanding of NZ aid and development work. www.nzadds.org.nz

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Seminar Friday 16 March 2012
International Dimensions to Poverty among Families with Dependent Children- a seminar presentation by Bob Stephens

The seminar showed how income poverty rates differ between OECD countries. It then investigated why these child income poverty rates differ, considering factors such as public spending on family assistance, degree of income inequality, incidence of lone parenting, employment rates, and effectiveness of government tax and benefit policies to reduce income poverty. The paper drew upon OECD data, statistics from the New Zealand Poverty Measurement project and MSD, and a recent cross-country study on the relative generosity of family assistance.

Bob Stephens is a Senior Research Associate in the Institute of Policy Studies, having recently retired from being an Associate Professor within the School of Government. He is a founding member of the New Zealand Poverty Measurement Project. The seminar draws upon an article written in Children, for the Office of the Children’s Commissioner, Summer, 2011, No. 79.

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Seminar Friday 9 March 2012
Why does New Zealand have high real interest rates, does it matter and, if so, what can be done about it? - a seminar presentation by Dennis Rose

Countries with high net international liabilities generally have high real interest rates.
Similar patterns exist with respect to net domestic liabilities. National interest rate differentials are underpinned by the evolving pattern of world interest rates, reflecting changes in world productivity levels and international monetary aggregates. New Zealand's high real interest rates add to the cost of debt servicing and inhibit investment and growth. Escape from this situation requires policies that secure better balance between incomes and expenditure and better balance of payments outcomes. Export growth is thus a key determinant of economic welfare.

Dennis Rose is a research economist and senior associate at the Institute of Policy Studies. Recent work has focused on linkages between national debt levels and national rates of interest. He is also interested in the discount rate to be used in assessing infrastructural investment and other long-term outcomes such as climate change. He has longstanding interests in policies directed to sustaining high levels of employment at high incomes. Fundamental to these is a focus on the structural development of the New Zealand economy.

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Seminar Friday 2 March 2012
Red Tape, Better Regulation and the Regulatory State: The most recent reform agenda in Europe - a seminar presentation by Werner Jann, Potsdam University

In recent years 'better regulation' has become the most visible, and possibly the most successful public sector reform agenda in most European countries. This presentation gave a brief overview of how and why the reform agenda gained prominence, how successful it has been, and how this success can be explained. The seminar also discussed how this reform relates to earlier reform paradigms and whether 'the regulatory state' could be the dominating concept of the modern state in this decade.

Werner Jann is Professor for Political Science, Administration and Organization at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at Potsdam University. After his academic education and post-doctoral work at Universities in Berlin, Edinburgh, Speyer and Berkeley, he worked as Head of the Think-Tank Schleswig-Holstein (Denkfabrik Schleswig-Holstein) in the Prime-Ministers Office of the Land Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel from 1989 - 1993. He was President of the European Group of Public Administration (EGPA) from 2001 to 2004 and is a member of several national and international reform commissions.

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Seminar Thursday 23 February 2012
Public Policy and the Price of Happiness: the use of subjective measures of well-being to inform policy - a seminar presentation by Conal Smith of the OECD

The presentation summarises what is known about the degree to which subjective measures of well-being are amenable to policy change, both at an individual and national aggregate level. Evidence is presented from the Gallup World Poll on the impact of policy on subjective well-being, and there is a discussion of the implications of the use of measures of subjective well-being for monitoring well-being and in cost-benefit analysis of non-market outcomes.

Conal Smith currently works for the OECD statistics directorate, leading work on the development of international guidelines on the measurement of subjective well-being. He previously managed the Social Conditions group in Statistics New Zealand, where he oversaw the release of the first New Zealand General Social Survey. Before this worked as a manager in the Strategic Social Policy Group in the Ministry of Social Development where he was responsible for the production of the Social Report.

Download the presentation here
Duration: 00:56:18

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Seminar Friday 17 February 2012
Climate Change: the Durban deal. Views from inside the negotiations - a seminar presentation led by Dr Adrian Macey with participation by members of the New Zealand negotiating team at Durban

New Zealand had a prominent role at the Conference of the Parties in Durban late last year, both in brokering solutions and coming up with ideas.  The seminar will discuss the Durban results, and assess the prospects of the international negotiations up to 2020, including the issues of most interest to New Zealand.

Adrian Macey was New Zealand's first climate change ambassador from 2006-2010, and has wide experience of multilateral negotiations, including the Uruguay and Doha rounds of the GATT/WTO. In 2011 he was the Chair of the Kyoto Protocol negotiations. He is a Senior Associate of the Institute of Policy Studies, School of Government, Victoria University.

Download the presentation here
Duration: 1:04:18