A shout out to the unsung heroes – our Public Service staff

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Government departments, particularly in the social welfare, education and health areas get a lot of shtick. And it’s not unjustified. We have problems in the way that our government departments treat those in need. And I do not intend to take away, question or minimise any of the terrible experiences that Kiwi’s have had. We have a lot of work to do in reforming our Ministries and their agencies into places where every single person who walks through their doors or calls their line gets the help they need from quality staff working for a system that works for everyone.

The system, particularly government level down, is broken. And rightly criticised for their reforms, their leaders and some of its staff by people affected after bad contact with them.

But there are amazing, empathetic, committed and admirable people working for them too.

And today I want to send some love, respect and gratitude to those public servants that do brilliant work. The ones who do their best to help everyone they deal with. I don’t care who they vote for or whether they agree with National’s reforms or not. It’s about their commitment to do a great job. And they don’t really get much thanks, not publicly anyway. They silently and selflessly do good work every day in difficult workplaces.

Thank you to the WINZ case managers who ensure all their clients get every entitlement they qualify for – even down to seeing if adding prescriptions to a Disability Allowance gives their client $1 more a week. A $1 matters a lot to many people. The ones who ask you if you need a food grant the minute you signal your level of stress, instead of making you beg.

Thank you to the HNZ tenancy managers who spend an hour playing phone tag with contractors who never turned up, and are highly responsive to their tenants needs.

Thank you to the resource workers at CYF who ensure access visits run safely and smoothly – and who don’t judge every move & word – while remaining conscientious and careful.

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Thank you to the teachers and teacher aides who make education understandable and socialisation possible for children with disabilities in the face of funding constraints.

Thank you to the social workers who go to work every day and deal with the worst of our society, and dedicate their lives to the safety of our children despite the high risk of burnout.

Thank you to the specialists who stick it out in rural areas and secondary level hospitals – through good boards and bad – passionate about their patients & communities.

Thank you to the police personnel who respond to violence and other crimes with compassion, determination and action.

Thank you to the lovely Family Court co-ordinators who ensure protection orders are applied for, processed and enforced in a timely manner.

Thank you to the ACC case workers who do advocate for their clients and treat them with kindness and respect.

Thank you to the advocates who work for the various Commissions. For many who have been mistreated or discriminated against an advocate is the first person to believe in and empower them.

There are many more examples of wonderful public service staff I know about and I thank you all. What you all do for our community, our kids, our vulnerable is fantastic. Many of us remember that one person from a government department who were so kind and helpful in a time of crisis. Luckily I’ve had more than 1.

The good work you do has not gone unnoticed by me, or those you have helped through the years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

7 COMMENTS

  1. Ole to that! To public servants who often work in a climate of fear, who when they have successes their senior management takes credit, but when there are failures they take the blame, who work in spite of incompetent leadership, who become pawns in the politicised structure, who do their very best when budgets are manipulated …..
    …… all up – given such conditions, they do a pretty fine job

  2. A great piece, Rachael, and it should be nailed to the desk of every Public Servant – not that the humans in the system need it – and tattooed on the backs of the hands of every one of their masters. The sheer relief experienced by claimants (NOT “beneficiaries”) when they are dealt with respectfully and with empathy is profoundly heartfelt.

    I hope the “jobsworth” who keeps sending regular nagging notices to my stroked-out friend to go in for a job interview and ignores the evidence that he can barely speak, is encased in a motorised wheelchair and will be for the rest of his life, reads your post and learns something: and I am glad you have celebrated the best of the Public Service. Well done.

  3. “Thank you to the ACC case workers who do advocate for their clients and treat them with kindness and respect.”

    Well this does not happen anywhere in ACC that I have come across. They actually are not allowed to be nice because they have the Riley report to adhere to, and this negates any niceness or quality being allowed, in pursuit of their bonuses. The Code of Claimants Rights, and the ACC Office of the Complaints Investigator, are simply a farce. They exist, but they don’t do what you expect, and what the AC Act has designed them for. In fact, in most cases they do the opposite of nice.

    Knowing of the gross amount of abuse that comes out of ACC and it’s staff – top to bottom, I find I cannot agree with your thanking them for anything. Their overpaid wages and bonuses at the expense of so many vulnerable and brain-injured, and disabled people, has already overpaid the thankyou’s.

    Opinion and belief.

    • @ Mistery
      There are exceptions and I’ve no doubt what you say is correct at ACC. One or two other departments/quangos/SOEs as well. The neo-liberal corporatised public service has become entrenched and no doubt in many cases the organisational culture is fucked.
      There are now 30+ somethings of course that have now grown up never having experienced anything else.
      On top of that – ACC has been so fucked around with, it in no way reflects the vision of its creator/architect. Something that would have been sustainable had it not been constantly fucked over by various politicians and incompetent senior management carrying out their neo-liberal/trougher agendas.

      Come a change of government – I expect some changes – just as I do in areas such as public service broadcasting (which is why I reckon quite a few a beginning to panic). In the PSB case, if I were some of the non-independent, partisan public servants – I’d be hawking my CV around left right and centre. Tuff shit that the likes of Lucas de Jong and others have got the jump on them – places are running out fast. (Cudda Shudda Wudda).

    • I hear what you’re saying Mistery and it’s true, but there are caring empathetic people at ACC – they are locked into a system that forces them to pretend they don’t care.

      • Thankyou for the support Rachael.

        If there was a good employee at ACC, surely they would gather the necessary behind the scenes information and then ‘whistle-blow’ about it, and expose it for all to see. A good person would do this when faced with corruption, and the bullying of people with unasked for disabilities, day after day. A good person would help to stop it – from the inside. This doesn’t happen.

        And this is how I know there are no good people at ACC – because none of the so-called good people ever blow the whistle.

        If someone asked you to go over there and kick the guts out of that random disabled person over there – would you do it? I wouldn’t. I would publicly whistleblow on that person who directed me to do that!

        I would not be thinking of obeying that command, just so I can get a really good financial bonus, that would allow me to have a really good holiday this year, or buy myself a brand new car, or a bigger house, so I could be more comfortable going back to work the next day to kick some more disabled people in the guts.

        Where are the good people from ACC? I don’t see any of them exposing anything, and you have to ask yourself why, as I do.

        Why do you think that most case managers don’t even use their real names – they just pick their work name from a list of ‘handles’. It makes them feel anonymous while they’re doing what they do.

        Opinion and belief.

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