Public management in difficult economic times

Three recent speeches – by the Finance Minister to the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (English, 2010) and to the Institute of Public Administration New Zealand (English, 2011), and the statement to Parliament delivered by the prime minister in February (Key, 2011) – draw an explicit link between government expenditure and New Zealand’s economic performance in weathering the global economic difficulties and the effects of the Christchurch earthquakes. Government expenditure is said to be too high and, given present trends, unsustainable. Strategies for making savings have been outlined.