Webinar: No Minister: A free and frank analysis of the public service
Can New Zealand still count on a politically neutral public service that gives free and frank advice?
In their new report, Dr Benno Blaschke and Henry Olsen test the public service against these two core Westminster ideals: political neutrality and free and frank advice. They draw on 40 interviews with current and former insiders and a survey of 718 public servants.
Join Executive Director Dr Oliver Hartwich as he talks to Benno and Henry about what they found, why it matters for any government trying to deliver on its promises and what reform could look like. Public policy and governance specialist Deb Te Kawa, whose doctoral research examines free and frank advice, will offer her thoughts as a commentator.
Stick around for the live Q&A and put your questions to the panel directly.
Date: Monday, 16 November 2026
Time: 2:00-3.00 pm NZT
Registration: Please register here for the webinar. Can't make it live? If you register, we'll send you the recording after the event.
Q&A: Submit your questions in advance on Slido.com using code #3422880
About the speakers:
Deborah Te Kawa, Managing Director of governance and public policy consultancy, DTK and Associates
Deb Te Kawa (Ngāti Porou) is Managing Director of governance and public policy consultancy DTK and Associates and a PhD candidate at the University of Canterbury researching free and frank advice. A former State Services Commission official, she led the design of the Performance Improvement Framework and is a Treasury Gateway Reviewer.
Dr Benno Blaschke, Senior Fellow, The New Zealand Initiative
Benno is a Senior Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative with a wide range of policy interests. He has worked on several ‘once in a lifetime’, ‘generational opportunity’ type reform programs across central and local government, covering the Urban Growth Agenda, the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Act 2020, Three Waters reform, Resource Management reform, and Science, Innovation and Technology system reform. Benno’s interest in policy was born after initially studying philosophy (BAHon), religion (MA) and psychology (GradDipSci) with a focus on consciousness, which culminated in a PhD from Victoria University of Wellington.
Henry Olsen, Research Analyst, The New Zealand Initiative
Henry is a Research Analyst at The New Zealand Initiative, with interests ranging from education reform and lifestyle regulation to applied microeconomics and causal inference. Henry studied economics, mathematics, and political science at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, where he attained a First-Class Honours B.A. and finished at the top of his graduating economics cohort.
Dr Oliver Hartwich - Executive Director, The New Zealand Initiative
Oliver is the Executive Director of The New Zealand Initiative. Before joining the Initiative, he was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, the Chief Economist at Policy Exchange in London, and an advisor in the UK House of Lords. Oliver holds a Master’s degree in Economics and Business Administration and a PhD in Law from Bochum University in Germany.