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Public Service Act 2020

Preliminary provisions - Public service defined, purpose, public service principles, and spirit of service to community - Purpose, public service principles, and spirit of service to the community

13: Spirit of service to community

You could also call this:

"Helping the community is the main goal of the public service team in New Zealand."

The public service is all about serving the community. You can think of it as a team effort to help people in New Zealand. The most important thing about the public service is that it acts with a spirit of service to the community. Public service leaders have a big role to play in keeping this spirit alive. They must preserve, protect, and nurture the spirit of service to the community that public service employees bring to their work. This means they need to support and encourage their employees to keep serving the community. The leaders of Crown agents, which are organisations that work on behalf of the government, also have a responsibility to keep the spirit of service alive. This responsibility is part of the Crown Entities Act 2004 and is outlined in section 58 of that Act.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS356872.

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"Guidelines for a fair and honest public service"

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Part 1Preliminary provisions
Public service defined, purpose, public service principles, and spirit of service to community: Purpose, public service principles, and spirit of service to the community

13Spirit of service to community

  1. The fundamental characteristic of the public service is acting with a spirit of service to the community.

  2. Public service leaders, interdepartmental executive boards, boards of interdepartmental ventures, and boards of Crown agents must preserve, protect, and nurture the spirit of service to the community that public service employees bring to their work.

  3. The responsibility of a board of a Crown agent under subsection (2) is a collective duty of the board under the Crown Entities Act 2004 that is owed only to the responsible Minister in accordance with section 58 of that Act.