Leading research fellow Kirill Molodyko completed his internship at New Zealand's Ministry of Finance

In Kirill's words: 


Structure of Government

“New Zealand does not have a government secretariat, as a distinct institution. In effect, the functions of this secretariat are performed by the Ministry of Finance. The Minister of Finance is the country's only vice-premier. Ministers often appear in parliament as members representing the ruling party, along the same lines as the British system.

The parliament differs from that of the United Kingdom in that it has always consisted of one chamber, as opposed to two.

Some politicians have no fewer than three ‘caps’ to wear, simultaneously working as members of parliament, as ministers in one ministry and as deputy ministers in another.

Although there is a formal requirement for bills passed by the parliament to be signed off by the governor-general, he cannot veto them; the minister of finance, however, does have a veto (for fiscal reasons).

Most of the departments in New Zealand's Ministry of Finance deal with problems which do not fall within global practice and the traditional spheres of activity of Finance Ministries, namely: education, housing, medicine, innovation, ecology, the promotion of exports etc.

Cultural unity

A huge amount of effort goes into ensuring that there is social cohesion between the Anglo-Saxon population, which constitutes over 80% of the population, and the indigenous Maori population, which makes up approximately 14% of the population. Most signposts in public areas are displayed in two languages - English and Maori. The state finances a great array of programs designed to promote and support Maori culture.

The Ministry runs a club for enthusiasts interested in the Maori language and culture, whose members occasionally organize cultural events for their colleagues and for leading figures from the ethnic minority communities.

Transparency

New Zealand is almost always in the top five list on global anti-corruption league tables. Due to the strong levels of mutual trust within society, passengers do not need to present their passports when boarding domestic flights.

The Ministry is very mobile and transparent, and to an outside observer it looks similar to office of a major corporation. Its staff, including heads of department, work in open-plan areas with no partitions between their desks. The only people with separate offices are the minister and his deputy.

Every few days, staff members from various departments give presentations on the latest results of their research, where all willing colleagues are welcome.

I didn't notice any problems with discipline whatsoever. Although staff get personal key cards to access service premises, these are not used as clocking-in cards. The key requirement is that staff perform to high standards and complete their work on time. Employees wishing to spend a day or two working at home, and having good cause for doing so, are required simply to send an email to their team leader and colleagues to let them know.

A sizeable area in the basement of the ministry has been set aside as a parking area for bicycles.

Although New Zealand is a wealthy, developed and very beautiful country, it is still some way behind its nearest neighbor, Australia, in terms of living standards. The government has so far been unable to make inroads as it seeks to address this problem.

One of the results of this has been a marked ‘brain drain’ to Australia. On account of this, and also due to the fact that the country is so far away and, to an extent, isolated, it can be hard to attract a workforce to its shores, so the ministry is open to highly skilled foreign staff, for both internships and permanent jobs.”