Te Noho Taiapa
Political Neutrality
Political neutrality is one of the five Public Service principles. It is about serving New Zealand’s democratically elected government to the best of our professional abilities, irrespective of our own personal political opinions.
Hi, I’m Ed and I’m a public servant just like you.
I’d been working in the Public Sector for a little while before I came across a situation that made me really think about my political neutrality.
Of course, I’d read our agency policy when I joined, and I’d filled in a conflict-of-interest form too. But it all made so much more sense when I was in a real situation.
Some friends of mine had seen something on the news about my agency and they wanted to know what was going on.
I was pretty sure that I wasn’t allowed to talk about it, but no-one at work had said that it was secret, so I wasn’t sure. I decided to chat to my manager.
I’m glad I did check! It turns out that information you have learned in the course of your work, and is not in the public domain, should not be shared.
My story shows how easy it can be to find yourself in situations where you need to know what your responsibilities are.
There’s some great learning here that will help you dive deeper.
Video
This video will help you understand the key factors to consider, and questions to ask yourself, if you want to engage in political activity and how those key factors relate to your work. A transcript of the video is available here: Making Politically Neutral Decisions transcript [PDF, 64 KB].
eLearning
This module will help you to understand the impact or consequences of your decisions about political neutrality, when faced with some common scenarios to resolve. It will also highlight the key points at which you should seek support. An accessible version of this information is available here: Staying Politically Neutral: The Impact of your choices.
Conversation Guide
This conversation guide will help you to understand political neutrality and how this principle relates to your daily work and fits with your agency’s integrity guidance.
eLearning
This guide will help you to quickly locate answers to specific political neutrality questions that relate to your situation. An accessible version of this guide is available here: Political Neutrality: Your decision-making assistant [PDF, 264 KB].