Welcome to Purple Patch
Now that the dust has settled and we have launched the first iteration of the website (with some more smaller, but perfectly formed enhancements in the pipeline), I thought it a good time to kick some life into the blog. Previously, this had been in pilot and was hosted on the old e.govt.nz website. As from today, it is part of the Commission's corporate site.
Purple patch is defined in the OED as:
1. An elaborate or excessively ornate passage in a literary composition;
2. A notable or colourful period of time, a person's life, etc.; (now) spec. a run of good luck or success.
I think it is safe to say, given the Commission's house style, that it will eschew the former in favour of the latter...
We do live in colourful times: and, as State servants we do face interesting challenges and opportunities. Purple Patch is a blog where Commission staff–and from time to time other State servants–can share their thoughts about these challenges and discuss them with their peers and other interested commenters.
If there are specific topics that you would like to see covered here, leave a note in the comments. Similarly, if you have any thoughts about the wider website, in particular suggestions about how we might improve it, I would welcome those as well.
7 Comments about this work
Post a comment
question
Good on you for upgrading your website, it looks great.
Do you think that when you said last year that it was not permissible for public servants to accept Rugby World Cup tickets as gifts, the Treasury thought you meant you could accept anything else?
With tongue out of cheek, please give a signal to the many disillusioned public servants who have declined gifts all through their careers, and now see there was a double standard.
Treasury Gifts
Thanks for your comment.
As you may be aware, the Commissioner has been asked to look into this matter and has undertaken to respond as soon as is practicable.
Double standards
Has the SSC response come out yet? It has been awhile and it is a simple matter.
Or is the goal post shift of saying it is OK if you can argue a public benefit to the New Zealand public the response? Presumably done to protect the senior public servants taking gifts even though it was clearly against public service integrity standards.
Treasury Gifts
The Commissioner has written to Dr Norman advising him that once the external review commissioned by the Secretary to the Treasury has been completed he will be in a position to form a view of what, if any, action or further guidance is required.
I understand that review is due to be completed at the end of next month.
double standards
Anonymous,
You raise a valid point...but I fear your question will be deemed as coming from a trouble maker and therefore not given due credit.
Watch this space for a long silence I suspect.
Best,
Ewen
Treasury Gifts
Yes, on this page at least, the silence is deafening
That's because the
That's because the Commissioner issued a statement on October 7, 2011 on this matter...
Browse pages of search results
Post new comment