Under new sail

The new politics of proportional representation - caretaker minsters, coalitions, minority governments, coalition negotiations, consultation with other parties - presents challenges to and opens up opportunities not just for politicians but also for public servants. These were discussed at three series of forums of senior public servants, academics, politicians and private sector analysts and lobbyists organised by the Institute of Public Policy in association with the State Services Commission in 1994-96. A seminar of public sector chief executives was organised in early 1997 on the period of the caretaker government in 1996. From these discussions, Colin James, who chaired the meetings, has distilled public servants' experiences, reactions and expectations and the evolving guidelines and rules - and set these in the wider political and public sector management contexts.