The Provision of Free and Frank Advice to Government

Abstract

This paper examines the extent to which New Zealand public servants feel able to offer free and frank advice to the Government through Ministers of the Crown. It seeks to define the nature of constitutional conventions; the importance of the free and frank convention to the preservation of an apolitical, independent public service and how and where this convention is captured in the "rules" governing the behaviour of both public servants and the Ministers they serve.