Doug Martin

Founder | Kaiwhakatū
Wellington Office

Doug is one of New Zealand’s most experienced and respected advisers on approaches to improving the performance of public-sector agencies in New Zealand.

Doug has vast knowledge of the New Zealand public management system. As a Deputy State Services Commissioner he was one of the main architects of the State Sector Act 1988 and played a major role in implementing the new public-sector management model encapsulated in the Act. He has also been an expert adviser in subsequent reviews of the model. 

Doug is often engaged to review areas of government administration that have encountered difficulties at the policy or operational levels. He has also been appointed to lead Crown organisations through difficult transitions.

As a consultant, Doug has regularly applied the principles that underpin the public-sector management system in the context of organisational reviews.

Examples of Doug’s work include:

  • appointment as Crown Manager to Christchurch City Council to improve the performance of its consenting function following the Council’s loss of accreditation as a Building Consent Authority - under Doug’s guidance, Christchurch City Council regained its accreditation

  • appointment as Crown Negotiator for pay equity negotiations for care support works in aged care – successfully concluded the historic settlement

  • reviewed the performance of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority as a result of difficulties with the 2004 Scholarship examinations and with the implementation of NCEA more generally

  • independent review of WorkSafe New Zealand on behalf of the Minister of Workplace Relations

  • undertaking of an inquiry on behalf of the State Services Commissioner into the engagement of external security consultants by Southern Response with a particular focus on the State Services Code of Conduct

Project Examples