'Public law', 'public policy' and 'government
relations' have become fashionable fields for advisory firms
in the New Zealand over recent years.
The boundaries are broad, covering virtually
all actions and decisions by public bodies, particularly government
departments, agencies, Parliament and Cabinet.
There is a tendency to over-play the complexity
of government processes, causing private sector firms to think
that they should not engage with the public sector without
a specialist adviser.
This is certainly not the case. For the most
part, government processes in New Zealand are comparatively
open, and readily accessible to all range of people and interest
groups.
However, for tricky regulatory issues, value
can certainly be added by a specialist with real expertise.
Tony Baldwin has a significant track record
in public policy and law, including (between 1990 and 1999)
as:
A member of the Policy
Advisory Group in the Department of the Prime Minister
and Cabinet
Chair of the senior officials group servicing
the Cabinet Committee on Enterprise and Innovation, which
covered all micro-economic policy issues
A member of the senior officials group
servicing the Cabinet Legislation Committee, which scrutinised
all Bills before their introduction in the House, and managed
the Government's legislative programme
Chair of the Officials Committee on Energy
Policy
Liaising with the Prime Minister's Enterprise
Council
Tony has worked at
a high level with SOEs, Crown entities, Commissions, professional
organisations and interest groups.
In early 2007, Tony was engaged by the Government
to review and help develop a NZ
Defence Force proposal to acquire satellite communication
services at a reported cost of $100m.
In September 2008, Tony was engaged to assist
the Ministry of Defence and NZ Defence Force in resolving
a major contract dispute with BAE Systems in relation to Project
Protector
