Source: PSA
Maxim Institute report should be wake up call for Govt
A new report warning that AI risks replacing public servants and undermining democracy should be a wake-up call for a government that last week rammed under urgency a law enabling automated welfare decisions.
“Even a conservative think tank is now saying what we’ve been saying: slow down, stop treating AI as a shortcut to slash jobs, and do the serious work to get this right,” said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.
The Maxim Institute’s Algorithmic Government: Of the people, for the people, by AI? report, released today, warns that unchecked AI adoption could see decision-making quietly migrate from humans to opaque systems nobody truly controls. It recommends the Government treat AI as ‘an augmentation to, rather than a replacement for, human judgement in rights-affecting decisions’.
“That’s exactly the principle this Government is ignoring. The Social Security Modernisation Bill was rushed through Parliament five days ago, opening the door to automated decisions on welfare benefits. The report itself cites Australia’s Robodebt as a cautionary tale. Yet this Government is charging down the same path with this Bill. It’s wrong.
“AI can make public servants more productive. We welcome that. The Maxim report says it clearly: public sector AI should be pursued for ‘higher productivity, faster responsiveness, and stronger oversight, while remaining bounded by law and accountability’. But no country in the world has evidence that AI can replace public sector workers at the scale this Government is betting on. Sacking 8,700 workers and hoping AI fills the gap is not a strategy, it’s a gamble with the services New Zealanders depend on.
“The report calls for a proper roadmap rather than letting AI ‘grow by accretion’ and says workforce training is essential to harness gains safely. This Government has done neither. Instead, it’s gutting IT teams across the public service at the very moment it should be investing in them to help public service workers embrace the opportunity.
“Māori data is taonga. The push for automated decision-making in welfare, justice, and health, where Māori are disproportionately affected, poses a direct threat to Māori data sovereignty and Treaty obligations this Government is already dismantling.
“If we rush this and don’t think it through, we risk government by algorithm. That is not democratic.
“As the report states, incremental expansion of AI could result in a ‘government formerly democratic but substantively shaped by algorithmic systems that humans supervise rather than truly control.’ That’s a frightening prospect.
“The overall message is simple: slow down and ensure AI is used to make public servants more productive, not more disposable.”
The Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi is Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest trade union, representing and supporting more than 95,000 workers across central government, state-owned enterprises, local councils, health boards and community groups.