Aotearoa New Zealand public service leader Lil Anderson to join ANZSOG
9 March 2022
● News and media
ANZSOG will significantly boost its capability and faculty with the appointment of Lil Anderson as a Leadership and Teaching Fellow on a 12-month secondment.
Ms Anderson is currently the Tumu Whakarae (Chief Executive) of Te Arawhiti/The Office for Māori Crown Relations, and has more than 25 years’ experience spanning the public service and wider state sector, including becoming CEO of Te Arawhiti when the agency was formed in 2019.
ANZSOG Dean and CEO Ken Smith AO said that the secondment of Ms Anderson would allow ANZSOG to expand its offerings in the region.
“Ms Anderson has huge experience in leadership, vision and strategy and will contribute to our ongoing work in building networks with Indigenous Affairs agencies, Public Service Commissions and Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Māori public sector leaders,” he said.
“She will work across education, research and thought leadership programs with a specific focus on Aotearoa New Zealand. This appointment will give us an even stronger engagement with Aotearoa following last year’s appointment of our Aotearoa New Zealand Executive Director, Sally Washington.
“This is a great opportunity for ANZSOG to benefit from having a senior public service CEO on secondment with a particular background in working with Māori and other communities across both countries and the Pacific region.”
Ms Anderson said she was looking forward to contributing to ANZSOG’s journey and offering her skills and experience in advancing its work with public servants across Aotearoa and Australia to understand and work for better outcomes with indigenous communities.
“I am able to do this while continuing to support efforts in Aotearoa to improve the Māori Crown partnership. I am excited to be able to work to strengthen our ties together and with our Pasifika and Indo-Pacific nations, which will only bring benefits to us all,” she said
Ms Anderson will also:
Contribute to the ongoing review and development for ANZSOG’s key education offerings to ensure that they are relevant and respond to the needs of an Aotearoa New Zealand and Australian audience; in particular from Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Māori perspectives.
Lead, as part of the ANZSOG team, development of specific leadership and management programs for Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, Māori and Pasifika people in the Indo-Pacific region.
Assist with delivery of ANZSOG international programs for senior public servants in the region.
ANZSOG has close links with senior Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Māori public servants and is committed to working with all member governments, to ensure they develop greater skills and understanding of working with and for First Peoples communities across the two nations.
In recent years ANZSOG has co-ordinated three major conferences for Indigenous and non-Indigenous public servants, the communities they serve and their partners, particularly in the non-government sector.
Ms Anderson will begin her 12-month ANZSOG secondment in early April and will continue to work with the New Zealand government on specific Crown/ Māori relationship issues in the early months of her secondment to ANZSOG.
Ms Anderson is originally from the small community of Panguru in the far north of New Zealand and belongs to Te Rarawa and Ngāpuhi iwi. She has worked as Director of the Office of Treaty Settlements, and in senior roles in Te Puni Kokiri and the New Zealand Ministry of Justice.
In 2020, she was redeployed for six months to the New Zealand COVID-19 All of Government Operational Command Centre to lead a cross-Government programme called ‘Caring for our Communities’ aimed at supporting the most vulnerable groups within our communities across Aotearoa New Zealand through COVID-19 and beyond into recovery.
Ms Anderson has been active in a number of ANZSOG programs, including the Executive Fellows Program, the Executive Master of Public Administration, Future public sector leaders series and as a presenter at ANZSOG’s 2019 and 2021 First Peoples Conferences.