Political responsibility for bureaucratic incompetence: Tragedy at Cave Creek

In April 1995 a viewing platform built by the Department of Conservation collapsed at a New Zealand wilderness location, Cave Creek, plummeting 14 people to their deaths. The tragedy was unprecedented in New Zealand public administration. This article examines the concepts of political accountability and responsibility in the light of the disaster and the findings of the commission of inquiry into it. It does so with reference to the New Zealand state sector reforms, and theoretical and conceptual contributions to the understanding of (public) policy fiascos and disasters. Although public accountability requirements were fulfilled in the case of Cave Creek there was an unsatisfactory resolution of political responsibility. A fuller appreciation of vindicative political responsibility is needed in tragic cases of this kind where the humanity and justice of impersonal governmental systems need to be at least symbolically affirmed. However, the prospects for such a wider sense of proportion may not be enhanced in a managerialist era.