Maurice Ormsby was born in Te Kuiti and was educated at St Joseph’s Primary School, Te Kuiti, and St Patrick’s College, Silverstream. Ormsby graduated with a B.A. in Philosophy from Canterbury University in 1968 and an M.A. in Philosophy in 1970. Ormsby continued his studies at Corpus Christi College, Oxford University, graduating with a D. Phil. in 1977. From 1974-1990 he was a career diplomat with the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and since 1990 he has worked as a public policy consultant.
Biographical sources
- Phone interviews and correspondence with Maurice Ormsby, Aug. and 20 Nov 1992, Aug. 1998, 3 and 5 Sept. 2004.
Non-fiction
- "The End Of The 40-Hour Week." NZ Listener 8 Dec. 1979: 20-21.
- Ormsby discusses solutions to an increasing trend of diminishing job opportunities accompanying technological advances and examines how to make an equitable distribution amongst the population of the work available.
- "Part Time Work And Job Sharing." Public Service Journal (July 1979). No further details.
- "A New Work Ethic." Canterbury Environment Journal 5.3 (Apr. 1980): 9-10.
- A discussion on possible solutions to unemployment through the incorporation of job-sharing schemes.
- "Are Dreams Internal Films?" Dreamworks [New York] 2.2 (1981): 145-152.
- Ormsby describes this as an ‘article on the philosophy theory on the nature of dreaming.’
- "Note On Freud’s Theory Of Dreams." Dreamworks [New York] 3.2 (1983): 132-133.
- Ormsby states this is ‘a note which corrects an error in R.W. Clark’s biography of Freud.’
- "Popper, Policy And Scientific Reasoning." New Zealand Science Review 49.2 (1992): 45-50.
- Ormsby states: ‘A review of Karl Popper’s theory of the nature of science.’
- "Ormsby, John 1853-1927." Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Vol. 2: 1870-1900. Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams Books; Dept. of Internal Affairs, 1993. 367-368.
- A biography of Ngāti Maniapoto sheep farmer, John Ormsby, who was chair of the Kawhia Native Committee in 1886, an assessor for the Resident Magistrate’s Court for Waikato and the Native Land Court, and a member of the 1920 Native Land Claims Commission.
- "Taha Māori." An Eye, An Ear And A Voice: Fifty Years In New Zealand’s External Relations. 1943-1993. Ed. Malcolm Templeton. Wellington, N.Z.: Ministry of Foreign Afairs and Trade, 1993. No further details.
- Ormsby describes his article as a ‘history of efforts by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to include Māori.’
- "Science and Morality." New Zealand Science Review 51.2 ([1994?]).
- Ormsby states this is a paper on the ‘relationship between science and ethics.’
- Mana Tangata: Draft UN Declaration On The Rights Of Indigenous Peoples: Background And Discussion On Key Issues. Wellington, N.Z. Ministry of Māori Development, Aug. 1994.
- Ormsby describes this publication as ‘setting out the New Zealand government’s views on the 1993 draft of the UN Declaration of the rights of indigenous peoples.’
- "The provider-purchase split: a report from New Zealand." Governance: An International Journal of Policy and Administration 11.3 (July 1998): 357-387.
- Ormsby states that this is an article ‘which discusses the theory of separating state agencies providing goods and services from the agencies which purchase those services for the government.’
- The Policy Cycle: A Handbook On Policy Development. Samoa: Justice Dept. of Samoa, 2000.
Other
- An Ethical Framework For Developing Public Policy On Genetic Modification. New Zealand Woolboard and the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Genetic Modification, 2000. http://www.gmcommission.govt.nz.
Reviews
- "The Papers Of The 17th Foreign Policy School." New Zealand International Review 9.1 (Jan. 1984).
Theses
- "The Concept of Mental Health." MA thesis, Canterbury U, 1969.
- "The Objects of Memory." D.Phil. thesis. Corpus Christi College, Oxford U, 1976.