Rodger's political opponents gave him the tag of "Side-line Stan". As Minister of State Services, Rodger was responsible for overseeing the introduction and implementation of the controversial State Sector Act 1988 that reshaped and partially privatised the public service in New Zealand. The reform was deeply unpopular, so much so that the PSA stripped Rodger of his life membership (however they restored it in 2004). He was never enthusiastic about the public service reforms, but publicly went along with them nevertheless. Roderick Deane, the then Chairman of the State Services Commission, said of Rodger's role in the reforms: "The quiet, silent type who held it all together by not intervening when he must have been sorely tempted to do so was Stan Rodger".
