Pushing the Boundaries

All political parties have a habit of appointing friendly people to various Ambassadorships and boards.

But as the Dominion Post editorial says, Labour is pushing the boundaries beyond what is acceptable. They cite two examples.

The first is the appointment of Ross Wilson as ACC Chair.  Now one could possibly justify the appointment if at the time of the vacancy he was available and best qualified.  But they have kept the job open for eleven months, leaving ACC without stable leadership, just so he can take over the day he ends up at the CTU.  Could you imagine anyone other person in NZ having a board chair role kept open 11 months for them? Of course not.

It is also incredibly insulting to the other board members and the Acting Chair to say we have so little faith in you that we will keep you without a permament Chair for 11 months, rather than appoint one of them as Chair.

The Dom Post also touches on the incredibly vindictive action towards Madeleine Setchell who lost her job in the Environment Ministry simply because her partner worked for National not Labour.  Mark Prebble should be defending the neutrality of the public service, not help Minister’s offices get rid of public servants bcause the Minister does not like their boyfriend.

As the Dominion Post says, there have been numerous examples of partners of Labour Party people holding roles in the public service – both under National and Labour. In fact Alison Timms was appointed acting head of the fire service in 1999 while her husband, Tony, was a very senior adviser to Helen Clark.  And that is how it should be – you trust people’s professionalism.

As the Dominion Post concludes:

The problem for Ms Setchell was not that her partner worked for a politician; it is that he worked for a politician from the wrong political party.