So much for being based in Hamilton

Stuff reports:

Roughly half of the bosses of a new national mega-polytechnic are not based in Hamilton – its purported headquarters.

The revelation has prompted suggestions of a creep by Te Pūkenga away from a loudly proclaimed commitment to basing the organisation in the regions and instead towards using its Ōtara campus as a de facto HQ.

In 2019 then Education Minister Chris Hipkins said the organisation’s head office would not be in Auckland or Wellington. …

The wording of the ad appeared to suggest the CEO was based in that city, Davis said, and there were a number of members of the executive leadership team (ELT) from Auckland.

“A head office includes the office of the CEO…head office is now in Auckland”.

That seemed to be at odds with earlier moves to have HQ outside Auckland or Wellington rather than be a “big centralised bureaucracy”, Davis said.

In a statement earlier this month, Te Pūkenga said Hamilton continued to be used as a national office, with the ELT meeting once a week at the Ōtara campus “spending the balance of their time working in virtual teams or engaging with our kaimahi (staff) across the country”.

Of 80 national roles, 19 were based in Hamilton and the rest throughout the country, the statement said.

So the CEO is based in Auckland, the ELT meets weekly in Auckland and less than 25% of national staff are based in Hamilton.

It is clear that Hamilton is not the Head Office in any meaningful way. Which would be fine, except Chris Hip[kins promised it would be.