No, public servants shouldn’t abuse Ministers, even at huis

The Herald reported:

A speaker accused of insulting New Zealand First’s Winston Peters and Shane Jones during the annual political pilgrimage to Rātana is being investigated by the government department he works for.

Statistics New Zealand has confirmed it is looking into “a potential conflict [of interest] of a Stats NZ employee who spoke at Rātana Pā”.

In his address last Wednesday, Rua condemned deputy Peters and Cabinet minister Jones as taurekareka (slaves) for the Crown and said Jones had turned his back on Māori.

This is clearly unacceptable. You could make a case for a public servants, in a private capacity, to be allowed to raise concerns about government policy at a meeting or hui. But to think you can call Ministers slaves is clearly unacceptable.

This needs to be taken extremely seriously. In the United States we have seen a distressing fall in confidence in important institutions such as the legal system, the electoral system., the public service etc. If authorities want to avoid the same happening in New Zealand, they have to be rigorous in ensuring public servants do not act in a manner which undermines neutrality.

The same goes for all those public servants leaking cabinet papers. I’ve never seen so many leaks, presumably by public servants, trying to take down a Minister. Again, the authorities need to be finding those responsible, and taking action.