Old law forces out quality Ombudsman

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

The resignation of Peter Boshier from the role of Chief Ombudsman because he turned 72 on Saturday is a loss for the country and shows the nearly 50-year-old legislation covering this key role in government accountability needs updating.
Boshier has been a highly effective Chief Ombudsman who has ranged widely across government agencies and both central and local government, highlighting areas that need improvement and clearly setting out his expectations — as well as fulfilling the primary Ombudsman’s role of investigating complaints against government agencies. 
He has proved adept at cutting through bureaucratic excuses and obfuscation while always being a fair and open-minded  adjudicator. He is also an excellent communicator.
Boshier’s bio on the Ombudsman site says his focus as Chief Ombudsman “has been on a faster and more effective resolution of Official Information Act and other complaints, working with government agencies to improve their practices and strengthening his team’s investigation and monitoring of prisons and public mental health facilities”.
The Chief Ombudsman is one of three officers of Parliament that are independent from the executive. The other two are the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, and the Controller and Auditor-General, neither of which have an age limit.
Electoral law expert and barrister Graeme Edgeler told Newstalk ZB the mandatory retirement age for this role did not make sense, as appointments only lasted five years.
“It’s not like we’re appointing someone at 50 who’s still going to be doing the job at 80, so it is very different from judges.”
Born and educated in Gisborne, Boshier was appointed Chief Ombudsman in 2015 following a distinguished career as a judge. He was Principal Family Court Judge from 2004-2012, then became a Law Commissioner until his appointment as Ombudsman. He is patron of the White Ribbon Trust and patron of the Dwell Community Housing Trust in Wellington.
Before his reappointment in 2020, Boshier suggested to the Officers of the Parliament Committee — chaired by the Speaker — that he be appointed for a three-year term because of the age limit for the role. Instead he was given a full five-year term that has now been cut short, without the committee preparing ahead of time for his replacement.
Speaker Gerry Brownlee will manage the process for appointing the next Chief Ombudsman, and in the meantime Boshier has said he will “continue to serve at the pleasure of Parliament”.