“This coming Thursday more than 845,000 students will miss out on class time and over 6000 patients will miss appointments and procedures for their health. Genuine offers have been made and the opportunity to bargain remains open,” one advert said.
Another advert declared “unions need to return to the table”, claiming “genuine offers have been made and the opportunity to bargain remains open”.
Labour MP Camilla Belich, an employment lawyer and the party’s public service spokeswoman, said she was concerned the adverts compromised the commission’s independence and claimed the Government had sought to “weaponise” the commission against striking workers.
“I don’t think any amount of public funds should be spent in a political attack on organisations that are undertaking good faith bargaining, and I’m absolutely shocked that that decision was taken,” Belich
She considered it a misuse of public money and believed it warranted an investigation.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said he feared the commission was being inappropriately politicised.
“Ministers should be out there fronting this, not the Public Service Commissioner [Sir Brian Roche].
“It does, in my view, overstep the bounds of what a politically neutral public service should be involved in.”
Public Service Association national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said the adverts were an “unprecedented and inappropriate use of public funds.”
“The advertising won’t work as the public can see for themselves the problems in health and education ... the Commission should withdraw the advertising and issue an apology.”
In the statement from the commission spokesman, it described the adverts’ purpose as providing “public information about disruption to services and what is being done to prevent further disruption”.
“The Public Service Commissioner is leading collective bargaining negotiations with education sector unions – which affects thousands of public servants.
“It is appropriate for the Commissioner to share factual information about this work with the public. Social media is one of the channels commonly used to do that.”
The adverts had so far cost $248.43 but more could be purchased.
“The content complies with relevant government advertising and political neutrality guidelines,” the statement said.
Luxon yesterday dismissed questions about the adverts and suggested the money used would be “negligible”.
Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.
