Rob Campbell: Blatant hypocrisy of Public Service Commissioner should be called out

In this exclusive opinion piece for the Herald, former Te Whatu Ora/Health New Zealand chairman Rob Campbell asks why there is hypocrisy in the public service.

OPINION:

I am not arguing about whether I should have my jobs at either Te Whatu Ora or EPA back.

That is not happening and I don’t want to work with the ministers anymore anyway. They don’t trust me and I don’t trust them.

But blatant hypocrisy should be called out. Yesterday a story emerged about an appointee to a Government investment board who called China an “enemy state” on social media just this week. His remark is being treated (from what has been announced so far) as a “personal view”.

Let me be clear, I do not think he should be sacked even though I do not agree with him and though his statement is not, when I last looked, Government policy. Where is the equivalence of response?

But an even better example of the hypocrisy of the advice on this stuff, which has been publicly stated to be from the Public Service Commissioner, is available. On January 22 this year, Steve Maharey who according to his profile on LinkedIn is chair of Pharmac, chair of ACC, chair of Education New Zealand and various other public bodies, published an opinion piece. As it happens I agree with a lot of it.

It is very supportive of the Labour Government which I guess must be okay under the apparent PSC rules. But it goes on to criticise the new National Party leadership as “nothing new or fresh”. And further compares it to various offshore conservative parties. “More interested in the past than the future” and draws attention to rich donors supporting National on the basis that “they made their money under a system that favoured them. More of the same please”. Jolly good stuff Steve.

But where was the PSC then? Where were the ministers?

This whole structure of “impartiality” and “neutrality” needs a fresh look. And probably without the PSC chair, who looks pretty biased to me.