pn969. The Campbell Dismissal: "Death Knell for Māori Health?"

Rob Campbell

Rob Campbell,  chairman of the Environmental Authority and Te Whatu Ora, was dismissed last week for criticising National on the social media for its opposition to co-governance*.  He had apparently breached the political neutrality required from heads of crown entities.

Yet, As Gordon Campbell (Kapi-Mana News, March 7) writes, " If experienced officials are to be denied the ability to comment by the convention of public service neutrality, and journalists are to be similarly constrained by the conventions of objectivity from robustly evaluating public policy, who, exactly, is going to lead to the public debate that we keep on saying we need to have on the major policy issues of the day?

* The two co-governance issues mentioned were the proposed Three Waters legislation and dismal Māori health statistics.

-- ACW

Related

 See Scoop for a full account of Gordon Campbell's article.

Māori leaders say they have lost an ally  RNZ

What Campbell's sacking means for Maōri health NZ Herald

Te Ara Pounamu: "Mr Rob Campbell, CNZM CFInstD, is an experienced professional director with extensive union, public and private sector governance experience spanning over 40 years in a range of different settings, both domestically and internationally."