The Government is defending the recent appointments of multiple former National Party politicians to senior public roles, at the same time as a huge number of public servants are being axed.
The Green Party has been calling for greater public scrutiny of the recent appointments.
Earlier this week, Education Minister Erica Stanford hired former National minister Murray McCully as an independent reviewer for an inquiry into the state of school buildings.
Before entering politics Stanford worked for McCully in his East Coast Bays electorate office and has previously described him as her political mentor.
“He’s an excellent candidate and I wouldn’t trust anyone else but him,” Stanford told 1News. “I actually went to a number of people — it wasn’t just him.
“Yes, he was my boss a long time ago, but I have lots of mentors, lots of friends.”
Asked if this was just “jobs for the boys”, Stanford replied “nope”.
Earlier this month, Transport Minister Simeon Brown appointed former transport minister and National leader Simon Bridges to chairman of NZTA Waka Kotahi.
Brown said that, while the two are friends, they followed due process.
“He went through a process in terms of the appointment … ultimately he went through a process just like every other appointment.”
In February, State Owned Enterprises Minister Paul Goldsmith chose former National minister Roger Sowry to help lead an investigation into the state of our Cook Strait ferries.
In December, Housing Minister Chris Bishop brought in former prime minister Sir Bill English to investigate Kāinga Ora. He also tapped former National minister Steven Joyce to help design the incoming National Infrastructure Agency.
Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins has been critical of the large number of appointments in a short space of time.
“It’s jobs for the boys. It’s clear what their priorities are — it’s to keep their former colleagues in work at a time when they’re laying off potentially thousands of Kiwis.”
Labour also created positions or gave their former MPs roles when they were in power — think Louisa Wall’s appointment as the Pacific Gender Equality Ambassador or controversial Speaker Trevor Mallard’s appointment as the Ambassador to Ireland.
Asked whether Labour also created “jobs for the boys” during its time in power, Hipkins replied: “We don’t go around laying off thousands of public servants.”
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said public scrutiny is “absolutely due” when it comes to these appointments.
“The bigger point I would make here is that the Government has a huge legislative work programme and they want to do it quickly, and yet they’re gutting the public servants they require to operationalise that.”
Last week, the Ministry for Primary Industries announced it was looking to cut around 230 jobs, while the Health Ministry looked to axe around 180 roles.
Meanwhile, the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment has accepted more than 100 voluntary redundancies.
