It’s been reported that embattled public servant Rob Campbell is about to be dumped as chair of the Environmental Protection Agency.
It would follow the news last night that, after a controversial political LinkedIn post, he had been sacked from his role on the board of Health NZ.
According to Stuff, an announcement on Campbell’s position with the EPA will come soon.
Speaking from Hawke’s Bay this afternoon, prime minister Chris Hipkins once again said that there was a “natural justice” element at play and that Campbell was currently in talks with environment minister David Parker over his future with the agency.
The opposition has today called for Campbell to be dropped from his EPA role, with National’s Simeon Brown saying: “There is absolutely no justification for Mr Campbell to stay in this job given he has failed to comply with the rules for public service neutrality.”
Over 900,000 New Zealanders tuned into Te Matatini on TV and via livestreams last week.
Dubbed the Olympics of kapa haka, the event also attracted about a 100,000 people in person at Eden Park.
According to new figures from TVNZ, nearly 730,000 New Zealanders watched Te Matatini on TVNZ 2, while 188,000 users watched the festival on TVNZ+. There were more than 1.8 million streams – the most watched programme on TVNZ+ last week.
TVNZ’s deputy content director Nevak Rogers said it gave TVNZ+ its biggest week ever for reach and streams. “These are significant audience numbers. They tell us that Te Matatini resonated strongly with viewers across Aotearoa,” he said.
“It’s a massive exercise to produce four full days of live event coverage, and it took a big effort from TVNZ teams and our production partners Aotearoa Kapa Haka Limited and Pango Productions to make it happen.
“It’s been a career highlight and privilege to broadcast Te Matatini on TVNZ platforms and an opportunity to showcase high-quality reo Māori and culture on stage and in between with our stellar presenting line up.”
Speaking in Hawke’s Bay today, prime minister Chris Hipkins was asked whether further funding for Te Matatini would be allocated in the upcoming Budget. While he gave few hints, he reflected on his great experience attending the festival for the first time last week.
After an online excoriation of National’s Three Waters policy, Rob Campbell has insisted he will not be “politically neutered” and has been sacked as Te Whatu Ora chair. Was that fair? And was he right about National’s policy? Plus: Grant Robertson says it’s too early to decide how to pay for the Cyclone Gabrielle rebuild. Is a flood tax on the cards? How did the first clash of the Chrises at parliament go? A word on Maureen Pugh. Vale Chester Borrows. And the politics inside and outside Te Matatini.
Apologies for all the Rob Campbell news today – but this is interesting. While National didn’t go so far as to call for Rob Campbell’s sacking from Health NZ before his sacking (it was Act that went that far), post-sacking they’ve called for him to be sacked from his other posting.
Campbell is also chair of the Environmental Protection Authority. So far, despite his three waters comments, that role appears secure.
But National’s Simeon Brown said it shouldn’t be. “The political comments made by Campbell over the weekend were a clear breach of political neutrality rules,” he said in a statement. “There is absolutely no justification for Mr Campbell to stay in this job given he has failed to comply with the rules for public service neutrality.”
Campbell went on something of a media blitz today, defending his critical remarks about National’s three waters policy during appearances on (at least) RNZ, Newstalk ZB, TVNZ and Today FM.
He told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking there was no reason for him to lose his EPA position. “I don’t think anything that I have said is contrary to the itnerests of the Environmental Protection Authority, so why would I be sacked?”
Newsroom’s Jono Milne reports that the Reserve Bank’s chief economist Paul Conway supports a market study on the banking sector. “I think the banking sector would be an appropriate focus for a market study, should the government wish to go there,” he said.
As Milne explains, market studies are a new tool the government has directed the Commerce Commission to use. So far they’ve exercised the tool three times to investigate petrol prices, supermarkets and currently, building supplies. New commerce minister Duncan Webb said no decisions have yet been made about the focus of the next market study. “However, I am focused on using the tool to ensure markets operate fairly for consumers,” he said.
Want to read The Bulletin in full? Click here to subscribe and join over 36,000 New Zealanders who start each weekday with the biggest stories in politics, business, media and culture.
The now former chair of Health NZ has appeared on pretty much every news programme in the hours since his sacking.
In case you’ve missed this saga: Rob Campbell was facing criticism over comments he made about National’s three waters policy. He was sacked about 5pm last night by the health minister, 24 hours or so after the prime minister first expressed concern over the comments.
Last night, shortly after losing his role, Campbell gave a retaliatory interview with RNZ’s Checkpoint, where he called the health minister’s actions an overreaction, while he gave a play by play of his sacking in an interview with the Herald.
That farewell tour has continued this morning, with Campbell appearing on (at least)* Newstalk ZB, RNZ, and TVNZ’s Breakfast.
Speaking to an exasperated Kim Hill on RNZ’s Morning Report, Campbell once again stood by the comments that led to his dumping from the health agency. “I believe that it’s not only permissible under the code of ethics that I make such comments but it’s important that people on Crown entity boards are not muzzled in respect of every single political opinion they might have,” he said.
The code had been interpreted in an “excessively restrictive way”, he said.
According to Campbell, when he met with Ayesha Verrall yesterday he was given an ultimatum of resign by 10.30am or be sacked.
Rob Campbell (Photo: SkyCity)
Over on Newstalk ZB, Campbell told Mike Hosking he didn’t regret the comments in question but was regretful of the fact he would miss out on dealing with the thousands of health workers. “There was nothing I said that would lead the public to have their faith in Te Whatu Ora undermined,” he said.
Campbell said if the way he was treated was replicated with other staff, he would be concerned.
During his stopover on TVNZ, Campbell acknowledged that the comments on three waters were not politically neutral. But, he said: ”It’s not me they [Christopher Luxon and David Seymour] don’t like… They don’t like that we are changing the health system.”
The code of ethics, Campbell said, didn’t “mean that I’m sitting there like a stuffed parrot, or a parrot that’s been trained just to say ‘Polly wants a biscuit’ whenever the minster wants. That’s not what I’m there for”.
Campbell remains chair of the Environmental Protection Authority. He told Newstalk ZB he didn’t expect to lose this position as well, though the Act Party have already put out a statement calling for a double sacking.
*I now see he was also on Today FM. You can find that chat here.
