spinofflive
For people in leadership roles, unemployment is always just a post away.
For people in leadership roles, unemployment is always just a post away.

OPINIONPoliticsMarch 1, 2023

Rob Campbell proves once again that unemployment is always just a post away

For people in leadership roles, unemployment is always just a post away.
For people in leadership roles, unemployment is always just a post away.

Public servants are expected to have values and ideologies – but they’re compensated handsomely to keep them quiet. 

Of all the bleak headlines we encounter, one of the bleakest has to be “[insert person’s name] sacked over social media post”. The fate of former Te Whatu Ora chair Rob Campbell is yet another example of someone taken out by the most banal apparatus: the “post”.

Campbell has been sacked as chair of Te Whatu Ora after making critical comments about the National Party’s water plan on social media, breaching the code of conduct for board members of Crown entities that requires they be politically neutral. Political neutrality is a concept only made real by the appearance of an absence of ideological expression. That warrants thinking about, especially in Campbell’s case. An abundance of publicly expressed ideological thought is a feature of his leadership, not a glitch. 

‘If you value The Spinoff and the perspectives we share, support our work by donating today.’
Anna Rawhiti-Connell
— Senior writer

That Campbell’s comments were made on LinkedIn is bleaker still. LinkedIn is touted by LinkedIn as a platform where you can “connect to opportunity”. No mention is made of the wonderful opportunity to end your career in one fell swoop or the risk inherent in the very notion of mashing “social” media and professionalism together. Campbell’s argument that his comments were made as a private citizen is weakened by that dichotomy. It may be Campbell’s platform of choice but on LinkedIn, the personal is professional and the professional is increasingly political.

LinkedIn has always suffered from a slight inferiority complex when compared with other social media platforms. That’s contributed to a perception that it’s somehow duller and less risky than pacy renegade Twitter or pictorially enticing Instagram. People who train others on professional social media use often imply it’s the starter social media network — a baby step before the big leap off the cliff into more widely shared “thought leadership”. 

While LinkedIn is still used by many as a stagnant CV repository or place to trumpet news of a new job, the tenor of the Microsoft-owned platform has changed a lot over the last few years. It is no more immune to partisanship than any other online space that plays host to the many of us who yell into a void hoping to find our tribes. Your LinkedIn profile is pretty public and highly discoverable, and your activity is surfaced using algorithms that favour engagement. Engagement favours provocation.

Rob Campbell (Photo: SkyCity)

Alongside the creep of the political on LinkedIn is a growth in the popularity of more personal, reflective posts. The embrace of bringing your whole self to work and a professional social media networking platform is wholehearted these days. The clamour for authenticity online has bled into the concept of what it means to be a leader in the 21st century just as it has the concept of being a celebrity or sports star.

All social media makes dual demands of its users. We must tread carefully, all of us individually wearing little risk-detecting black hats at all times so as not to get cancelled or fired. Simultaneously, we have to be entertaining, insightful or provocative enough to attract a following and keep the algorithm odds ever in our favour. That is what drives the blurring of lines between the personal and professional online. For people in leadership roles, that duality is further complicated by the fact that they do not speak for themselves but for whole organisations. Add to that the requirements of public service leadership and it’s a teetering, tottering tower that is prone to collapse at any moment.

In a political context, no one was better at keeping that tower from collapsing than former prime minister Jacinda Ardern. There’s an irony in her social media success also being a factor in the over-exposure equation some say played a role in her decreased popularity. We lapped up the authenticity of Ardern while watching it be weaponised against her. Ardern’s social media success also raised the bar for those in political or public service leadership roles. We have come to expect an element of public facing social media performance from our leaders and with that comes the expectation that they will know how to constantly do the risk versus reward sums in their heads. 

Up until this week, Rob Campbell would have been categorised as pretty good at meeting the demands of social media. Campbell writes well and fulfils our deepest desire of those we follow online by being interesting. His forthrightness and clear idealogical expression may not have been appreciated by all, but it would certainly have been appreciated by the algorithmic beast that requires constant feeding. But being publicly interesting and prolific is a risk in the public service. You could argue there is nothing more authentic than doing as Campbell did, and expressing your political ideologies freely. Except when your job explicitly demands that you don’t do that.

How are public sector leaders and politicians meant to juggle these competing demands? Not posting and phoning a friend instead might be a good start. As we’ve learned recently from a couple of drongos in the media, the group chat is no longer a safe space. People in leadership positions are well compensated for the sacrifices they make. That includes a reduction in their ability to freely express themselves online or in the media. It’s nothing but fair to point out that people fired from KFC for posting things on social media are not as well compensated for their silence. 

Social media professionals in the public sector may well be banging their heads against their desks right now. The guidelines on social media use for the public service in New Zealand are exceptional and incredibly clear. Many might be asking how this keeps happening. How is it that some people can clearly see the tripwires and some can’t? Why do some think they can bend the arc of the social media universe towards them and avoid what is almost always an inevitable fate?  

Maybe public service leaders should be sent to a social media academy to learn how to use it wisely and well. Increasingly, that would be a curriculum less focused on how to take a photo using the front-facing camera and more on navigating the fast-flowing river of online culture and risk. It might also include a class on the sliding scale of scrutiny based on the heights to which you’ve climbed and the balancing of one’s individual urge to post versus the collective fairness of adhering to very clear guidelines. 

As bleak as the case of Campbell and his job-ending comments on LinkedIn is, it’s also inherently sad. We think we want mavericks with views or real people in charge but that increasingly seems untenable, at least in the way that realness publicly manifests. Based on Campbell’s doubling down against his criticism and media appearances since his removal from the Te Whatu Ora job, this seems less like a case of Campbell needing training or an ignorance of the rules and more deliberate rejection of them. It’s also a rejection of his kind from roles where the articulated requirements will always come up trumps. If nothing else, it serves as a reminder that for many of us, unemployment is always just a post away. 

‘If you value The Spinoff and the perspectives we share, support our work by donating today.’
Anna Rawhiti-Connell
— Senior writer
Doing his own research (on Pornhub): Brian Tamaki. Image: Archi Banal
Doing his own research (on Pornhub): Brian Tamaki. Image: Archi Banal

PoliticsMarch 1, 2023

Brian Tamaki blames porn use in Gisborne and Hastings for Cyclone Gabrielle disaster

Doing his own research (on Pornhub): Brian Tamaki. Image: Archi Banal
Doing his own research (on Pornhub): Brian Tamaki. Image: Archi Banal

The self-described ‘apostle’ and political party founder also attributed the catastrophic floods to homosexuality and abortion.

The founder of Destiny Church and the Freedoms NZ political party, Brian Tamaki, has told followers that the devastating and deadly floods of Cyclone Gabrielle were brought on by a “moral depravity and degradation”, including high levels of pornography consumption in the worst hit areas. New Zealand had also been targeted as a result of homosexuality and abortion laws, he said.

In a rambling, disinformation-littered diatribe before his church fellowship, viewed online more than 3,300 times, Tamaki, a self-styled prophet and horse enthusiast who rejects allegations that Destiny is a cult, said: “That flooding was a result of depravity.” He went on to describe his research process. “I was suspicious. Don’t hate me for this … I see the perversion that is linked to bad weather. So I hopped on,” sermonised Tamaki, typing the air to illustrate logging on to the internet. 

He continued: “And I went online. And by the way I don’t watch porn. But I went on there, [typed] ‘Porn in New Zealand’, and it gave me Pornhub. I was shocked by what I found. That city in there, Hastings and Gisborne, has the highest number of porn watchers in the country and it’s one of the biggest averages per capita in the world … And they’re the biggest watchers on the porn site of gay porn. I know! And I closed it and thought, I can’t do this in church, I can’t say this publicly.”

He overcame that instinct, however. “I thought, no, God said, you know, you know it, you’ve got it, the revelation, you’ve got to share it. [Otherwise] they will not see this, they won’t connect the dots. You’ll be mocked, they’ll say you’re a nutter, but don’t worry it gets out and people can see the truth for themselves … Please, stop watching porn, New Zealand. It’s getting us in trouble.” 

Tamaki on the Facebook livestream.

The mayor of Gisborne, Rehette Stoltz, called Tamaki’s comments “disappointing, unhelpful and laughable”, adding: “We have families struggling after losing their homes and their livelihoods and  a much-loved community member lost his life.” She told The Spinoff: “In true Kiwi style, the rest of NZ have mucked in and supported us every step of the way. The awhi and aroha have been heartwarming and humbling. We feel loved and nurtured in a very tough time.”

Stoltz was perplexed by Tamaki’s online activities. “It’s worth mentioning that Tairāwhiti was without internet access for five days, so Brian’s ‘research’ might need updating. I suggest Brian stop wasting his time ‘researching’ Pornhub, and instead join the rest of New Zealand who have donated time, energy and money to help us get back on our feet. I can flick him our Disaster Relief Fund bank details if he reaches out. We’ll get back to work now thanks.”

Chris Hipkins and Rehette Stolz at a Cyclone Gabrielle briefing last week. (Photo by Phil Yeo/Getty Images)

In a sermon lasting over an hour that drew heavily on the old testament’s Book of Leviticus, Tamaki said Cyclone Gabrielle “should never have got near us”, adding, baselessly: “But no, it was swirling, it got strong and He said, I’m coming for you, I’m after New Zealand. Because that’s where the most extreme abortion, that’s the abomination that’s coming up in the air to God. That’s the place that has the queerest parliament in the world.”

New Zealand’s abortion laws provided “a big tick for this country to be a target”, said Tamaki. How did he know? “I have caught how God feels about it,” he explained, “so I feel how He feels … I transfer His feelings to my feelings, His thoughts to my thoughts.” 

After the Christchurch earthquake which killed 185 people in 2011, Tamaki delivered a sermon blaming homosexuality, saying, “the earth convulses under the weight of certain human sin.” In 2020, Tamaki attributed the Covid-19 pandemic to airborne Satanic demons and the drinking of bat’s blood.

Earlier this month, Freedoms New Zealand, a political party founded by Tamaki and his Freedom and Right Coalition, was successfully registered with the Electoral Commission. Tamaki’s attempts to persuade Sue Grey and the Outdoors Party to join his umbrella party were unsuccessful. 

Despite Jacinda Ardern’s retirement from politics, Tamiki continued his vitriolic and falsehood-replete attacks on the former prime minister last week, saying: “That woman was the personification of a Satanic order she was going to put in place for this country.” And: “Jacinda was carrying on the satanic agenda that started with Helen Clark.”

The leader of the opposition was similarly denounced. By posting a tweet in support of Pride Month, Christopher Luxon had been “glorifying baby killing”, Tamaki railed, bizarrely. Chris Hipkins was not exempt; he was “part of the conduit of these problems, he’s in the same camp.” A spokesperson for Hipkins declined to comment, suggesting people could make their own assessments about Tamaki’s remarks. 

Tamaki’s Man Up movement last week launched a “convoy” to the east coast of the North Island to assist in the cleanup. In a livestream earlier this week, Tamaki urged those taking part to grasp the opportunity to proselytise. “When you’re shovelling and digging,” he said, “look for gentiles.” In a post last night, Tamaki announced that he was about to head personally to Hastings to “muck in with my men”.

‘If you regularly enjoy The Spinoff, and want it to continue, become a member today.’
Toby Manhire
— Editor-at-large