Ummmm.
WTF?
Look, Rob Campbell is 100% right when he says…
Posting on LinkedIn, Rob Campbell, said he thought National’s policy was a thin disguise for the dog whistling on co-governance.
“What on earth would make anyone think this was a sensible idea for debt raising alone, let alone the management and delivery of the tasks,” he wrote.
…yes, the 3 Waters proposal put forward by National is an un-costed joke…
Claire Trevett: National’s counter policy to Labour’s Three Waters carries big question marks
Quite what National was thinking in releasing its version of a Three Waters policy without addressing the costs or the impact on ratepayers is baffling.
After years of criticising Labour for its Three Waters reforms and promising to repeal it, National has finally shown what it would do instead.
Leader Christopher Luxon prefaced it by saying the status quo was not an option.
The policy he then announced was the status quo with belts and braces added – and some very large questions marks dangling off it.
…this is a blocked gutter, it’s not 3 Waters!
This is aimed at reminding National voters that they hate co-governance and the Maaaaaaari get too much bogeyman, so yes Rob is 100% right.
However.
There is no way in hell the chair of Te Whatu Ora/Health NZ and the Environmental Protection Authority should be making such comments!
He is a senior public official, it is not his right to voice his political opinion on anything, that’s the obligation of all senior public officials!
I agree with everything he says about National’s terrible 3 Waters joke, but I utterly disagree with his right to say it as a senior public official.
The cost of being in the positions he is in, is he loses his right to view personal political opinions, that’s the deal and he’s breaking that deal.
The only explanation here is that he wants to get fired and then join either the Green Party or the Māori Party???
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Worse: he knows he won’t get fired, because public service hasn’t actually been non-partisan for quite some time…
You not only look an idiot, but you are one now. I’d suggest you take your foot out of your mouth and give the daily blog a miss for a while. I’m sure whale oil will be more than happy to accommodate you…
Kudos to Ayesha Verrall – she’s just removed Campbell from the board of Te Whatu Ora.
Pope Punctilious 11. Which is exactly what Rob Campbell wanted, IMO. Rob knows perfectly well that his position requires him to be apolitical, but the Campbells have been a dodgy lot ever since Glen Coe. Watch his space.
And so say all of us McDonalds!
Pope+Punctilious+11…. As I softly sing the Skye Boat Song…and ponder the Marseillaise…
Won’t get by the mods “WRONG”
Oh yes he can … and IS fired.
Tho’ a mistake imo, He just exercised his right to free speech. Hasn’t he David Seymour – you hypocrite!
He breached the code of conduct. He was free to speak his mind, but that someone with co sequences when your employment agreement explicitly says not to.
“When acting in our private capacity, we avoid any political activity that could jeopardise our ability to perform our role or which could erode the public’s trust in the entity. “
Well that backfired!
Woke muppet outs self (again).
His complete lack of judgement or self awareness makes me shudder considering he’s in charge of building/destroying the health system.
Surely the age of the diversity hire must be over soon and we can get back to being promoted on merit.
Promotion on merit would be excellent.
Something sadly lacking in NZ.
KCCO. Time to have a medically qualified person, AKA a doctor, chairing the health system. Remember when hospitals were headed by medical superintendents rather than by bean counters ? Before patients became ‘clients’ and ‘customers’ ?
He is neither brown enough for TPM nor queer enough for the Greens. He is just someone who can’t keep his mouth shut. (and yes, Maori can be white passing).
So are you saying he made the comment because of his roots? Most sane people would say Nationals idea is plain stupid regardless of ethnicity. Ok so he should not have said it in his position, but he’s not wrong.
Unfortunately ROB (just like a number of other “officials” in senior – supposedly ‘public service’ roles) has joined the ranks of the Masters of the Universe.
They collectively shit on what it is that civil/public servants should be.
There is/are a process(es) that should be adhered to. The problem is that when you get useless tits in key roles (such as the State Services Commissioner, now inaptly named the Public Service Commissioner), it all turns to shit.
Public service is now secondary to things like self promotion and gathering all the treats and trinkets of position, protecting others in the PMC in positions of power, and collecting experiences and likes with which to embellish C.V’s.
Personally, I think they’re to be pitied. They’re often pretty ugly specimens as well in their personal lives.
More than any government since Muldoon (and perhaps they have even surpassed Muldoon), the civil service have been indoctrinated into Labour’s sick ideology.
Ah no. There is no indoctrination in calling a stupid idea a stupid idea.
Rob may have some wriggle room here…
a) using a personal account
b) he is also as far as I know, Chair of the EPA–Environmental Protection Authority, which surely has some cross over with 3 Waters
https://www.epa.govt.nz/news-and-alerts/latest-news/environmental-regulator-welcomes-rob-campbell-as-board-chair/
And, did he say anything untrue?
But really this is an unfair pile on given all the ACT/Natzo fifth columnists who sneak around out of public gaze leaking and undermining. Nasty types–hate the big state but happy to take the big salaries and benefits.
Free the Campbell! Let him speak.
Heh, not this time it seems!
It was telling that he said “PM (Hipkins) had never talked to him” on RNZ tonight. The Minister had her riding instructions.
On the other hand….
Campbell just offered an opinion. It’s about ‘free speech’.
Y’know, the thing that Seymour advocates wherever and whenever and to whomever he can.
For him, of all people, to rubbish Campbell for this is the height of hypocrisy!! No surprises there.
I look forward to the next TWG and Damien Grant standing up for Campbell as he did for Ms Pugh, with an argument for free speech, after her leader shut her up.
.
Verity Verdant. Not about free speech. About a guy being paid quite big bucks to maintain political neutrality. He won’t be queuing down at WINZ, or hoping that the mokopuna score free school meals.
The only reason the ‘status quo is not an option’, is because they’ve been underfunding a public asset for decades!
The current arrangement is Labour’s old policy. There is nothing wrong with it — what is wrong is that austerity measures have caused the infrastructure to enter a collapse.
Labour and water is all about co governance.
We all know that.
National’s policy rids us of that.
Labour’s 3Waters added layers of extra cost.
We all know that.
100 nurses short in Chch .Wait times in.ED and for operations are terrible .It is a pity he does not spend more time doing the well paid job he has and less in trying to protect the Maori elite
I seem to remember Rob Campbell swiftly getting on to the Bank of New Zealand management team way back when Labour took off its ceremonials dungarees. IIRR.
SACKED .I wonder if this would have happened if Jacinda was still in.charge .
She ‘s not. Brilliant Government response. Congratulations Labour.
Well Trevor thats a wast of a wonder the message is don’t underestimate or mess with Dr. Verrall
No.
Nah. Jacinda would chide us with “There’s been a lot of judgeyness about Rob Campbell’s comments”
Pope Punctilious 11. Nonsense. Jacinda would have tilted him into a nice wee job as a diplomat in some fairly comfortable place.
She would of promoted him even further, look what happened to her protection bully Mallard?
BG. She might have wanted Trevor out of sight when the the side shoots of the 1000+ complaints to the IPCA about the wicked coppers down at Parliament on Trevor’s watch start appearing. A dose of Eire’s Polish Catholicism might quieten him too, but probably not. Dublin ever deserved that duck.
try saying the word impartiality within 10 feet of a winz manager.
Exactly, nice uppercut there.
Rob Campbell, Blairite extraordinaire
On yer Bike!
Rack off!
I’m sure you’ll cope.
Next…… ???
I could name a few
Yes.
Good job he put his hand up (more than once) and identified himself as representing everything wrong in our politicized yet useless and self serving “public” service.
In true fashion he’s still unrepentant and everyone else is wrong.
We need a new government with a very large broom.
+ 1 KCC.
Keepcalmcarryon Repentance has nothing to do with it. He’s a “victim” now, poor exited bloke. Victimhood is how it’s all played now – they’re everywhere.
“I think I am entitled to make comments …”
Says it all.
A typical Labour party hack. Good fuckn job.
I’d like to hear his true opinions 39 years (!!!) on from his famous betrayal. He seems to have kept his union humanism. Thinking he wasn’t wrong is difficult to absorb. While old social democrats starved and he grew fat on rich rule.
Frankly disgusted with the lot of them! Campbell and dozens like him should be out on his a*se. The extreme ideology of many parts of the public service needs to p*ss off from whence it came. It is quite literally choking Wellington and is completely unprofessional. Kudos to Verell for acting when the hot potato landed in her lap.
Next up National and Labour!!! What a waste of space! 3 Waters is wrong for NZ on so many levels and National, finally given a chance to shine by solving the issue well, gives us John Key all over again.
Why do we elect these people???? Luxon’s list of status quo. Lab and Nats actions is like something done on the back of a fag packet. Their first opportunity to show that they know what they are doing and will deliver for NZ and they give us this!
I hate to agree with Campbell but he isnt wrong when he says they have only removed Maori from the equation (in totality I must add). Where is the government money to assist councils making the leap, where are the govt bonds? or govt backed guarantees (however it works) to allow the worst off councils to borrow as necessary. This is the status quo but with a much needed regulator, that is all. Where is the needed billion or two to get it all moving? Nada. Where is the necessary Maori voice?
So now we are between a rock and a hard place. All of us in the middle who have screamed ourselves hoarse are still whistling Dixie looking for a practical solution to the problem. But instead we are caught between two ideologies and affordable water for all NZers at a reasonable price is just as far from being realised as it was last week.
The one benefit in National’s proposal is that it will ensure water in NZ is owned and distributed locally but it does next to nothing about improving our chances off getting high quality water and waste systems for all NZers for both right now and to meet future needs
Sorry Fantail National ensures our water is sold to the highest bidder plus our rates will go up . So much for feeling sorry for the squeezed middle never mind the bottom feeders.