The Green Party is calling for senior governance roles at Crown entities to be publicly advertised, after new research shows only 18 of the 71 people appointed by the Government were recruited through a publicly advertised process.
"Appointments to Crown boards and organisations should be fair and transparent. Looking at the data and there is a clear pattern in who this Government hands these jobs to," says Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson.
"Three in four of these roles were filled without ever being advertised, two in three appointments went to men, and fewer than one in 20 went to Māori, who make up around one in six New Zealanders."
"How can you say you are getting the best candidate for the job when no one outside the room knows the job exists? The flow on effect is there for everyone to see."
"This Government talks constantly about appointing on merit, but merit means an open process where anyone qualified can put their hand up and be assessed against the same criteria as everyone else. That is not what has been happening here."
"While public advertising is not legally required for many of these roles, a process that is closed by default will keep returning the same kinds of people because they are the only ones who ever hear about it."
"These are the organisations that regulate our medicines, run our public broadcasters, protect our environment and oversee our courts, and they are funded by all of us."
"Every one of these roles should be advertised publicly, with the position description and the skills the board is looking for published alongside it."
"These institutions belong to all of us. The people who lead them should be chosen through an open process, not a shoulder tap," says Davidson.
