The CEO of Environment Canterbury has responded to accusations senior leaders in the organisation are openly supporting the Labour Government, when all employees are required to be politically neutral.
It comes as former chair of Te Whatu Ora, Rob Campbell was fired by the Health Minister for breaking Public Service rules about political neutrality.
“I no longer have confidence that Mr Campbell is able to exercise the political neutrality necessary for his role at Te Whatu Ora,” Health Minister Ayesha Verrall said.
“It is of vital importance that all Public Service board members, especially Chairs, uphold the political neutrality required under the Code of Conduct which they sign upon appointment.”
An employee at Environment Canterbury told Chris Lynch Media ECan’s Chief Executive Stefanie Rixecker, along with senior leaders, have been open about their support for the current government.
“We had an all-staff meeting which used probably 400+ man hours, that quickly turned into the CEO pretty much running a rally and tribute to outgoing Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, as she had just left”, he said.
“I’d love to see Stefanie Rixecker (ECan’s CEO) asked why she thinks that was appropriate, during the same speech she reminded everyone we are politically neutral.”
According to Ecan’s website, all staff at the organisation must be ‘politically neutral’.
“All staff at ECan are expected to be politically neutral, avoid conflicts of interest, and maintain actual, and perceived, impartiality”, Ecan’s code of conduct states.
The employee says a meeting at the start of the year called ‘State of the Region’ was filled with CEO Stefanie Rixecker supporting Labour Party talking points.
“It was pretty bad, the CEO pledged her support for Three Waters and spent a good five minutes praising Jacinda Ardern’s leadership before leading a round of applause. I was quite shocked.
“She then talked of all the misogyny female leaders deal with, which I can’t say I’ve seen, and spoke of LGBTQ rights too.
“Of course, I agree that those rights should be absolute, but I don’t understand why hundreds of people took an hour to hear about all these things.”
The employee is also concerned over the large amount of money and resources being used in the organisation.
“A lot of valuable time and resources are wasted with meetings which include opening and closing Karakia and Waiata – all nice to have but not at a time when the public is so stretched. The amount of money wasted over this way of thinking is staggering.”
“I also find it curious that Maori prayer is promoted, and we are pressured to learn and recite them.”
The employee says other leaders in the organisation aren’t worried about promoting Labour Party policies and letting everyone know they support them.
ECan’s code of conduct states “all employees must undertake work unaffected by personal beliefs, avoid acting on personal opinions or allow workplace actions or relationships to influence their approach when undertaking official duties”.
ECan’s Chief Executive Stefanie Rixecker has responded to the accusations, she provided Chris Lynch Media with the following statement.
“We do ask that staff, including me as Chief Executive and senior leaders, remain politically neutral at work. Obviously we know that people will have political views, but these should not be shared at work or influence our decisions in any way.
“I have noted to staff that I admire Jacinda Ardern’s work ethic as a woman and mother in the workforce, and for having the courage to say that there is nothing left in the tank to carry on. These are not political views – they are human views.
“Council’s position on Three Waters is that we agree that something needs to be done differently. We have left further comment on the details of what that looks like to the territorial authorities at this stage. (You can view our submissions to central government here)
“As we move towards a general election we do put reminders out to staff around remaining politically neutral at work, and I will ensure this is done again this year.”
