Cam Slater: Government Starting to Walk Back Co-Governance Issue

The Government knows that its divisive co-governance agenda is electoral poison. Part of the reason why Jacinda Ardern had to go was her inability to rein in ministers and sack troublesome people. Chris Hipkins has moved with alacrity to disabuse us all that he is just like Jacinda Ardern. That’s why Rob Campbell has been sacked from two board positions. It’s pure politics.

Hipkins needed to draw a line in the sand and start walking back co-governance. Rob Campbell provided them with a scapegoat to send a message to stroppy Maori, the electorate and civil servants, that “kindness” is over, and so is co-governance.

Rob Campbell had to go because he was seen as a vocal supporter of advancing the co-governance issue. Furthermore, Campbell himself has confirmed that this is the underlying rationale for his sacking.

Axed Te Whatu Ora and EPA chairman Rob Campbell says ministers “targeted” him and wanted him gone because he stood up for co-governance.

Just moments after he was sacked from his second public service role, as chairperson of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), Campbell hit back at the Government and said it appeared ministers had been waiting for an excuse to fire him.

“Ministers had warned me not to go ‘too far’, as they see it, but I believe we haven’t moved fast enough to give resources and prominence to Te Aka Whai Ora [the Maori Health Authority],” Campbell said.

However, Health Minister Ayesha Verrall said she was “deeply committed” to the Maori Health Authority’s success. “The Government created Te Aka Whai Ora because of our commitment to Maori participation at the highest level of health decision making.”

Campbell was sacked from both jobs after publicly criticising the National Party’s policy on Three Waters. He described the policy, in a post on LinkedIn, as a “thinly disguised dog whistle on co-governance”.

Stuff

David Parker, himself a vocal critic of the divisive push for co-governance, was one of the ministers who sacked Campbell from the EPA. That is the second important signal that the Government is intent on walking back co-governance in order to give them a better chance at the election.

As I said earlier, this is pure politics on the Government’s part. They needed to neuter the Maori caucus and their racist ambitions, and this was how they decided to signal that.

Buckle up though, this is going to get bumpy and we could see some stroppy Maori cut loose along with Rob Campbell getting stroppy himself.

Meanwhile, the Government has stolen a march on Luxon’s flat-footed opposition and grabbed some vital momentum.

Happy days ahead.

Cam Slater is a New Zealand-based blogger, best known for his role in Dirty Politics and publishing the Whale Oil Beef Hooked blog, which operated from 2005 until it closed in 2019. This article was first published HERE.