Ani O'Brien: Politicising a Tragedy - PSA takes the gloves off

New Zealand's largest public sector union increasingly sounds like an opposition party.

The death of a man in the waiting room toilets at Waikato Hospital’s emergency department is a tragedy. He went to hospital needing help and died before he could be treated. His family, and the community, deserve to know what happened, whether it was preventable, and what needs to change so it does not happen again. That is the serious version of this conversation. But unfortunately, we are in an election year and serious conversations are not what some of New Zealand’s unions appear to be interested in when a tragedy can be turned into a political opportunity.

David Farrar: The union that doesn’t stand up for its members

Audrey Young notes:

The Public Service Association more than most unions has attempted an appearance of political neutrality, not least because the concept lies at the heart of its members’ work. But perhaps it should give up the pretence.

The press release with its response to the announcement of $2.4b of cuts was headed: “Public Services will be decimated by reckless plan to fire nearly 9000 workers”.

Ani O'Brien: The Public Service isn’t a six-figure welfare scheme

Some super quick thoughts on the public service reforms

The reaction to Nicola Willis’ pre-Budget speech today went full throttle before she had even delivered it. The proposals were not especially radical, but you would not know this if you interacted with any media today. It was astounding how quickly large sections of New Zealand’s political and media class moved to attack the measures intended to save money and make our government more efficient. The arguments for consolidating our public service and tightening our belts were shut down before they could even properly be debated.

David Farrar: PSA trying to get foreign governments to impede the NZ Government

An astonishing revelation in The Post:

But the PSA’s national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons says meat inspectors “are very worried about this move towards private meat inspection, they know that the companies are conflicted when it comes to this work”.