RODNEY HIDE: One job ad
The Department of Conservation is hiring a Principal Iwi Strategy and Partnerships Advisor.
Wellington. Permanent. $110,033 to $145,000.
The ad does not whisper. It shouts.
Lead strategic initiatives that strengthen Treaty partnerships. Embed Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles across DOC. Drive meaningful organisational change. Coach others to strengthen organisational capability. Provide expert Treaty guidance so Te Tiriti and settlement commitments are “appropriately considered” in every decision.
There is even a new “DOC Treaty Operating Model.”
Parliament has risen for the election. The government that promised to end co-governance has had nearly three years. ACT put Treaty principles on the ballot paper of politics and lost the vote in the House. National talked about ending race-based preference and vague partnership doctrine. NZ First thundered against co-governance.
And DOC is still advertising a senior officer whose job is to deepen the very project voters voted to end.
That is not a recruitment hiccup. That is a confession.
Either the bureaucracy is a law unto itself, hiring for a worldview ministers claim to have shut down, or the politicians are telling the public one story and the departments another.
You cannot have it both ways.
If the principles of the Treaty are so unclear that Parliament had to debate a bill to define them, how does a department “embed” them across the organisation? Embed what? Partnership? Co-governance with softer branding? The courts’ invention? The officials’ preferred reading?
The ad assumes the answer is settled. The election assumed it was not.
Settlements are law. They must be honoured. At least until they are undone.
But that is not what this job is selling. It is selling a permanent principal whose mission is to strengthen partnerships, embed principles, and change the culture of a Crown agency from the inside — while the government campaigns as if that agenda is on the way out.
Watch the language. “Treaty partners.” “Stewardship of strategically significant Treaty partner relationships.” “Organisational capability.” It is the vocabulary of a parallel constitution administered by people who never face the voters.
Ministers can repeal a clause here and soften a statute there. The job ads keep coming. The salary band fills. The operating model arrives. The next cohort of officials is hired to make yesterday’s politics tomorrow’s default.
Three years is long enough to change a department’s hiring brief. If you cannot change that, you have not changed the government. You have only changed the press release.
So which is it?
Are the bureaucrats freelancing, building Treaty partnership machinery the Cabinet dare not defend on the stump?
Or are the politicians playing us: talking tough about co-governance and principles while the departments are told, quietly, to push ahead?
One Seek listing will not decide an election.
It should decide whether you believe a word they say.
Rodney Hide is a former Minister and ACT Part leader
Been to the new Auckland train station yet? All the signage is in Te Reo first. Iconic Mt Eden station has been renamed without Mt Eden being a part of the name. I can't even pronounce the name of the station in Victoria St, and all the announcements on the train are in Te Reo first, same as with the busses. Is this still New Zealand even. What was wrong with Auckland Central Station for a name? Clear and obvious to all, especially overseas visitors. I am so over the state led Maorification of this country, and I totally blame National. They got in back in 2023 on a ticket to roll it all back, and have utterly betrayed us…
Thanks Rodney for shining a light on this When New Zealanders are trying to get our national dept down and doing the hard yards of cost cutting, it is staggering, frustrating and down right wrong to see roles advertised at $110,033–$145,000 per year for ideological positions like this Tama Potaka should be asked to explain To put that into perspective $110,033 net per year is $2,116.02 per week.
$145,000 net per year is $2,788.46 per week. Absolutely crazy misuse of taxpayers money A misappropriation of funds that should be used for on the ground real DOC rangers who actually do what DOC's role is; Protect native species, ecosystems, and natural habitats. And managing our national parks, walking tracks, backcountry huts, and marine reserves. And the real…
We desperately need to have a look at our whole system of government as switching to an MMP model has helped a bit but the gap between the people and their Parliament is as wide as ever. The Swiss model of government puts the people as sovereign and through their Cantons and decisions at a very grassroots level the people run the show not the Public Service. Both the NZ Iniative and Gareth Morgan have made excellent proposals on adopting it so what about a, dare I suggest, a Royal Commission on them.
Just get rid of DOC. When they are enabling Ngai Tahu to be able to harvest the Yellow-Eyed penguin for customary practices they have lost the plot and are not fit for purpose. Shut them down; simple.
I dont believe that Luxon and the Nats dont know whats happening to this country, The question is why, are they being paid off by wealthy IWI to turn a blind eye to whats happening