The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union supports Minister Andrew Little in his rebuke of public servant Dr Gary Jackson for using his position as Director of Public Health at Counties Manukau to lobby MPs.

“National and the Green Party have criticised Minister Little for calling the letter sent to MPs by Dr Jackson an ‘egregious breach of public service standards’. They seem to think that rules and norms governing our public service should be flexible depending on the politics at play. Our public service needs to be neutral in all matters,” Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director Jordan Williams says.

“Dr Jackson lobbied MPs using a Health NZ letterhead in a clear breach of standards. It is not ‘silencing’ to pull him up on this; it is upholding the structures we have in place to ensure New Zealand’s public service is as neutral, transparent, and accountable as possible.”

“As Minister Little says, Dr Jackson is free to engage in politics as a private citizen, but not using his public service position.”

“The rule is simple: keep your politics out of your job and your job out of politics. Dr Jackson is quite welcome to pontificate on political matters unrelated to his job. But the fact is he is a Director of Public Health - wearing a ‘personal hat’ on public health policy is simply not possible.”

“Dr Shane Reti and Chloe Swarbrick’s arguments that Dr Jackson is an expert and that his letter was ‘thoughtful’, ignore the fact that public service standards exist to protect the integrity of those working for the New Zealand Government. Would they still argue for a public servant who used their public office to support a political stance they didn’t agree with?”

“Good on Minister Andrew Little for taking the principled stance in this.”

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