The recent controversy over the appointment of Christine Rankin to the Families Commission has revealed the extent of an unwelcome intrusion of tabloid journalism into our media.  But it has also failed to lead to the canvassing of significant issues which have nothing to do with Ms Rankin’s private life (which is her business) and which are to do with the whole subject of Crown entity appointment.

Most New Zealanders are blithely unaware that behind the structures of formal parliamentary democracy in New Zealand lies a comprehensive structure of Crown patronage under which literally thousands of appointments are made to statutory bodies each year.  Ms Rankin’s appointment is just one of such, and a fairly minor one at that when compared to appointments to bodies such as SOEs and a wide range of Crown companies in fields such as energy and finance (Transpower, for example, or the Commerce Commission).  These entities can and do make decisions daily affecting the lives of all New Zealanders but those making the decisions are virtually unknown to most New Zealanders.

The complexities of any modern state mean that no Minister can be expected to keep their finger on everything that happens within their portfolio, however constitutionally accountable they may be in theory, and require delegation, in some cases to specialists whose expertise is crucial to the continued operations of the government.  But as the case of Ms Rankin shows the government of the day has more or less carte blanche to appoint whoever they want to many of the controlling boards involved without any structures for ensuring suitability or accountability.  The surprising things is that, despite accusations to the contrary made from time to time, the Cabinet Committee members and officials involved do try to ensure as far as possible that politics does not enter into the matter and that those appointed are full credentialed for the job in hand. 

It is only when an appointment is made to a body such as Families Commission – essentially a political creation for political reasons and thus open to potential for appointment for political reasons (this is sometimes referred to as ‘cronyism’ although there is no evidence of this in Ms Rankin’s case) that the danger of outright political appointments arises. 

In theory there is an independent body which oversees many of these appointments, the Crown Company Appointments Advisory Unit (known to government insiders by its acronym CCMAU) but this unit is buried deep in the bowels of Treasury, is as unknown to most New Zealanders as the bodies it oversees, and is in any event well known in the same insider circles for its conservatism in the appointments it recommends.

Thanks to a review carried out partly at my instigation under the Clark government the criteria used by CCMAU in the recommendation of appointments were broadened to try and bring more on board of those from ethnic minorities, a broader geographical area, and in particular women, provided they also have the necessary credentials.  This has made some difference but not enough.  Ironically Ms Rankin’s appointment contributes to that outcome.

It seems to me that it is time that this was brought more fully into the open and a transparent and public system of nominations introduced.  What a pity it was that the opportunity provided to do so by the Rankin and other appointments e.g. to the ACC, was stymied by the failure of our media to pursue the real issue.