Heather du Plessis-Allan: How Rob Campbell has done Labour a favour

Rob Campbell, who has been ousted as Health NZ/Te Whatu Ora chairman. Photo / Michael Craig

It’s pointless for Rob Campbell to argue he shouldn’t have been fired.

The code of conduct for his government board jobs made the rules clear. He was expected to “maintain the political neutrality required to enable [him] to work with current and future governments”.

But even if the rules weren’t clear, after three days of Campbell’s media interviews, the public probably didn’t need to know the rules to make a judgment call. He’d doubled down on his comments, argued the rules, claimed he was driven out for ulterior motives and accused Labour Government ministers of treating him in the same way Muldoon had.

Campbell was clearly a tough customer. He made it clear he was a fighter.

Campbell’s sacking from both his Health NZ/Te Whatu Ora and Environmental Protection Authority jobs - but especially the health one - is a pity. He is an extremely accomplished board director. It was something of a coup for Labour to score someone of his calibre to chair the fledgling Health NZ. The task of reforming the health sector is massive. The winter ahead will be tough for a stretched health system.

In the long run, it is a loss. But in the short term, Campbell’s sacking turned out to be a political gift for Labour.

It gave the Hipkins administration a chance to differentiate itself from the days of Jacinda Ardern, who struggled to fire anyone, even when necessary. Fairly or not, it made Ardern look weak. By contrast, this version of Labour has made a good fist of looking like it’s running the show, especially when it has publicly reprimanded a business heavyweight like Campbell.

Campbell’s defenestration also got the word out far and wide that Labour is abandoning (or at least watering down) its co-governance policies. It’s very unlikely that was the motivation for firing Campbell. The Government didn’t make that an issue.

But Campbell did. He claimed Health Minister Ayesha Verrall sacked him because he’d got too outspoken on co-governance and she’d already essentially told him to pull his head in because the Government wanted that particular issue to go quiet before the election. By making a song and dance about it, Campbell helped to publicise Labour’s backing away and that is no bad thing for a Government wanting to assure worried voters.

But the most welcome aspect to the whole drama would probably have been that Campbell hogged the headlines. He drowned out the other major political story of the week, which was the gloss very quickly coming off the Government’s response to Cyclone Gabrielle.

If it wasn’t for Campbell, the news might’ve been dominated by Hawke’s Bay locals arming themselves out of ongoing fear of looters and gang members. Or the Police Commissioner apologising to the Prime Minister for a briefing that led Chris Hipkins to believe the road workers weren’t held up at gunpoint. Or the Karekare locals who say they feel forgotten after Cyclone Gabrielle destroyed their roads. Or the Wairoa residents feeling the same. Or Federated farmers reiterating calls for the Defence Force to be deployed to reassure farmers terrified of crime.

Those problems aren’t going away for Labour. Once the gloss wears off, it’s hard to put it back on again. The bad news headlines will simply pop up again unless the frustrations behind them are addressed.

But Campbell’s bought the Government a bit of breathing space. Funnily, by demanding media attention, he’s done Labour a favour.