Dialogue: Burton shirks the tough call at NZ Post

By JOHN ROUGHAN

Last time I saw them, the protagonists on the board of New Zealand Post were grown men. Can we say the same for the minister they must answer to, Mark Burton, or, indeed, this Government?

Grown men, serious men, do not fall out like children, however easy it would be to dismiss their disagreement in those terms.

Chairman Ross Armstrong looks the part - jolly, excitable, engaging and intense in everything he does. He is also sharp, perceptive and listens to people.

Deputy chairman Syd Bradley is a seasoned company director. Board member Ken Douglas, who has publicly criticised the chairman's style, is a recent boss of the union movement. He is not given to petty, personal disputes. When unionists of his stamp attack somebody, they have a calculated purpose.

When members of any board become deeply divided over the company's activities, they have a right to expect a quick, decisive solution from their major shareholders.

The Government, the sole shareholder of NZ Post, has let them down. The "resolution" announced by the Minister of State-owned Enterprises yesterday was an insult to them.

Rather than face the issue put to him by Dr Armstrong, and the related but larger issues revealed by Mr Douglas, the minister has reached for the emollient.

We are supposed to believe the board has "addressed its internal differences" and is now "focused on its job." All sides "acted with integrity" (well, that's true) but the chairman's accusations about his deputy were groundless. Accordingly, "the chair and deputy chair retain the confidence of the board and will remain in their position."

If the board went along with this pathetic compromise, they all should be sacked.

Dr Armstrong believed (apparently on advice) that his deputy gave commercially damaging information to the company's South African client. Mr Douglas has indicated that a faction on the board is unhappy about the whole thrust of the company in its foreign consultancies.

These are not differences that can be mollified and forgotten because that is the way the school teachers in the Government are accustomed to dealing with difficulties.

Mr Burton tried to make the best of his non-solution yesterday. It would have been "easy," he said, "to offer up sacrificial lambs." No it wouldn't. It would have been unpleasant for him.

"However, my role is not to take the easy political route but rather to act in the best interests of the shareholders - the people of New Zealand." Exactly.

The board members, he said, "were left in no doubt that I was prepared to use my full powers to dismiss them if necessary." Who is he kidding?

NZ Post has been a strikingly successful company under Dr Armstrong's leadership. He has run a very successful business by himself and it may be that as a company chairman he knows no other way to operate.

He has taken a close interest in Post's ventures, including the foreign consultancies that cause Mr Douglas discomfort. A few weeks ago, when in Greece , Dr Armstrong was discussing a deal with Hellenic Post for ventures in the Balkan states.

His performance in TVNZ reinforces the impression that he is a mite too hands-on for the chairman of the board. If the Government wants his expertise, it may have to give him boards that will play to his tune. Mr Douglas and others plainly will not.

Sooner or later Mr Burton and the cabinet will have to make a hard decision. Sometimes there is no just realistic middle way.