Rob Campbell speaks out once again after being fired from his second public service role

The former chair of both Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand and the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) Rob Campbell continues to not walk silently away from either of his posts.

He was an EPA board member at the whim of Environment Minister David Parker, who fired him from that position today. Campbell was previously removed from his position as chair of Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ by Health Minister Ayesha Verrall.

A LinkedIn post by Campbell criticising National’s Three Waters strategy and charging the group with a “dog whistle on co-governance” landed him in hot water.

He also personally attacked National’s leader, writing: “Christopher Luxon might be able to rescue his party from stupidity on climate change but rescuing this from a well he has dug himself might be harder.”

Campbell has also said legal action against the Government remains on the table.

Speaking to Heather Du Plessis-Allan on Newstalk ZB this afternoon, Campbell admitted he has had “better weeks”.

“I’m losing contact with a lot of things and people that I love,” Campbell admitted.

He didn’t back down from accusing the Government of “Muldoon-isms” and has now explained his reasoning behind his comparison.

“It felt the same way here, that as it felt when I was a young man and being attacked by Muldoon for standing up and saying things that I believed in and still believe in,” he said first.

He then spoke about a potential abuse of power by the Government, explaining that because they have the power to fire people in positions like he was in, it doesn’t mean they should.

“They are following repressive interpretation of the code of conduct, they’re not following due process to consult and talk through with people and try to find alternatives and try and find solutions,” Campbell said.

“They’re not doing any of the things you would do that you would call good governance,

“I think that it just absolutely smacks of the way Muldoon used to behave and I’m very sad about that.”

He said he planned to continue to speak out about co-governance issues.

“I don’t have the positions I once had, but I plan to keep advocating exactly the same issues that I’ve been advocating while I’m in the position with a view calling to attention the fact that the Government is watering it down and backing away from it,” Campbell said.

He admitted that he was “amused” he was being accused of being impartial, asking the Government to look in the dictionary for the definition of the word.

“If they looked up their Oxford Dictionary, they would find that impartial is being equally critical of both parties,” Campbell said.

“There’s nothing about impartial that says that you shut up or sit there like a stuffed dummy.”

Earlier today, Parker said he acted on the advice of Public Service Commissioner Peter Hughes when sacking Campbell.

“I have accepted the Public Service Commissioner’s advice that Rob Campbell’s LinkedIn comments in relation to National’s policies and its leader is a clear breach of the Code of Conduct requirements that he act politically impartially and retains his ability to work effectively under current and future governments.

“Also, his subsequent public comments in the media suggest he does not accept the constraints he is under as a member and chair of a Crown Entity Board.

“That has eroded my trust and confidence in his ability to effectively undertake his role at the EPA,” Parker said.

On Tuesday, Campbell was sacked from his role as the chair of Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ.

Verrall said she had lost faith in Campbell after learning that his comments violated the code of conduct for board members of Crown Entities about impartiality.

When questioned on Monday, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said Campbell’s comments were “inappropriate”.

But Campbell maintains that his removal was motivated by factors other than questions of impartiality.

He said that since Hipkins became Prime Minister and Verrall became Health Minister the Government has shifted away from its co-governance agenda, something he had been supportive of.

Verrall said she had lost faith in Campbell and sacked him from his role at Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Campbell said Verrall pulled him up for a column published in the Herald in which he defended co-governance.

“Since Minister Verrall took over - she informally expressed some concern to me about the emphasis I was putting on Te Aka Whai Ora [the Māori Health Authority] and its centrality to the reforms.

“She thought my language was stronger than she would like it to be,” Campbell said.

“It was a view that we might become not quite aligned and - and you don’t need to be a genius to see why that’s happening.”

Campbell acknowledged that he was making reference to the Government’s decision to place less of an emphasis on co-governance.

“There was no formal warning, it was an adult-to-adult discussion,” he said.