NZ Post board jobs on the line – Burton
State-Owned Enterprises Minister Mark Burton had to put back a planned trip to Australia for defence talks by two days to sort out the dispute and he is refusing to voice confidence in either the board or chairman Ross Armstrong.
He issued a clear warning that the jobs of board members were on the line. "I can appoint directors and I can remove directors. I will do what is necessary to ensure this organisation can run effectively, up to, and including, using the full powers available to me."
Board members are understood to have spent yesterday in meetings and telephone conferences in a bid to find a way around the impasse but Mr Burton has warned they may have only a day or two before he is forced to act.
NZ Post board member Linda Robertson said they were "working toward getting a solution" but she and other members refused to comment further. If the board fails to patch up its differences, the Government may be forced to act to end the run of damaging publicity that risks shaking confidence in NZ Post.
Sacking the board en masse is understood to be one option under consideration as Mr Burton and his officials try to sort out the increasingly messy dispute, which stems from allegations by Dr Armstrong against his deputy chairman, Syd Bradley. Other options include sacking just Dr Armstrong, but it is understood this is a less favoured option.
Dr Armstrong alleges Mr Bradley told South African postal official Leon Dippenaar that the board did not support a contract by NZ Post subsidiary Transend to turn South Africa's postal service into a profit-making operation.
Dr Armstrong's row with the board began after Dr Armstrong contacted Mr Burton directly with his concerns – an action that has been publicly criticised by members including former trade unions boss Ken Douglas.
Mr Burton agreed to a suggestion from Dr Armstrong for an independent inquiry into the allegations but the board is understood to have voted down the terms of reference when they were raised by Dr Armstrong at a meeting in Wellington on Sunday.
There is some confusion over what happened next, but it appears the board discussed Dr Armstrong publicly acknowledging that there was no basis to the allegations against Mr Bradley and no need for an inquiry.
At that stage, however, Dr Armstrong had left the meeting and returned home to Auckland.
Prime Minister Helen Clark said it was "absolutely disgraceful that board affairs spill over into the public arena".
Miss Clark said she had not been in contact with Dr Armstrong and her only advice to Mr Burton had been to "play it by the book".
"There are obviously quite severe breakdowns in personal relationships in there, but I have never known an SOE board to carry on like this," she said.
Continued leaks over the affair have tested the Government's patience and Mr Burton has already warned he will sack any board member found to have leaked details of a confidential report into alleged irregularities with NZ Post's operations in Spain.
Public statements by board members, including Mr Douglas, have raised eyebrows within the Government. These include Mr Douglas's suggestion that NZ Post should not be involved in consultancy work in developing countries.
Mr Douglas also questioned why NZ Post's proposed new banking arm was not getting involved in business banking despite the Government's clearly stated intention that the banking proposal focus on personal savings.
National Party deputy leader Bill English said yesterday that Dr Armstrong should go.
"The outcome of yesterday's board meeting . . . shows the chairman does not have the confidence of the board. He effectively lost a vote of no confidence."
National is also seeking an Audit Office investigation.
The Dominion
