Friends in high places
The partners of two former Labour MPs have been controversially appointed to the South Island’s largest charity – the $600 million Rata Foundation.
Jane Sherriff and Philippa Burns are the latest appointments to the 12-member board of the former Canterbury Community Trust, which distributes about $18m in grants each year.
It made $42m from its investments in the year to the end of March 2017 and spent about $4m on administration and expenses.
Sherriff is the partner of former Labour minister Clayton Cosgrove and Burns is the wife of Brendon Burns, who was Labour MP for Christchurch Central from 2008 to 2011 and stood for Kaiko¯ ura twice without success.
The inclusion of Sherriff and Burns will mean the board comprises two men and 10 women. The current foundation chairwoman, Christine Korako, is the wife of National list MP Nuk Korako.
Former Christchurch mayor Garry Moore said political parties had to stop ‘‘playing games’’ with appointments to important boards.
‘‘This is a huge fund and needs highly skilled people to be on the board. Appointing the partners of Labour party stalwarts diminishes the importance of these positions. I have nothing against Jane and Philippa, who, for all I know are just the right people, but they shouldn’t be appointed because they have Labour Party affiliations.’’
However, Burns said any suggestion her appointment was politically influenced was ‘‘insulting’’ while the minister responsible for the board’s new appointments said they had been made according to a clear and long-established process.
Charities specialist Michael Gousmett said political appointments always made him nervous because political connections did not make up for the skills required by some large organisations.
‘‘How do we know they have the right people?’’ he said.
The board’s trustees are appointed by the minister of finance for an initial term of four years and receive an honorarium. In the 2016/17 year, the board chair and committee chairs garnered $95,000 and trustees got $100,000, an average of $16,250 per trustee. Expenses are not included in the honorarium.
The responsibility to appoint the trustees was delegated to Associate Minister of Finance David Clark.
Clark was criticised earlier this year when he appointed former Labour minister Mark Gosche as the chairman of the Counties-Manukau District Health Board. Former chairman Mark Darrow said Clark was pushing out people who had put a spotlight on problems, particularly at Middlemore Hospital.
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones was also criticised for a political appointment when he appointed Rodger Finlay at the head of the Independent Advisory Panel for the $3 billion regional fund.
Finlay had donated ‘‘several thousands of dollars’’ to Jones’ failed bid for the Labour leadership in 2013. Moore, who is no longer a member of the Labour Party, said the scale of the foundation’s operation required a more transparent process in the appointment of trustees.
He had reluctantly put his own name forward after several approaches from the previous foundation chairman, Roger Bridge, who is the chairman of the National Party’s Canterbury-Westland region.
‘‘Look, I know nobody will believe me but I have no sour grapes at all,’’ Moore said. Philippa Burns said she was uncomfortable about dealing with questions about political appointments and found the question of whether she had been appointed because of the connection to her husband ‘‘a bit insulting’’. She had been appointed because of her work in the community, she said.
Christine Korako said she had not been affiliated to the National Party when she was first appointed in 2011. Nuk was not a National MP at the time.
Anybody could put their name forward for the positions and the government of the day made the decision, she said.
‘‘I would hope people are appointed on the basis of their experience. I have no doubt they [Sherriff and Burns] are going to add real value to the board.’’
Attempts to reach Jane Sherriff for comment were unsuccessful.
Clark said a clear and longstanding process for making appointments to community trusts existed.
After advice from the Department of Internal Affairs, he had sought nominations from community trusts and from the caucuses of the Coalition Government in March and April 2018.
‘‘In making appointments, I considered the mix of skills required, including investment knowledge and experience, strategic thinking, and legal expertise.’’
All appointments were considered by the Cabinet Appointments and Honours Committee, and confirmed by Cabinet. The process was consistent with previous appointment rounds for community trusts, he said.
‘‘I don’t think that being the partner of a former politician should disqualify someone from serving their local community by acting as a trustee.’’
The Rata Foundation is the South Island’s largest philanthropic funder and receives no income from other funders or gaming machines.