MSD defends staff after meth ‘joke’

The Ministry of Social Development is defending its staff after a worker brought a bag of fake methamphetamine to a work morning tea as a joke.

One former employee said the stunt was indicative of the culture at Work and Income, alleging a widespread disdain for the ministry’s (MSD) clients including referring to them as “dropkicks” and “junkies”.

The Herald understands someone brought a bag full of white powder labelled as meth to the event at Winz’s Hornby Service Centre, Christchurch.

MSD Canterbury regional commissioner Blair McKenzie said the tea was to celebrate cultural diversity and staff labelled the items brought.

“One staff member produced a label intending to be humorous, which caused offence,” McKenzie said. Photographs of the fake meth next to lollipops were circulated on social media.

“The senior manager acted . . . to have the items removed and made it very clear to the staff member that this was not appropriate,” he said.

“The staff member has apologised to other staff and acknowledged the offence they caused.”

McKenzie said he was satisfied with how the incident was handled.

Meanwhile, a former employee told the Spinoff the incident highlighted a work culture at MSD of scorn towards clients, alleging the worker who brought the fake drug “felt that was cultural to [them]”.

An “us vs them” or “we’re better than the client” mentality was allegedly rife, the former employee said.

“The general regard for our clients is appalling, to be perfectly honest . . . referring to clients as dropkicks [or] using terms like junkie or dickhead . . . which is totally unacceptable.”

McKenzie said it was his experience that “staff care about their clients and their whānau and treat them with respect”.

McKenzie said the ministry had since briefed managers on making sure staff acted professionally — “particularly within team events”, he said.

“While this is an isolated incident, we’ve used it as an opportunity to brief managers on making sure . . . that staff are reminded of the code of conduct and their obligations to MSD.”