Green Party Labour spokesperson Sue Bradford today welcomed the Employment Court's decision to dismiss Christine
Rankin's claim for reinstatement as a chief executive of Work and Income and $1.2 million compensation for damages and
lost salary.
"The Employment Court decision confirmed that Christine Rankin's problem has always been the performance, not her
clothes and appearance.
"Mrs Rankin's contract was fixed-term for three years and contained no written expectation of re-appointment. I believe
that Governments should be able to hold chief executives fully accountable, and in this position they should only be
employed on fixed term contracts," she said
Ms Bradford said that the Hunn Report, carried out last year, had been a far more thorough evaluation than normal. The
report was critical of Work and Income's management style and top down decision-making processes.
"Commonsense would suggest that a chief executive subject to such a report would have it used in any assessment by their
employer as to whether their contract would be renewed or not," she said.
"Christine Rankin became a very public figure after her appointment as head of Work and Income by a National-led
Government. She expressed commitment to the most visible aspects of corporate culture, a culture of extravagance, at a
time when beneficiaries were being publicly targeted through a cruel "dob in a bludger" campaign".
"There was a huge contrast between the grievance procedures and dollars available to Christine Rankin to pursue her
employment claim and those available to ordinary beneficiaries and students trying to access their full entitlements to
benefits, allowances, loans and job-seeking assistance," she said.
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