3 OCTOBER 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Government’s appointment of a Jeremy Corbyn loyalist as Chief Human Rights Commissioner is political weaponisation of a position that should be neutral, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “The appointment of Paul Hunt should have never passed the sniffed test. Taxpayers fund the public service with an expectation of political neutrality, and public-facing commissioners should epitomise this.”

In a paper released last year, Professor Hunt argues that ill-defined ‘social rights’ are fundamental human rights, and that these rights ‘can reinforce progressive social policies, resist austerity, contribute to social justice and help to prepare for transformative change in British politics.’ He even states that ‘neoliberal’ economic policies are ‘antithetical to social rights’.

“This individual, set to receive a taxpayer-funded salary of around $340,000, is clearly a partisan ideologue. Why would we expect this to change, just because he has moved from the UK to New Zealand?”

“The Government is weaponising the Human Rights Commission, which receives $10 million a year in taxpayer funding, by turning it into a platform for a far-left campaigner. That is not what the office of Human Rights is for.”

ENDS

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