Northland has the same cross-section of government departments as all our other regions. There’s the education sector, health, transport, and local government. They deal with employee comings and goings every day, and in doing so, must follow the State Sector Act. I’m sure we all agree the best person should fit a job, meaning problems occur when people in power have just one person in mind for a job.

The problems are obvious – cronyism occurs when people create jobs for the boys; the salary given to one person could potentially be more effective if paid to someone else; and there are so many capable people out there who need to be given the chance to bid for jobs. I made similar comments about the tendering process last week.

This is topical in Whangarei, as there has been criticism over the appointment of Phil Heatley to Northland Regional Council in what NRC agreed was a “created role” overseeing the council's property holdings.

While private sector employers don’t have to advertise each role, the public sector does. Here are the rules councils must remember when they appoint employees, according to State Sector Act guidelines:

1. Only in exceptional circumstances should a vacancy not be advertised.
2. Appointments in the public sector must be made on the basis of impartial selection of suitably qualified people. 
3. In any instance where a position has not been advertised an employee who would have applied if it had been advertised should be entitled to a full review.
4. When the CEO of a department intends to fill a vacant position, that CEO must notify suitably qualified people of the vacancy.

The Department of Labour’s number one tip to employers for attracting suitable job applicants is that employers should consider existing employees – “There may be someone who is ready for a promotion or who wants a new role, and advertising the role internally is a good way to find out,” DOL says.

I’d like to suggest there are many people with years of experience within Northland’s government departments who should be considered first when work needs to be done. Once again, the best person should fit every job, and that requires looking at a range of suitable people.

It is always hard when an employer has to choose between someone they know and someone new. It is even harder when you are in a public office, as you have government procedures to follow as well.  As an elected official your job is to make sure that everyone follows those procedures, with the best interest of the community as the focus, and if the staff don’t follow those rules or justify why they can’t follow the rules, then the elected officials need to take action.