Another day, another job lost for Rob Campbell.
On Tuesday, he lost his role as the Board Chair of Te Whatu Ora/Health New Zealand before he was also removed from his role as the chair of the Environment Protection Authority on Thursday afternoon.
It's after he published comments about National's Three Waters policy on the networking platform LinkedIn.
Speaking with Lloyd Burr on Thursday afternoon, Campbell was able to give his first-person opinion on the sacking situations.
"I don't think it's any accident that I've been taken out or why I've been taken out," Campbell said.
"I don't think it's much to do with this particular expression of opinion on a LinkedIn post, I've said very similar things for a long period of time in a whole range of contexts.
"The issue is, the only two private disagreements I had with these two Ministers were about co-governance and about the emphasis that I had been putting on co-governance… They both suggested that I walked it back."
"In the context of this government trying to walk back on the emphasis of co-governance issues, they don't like what I've had to say about it, so they've decided to get rid of me."
There has been a plethora of commentary around Campbell's comments on LinkedIn, including ACT Leader David Seymour blasting Campbell for not resigning.
"The truth is, it should have been a sacking offence immediately," Seymour said.
"It shows a real lack of maturity from Rob Campbell because this is bigger than him - it's a question of whether people in the public service in New Zealand are there to serve the Government elected by the people or whether they're there to run their own agenda."
National Party's Simeon Brown also commented on Campbell's sacking by citing a some of Aotearoa's laws and rules.
"These people… they are to be politically neutral," Brown said.
"He [Campbell] has walked all over those rules and has failed to meet them."
However, with critical comments, Campbell also found support, firstly with the NZ Nurse's Organisation.
"We are really sorry to see someone go, who actively worked really hard on behalf of nurses and other people involved in the health system," they said.
"He used to make a practice of coming into hospitals and other worksites around New Zealand to talk to nurses, doctors, and health professionals… That's a very important piece of this work and we are going to miss that contribution."
Even Winston Peters, who hates co-governance, said Campbell shouldn't have been sacked.
"If Mr. Campbell has committed a sin, then he's not the only one by a long shot," Peters said.
"There have been many worse occasions of what you might call bureaucratic bias… so I've been quite surprised that in the circumstance of his apology, he's nevertheless been given the push."
Campbell and Burr went on to talk about what it means to be impartial, where Campbell could have drawn the line, and answered the question: Is Campbell a National hater?
Listen to the full interview between Rob Campbell and Tova above.
You can also download the full interview on the Tova podcast, and listen on the go.
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