Earlier in the year there was a kerfuffle over the directive by the Department of Labour that staff were not to attend a rally on pay equity held at Parliament.  At the time me, along with PSA and others raised concerns as to this being a limitation on the democratic rights of public servants.   The Minister and David Farrar obfuscated away at the time.

Therefore  it was very interesting to hear Iain Rennie the State Services Commissioner tell the Government Administration Select Committee yesterday that he did not believe that the memo was acceptable, and that he had advised the Chief Executive accordingly. He also said he had communicated this to other Chief Executives.  I have requested the actual communications  to see what has been said, and what is acceptable to the State Services Commissioner.

I strongly believe that we must uphold the  democratic rights of public servants as citizens.  I hope Tony Ryall will uphold these rights.  I will be monitoring closely whether departments and agencies follow through on protecting these rights.